Polishing CEOs to become impactful leaders
Many CEOs are facing difficulties when it comes to creating an impact as a leader. In today’s fast changing world, there is a constant pressure of increasing leadership competencies, and to match today’s era requirements.
The issue comes from having many options of leadership development activities and very few methods to measure the ROI (Return on Investment) of those methods. How should a leader be convinced that attending a particular session will help him do better as a leader? Measuring results has become a challenging task. Leaders have new and unique requirements which are directly proportional to their company’s success.
Following are some activities that CEOs can consider grooming themselves as effective leaders considering their advantages and disadvantages.
Knowledgeable books
Many world class readers mention in their interviews how reading books have broadened their horizons and critical thinking skills. Reading helps the mind to think creatively, enhance vocabulary and bring fluency in communication skills.
One needs to be careful while involving themselves in reading since its easy to read about ideas but requires a lot of effort to apply them. You should also involve yourself in reading something other than leadership books as it will help to improve focus and think out of the box.
Learning online
Acquiring knowledge online is the easiest and most convenient form of learning and gaining exposure. You can do this at any time of the day with whatever amount of time you have. Leaders can also customize it according to their own wish to learn from experiences shared on the internet and real stories. Online content is very effective as it is supported by visuals which makes it easier to retain information.
The only problem with online learning is that you cannot have one on one interactions to clear your doubts, for which you are required to do extensive research and acquire answers accordingly. It is also difficult to stay motivated as you need constant reminders to continue with the leadership development and learning process. Online courses require your own interest and eagerness to learn as no reminders or motivation will be provided to make it to the end of the course.
Physical seminars
Various seminars which are either a week-long or one-day long are a good way of diving into leadership skills. They help you to get out of your daily routine and engage in learning. It gives you separate time to focus on learning new things and create opportunities to socialize with industry leaders. It is very revitalizing to learn directly from the experts.
For seminars to be effective, they need to focus on content rather than context. Seminars should mention what idea is relevant for which business and what number of people. Ideas shouldn’t be generalized for all types of leaders attending the seminar.
Industry connotations
Being a part of these industry associations has some benefits for the leaders. You can relate to a group of people which have the same mindset as you. Some of these connections may even offer you opportunities to help you grow professionally. The connections which have excellent industry reputation can even boost your credibility by spreading a positive word of mouth. You can even get new associations and clients through these valuable connections.
The only restriction is that they will connect you with people who already are a part of your professional circle. It will be difficult to approach people outside your sector as you will be restricted to your own sector.
Webinars
Leadership development webinars help you to get real time knowledge and experience from anywhere in the world. These webinars offer targeted learning in a limited time frame with a list of objectives to be covered. There are also some recorded webinars for those CEOs who fail to attend these webinars due to their busy schedule.
There are some disadvantages of these webinars that they restrict the freedom to ask questions if there are some doubts. Also, it is very easy to get distracted if you are engaged with other tasks. They require commitment and time which these CEOs are short of.
Executive coaching
Executive coaches are the best in terms of looking at the problems faced by CEOs with a 360-degree approach. They bring attention towards those areas which were never given much importance, but they were very critical for success. Experienced coaches know how to keep the CEO motivated, and they help them to take responsibility and accountability of their actions.
Coaches provide constructive feedback which is very essential for the CEOs to become good leaders. You need someone to assure you for your actions and be there to see how well you handle risk. Coaches provide that listening ear and shoulder along with expert guidance to deal with problems and become an effective leader.
You need to research enough to select an experienced coach who will provide real time guidance and give advice, which is not just words instead, are actionable steps.
Peer advisory groups
These groups make a vast difference in the CEO’s leadership development. Since the CEO is at the top position, he might feel lonely in terms of sharing the business problem. These groups support the CEOs in facing difficult challenges and providing solutions. Such groups consist of impactful leaders who are high potential and come from various sectors of the industry. In this, group coaching and mentoring help companies to gain insight, change their perspective, and work towards becoming an impactful leader. It also helps the company to gain networking opportunities.
The most efficient approach is not just restricted to one. Instead, CEOs can choose a combination of approaches suiting the nature of work and industry to address their strengths and weaknesses and develop their leadership skills.
