You Need Elbow Grease to Grow Yourself In Tough Times
This week, I want to talk with you about how we can use this time to think about our growth and development. In times like these, you will need to grow yourself.
You know personal growth is vital for yourself as well as your work with a well-trained team. But how disciplined are you when it comes to looking after your evolution?
The Luxury of Personal Growth
We all have lots on our plates. It’s easy to dismiss professional development as a luxury for which you don’t have time to spare. You are too busy and have too much responsibility. There are not enough hours in the day. There is a lot of more important things happening right now.
Fair enough. I understand.
But I also believe that we should, regardless of where we are in our professional lives, attempt to carve out the time in our schedules to access training and develop and grow our skills.
Sharpen the Saw (A Stephen Covey Gem)
For a saw to master a massive log quickly, it needs to be sharp. Someone has to take the time, make the time, discipline themselves to the time, to sharpen the saw. Your best asset (tool) is you.
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. ~ Stephen Covey
We owe it to ourselves, our team, and our organization.
Make Use of the Time At Home
In a ‘normal’ world, we take online courses, attend workshops or conferences, or bring in coaching for focused training. As leaders, we know we have to engage in ongoing training and that we are responsible for providing it for our employees.
Obviously, in these unprecedented times, when so many of us are working from home to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the online option is a more realistic one.
In this ever-changing world we live in (which sounds just like a song title), it is imperative that we not fall behind by neglecting the need to be continuously learning. We need to be professionals committed to growing ourselves. Failure to evolve often leads to stagnation and complacency.
How do You Grow Yourself?
Professional development (or to Grow Yourself) essentially means a committed approach to developing your knowledge and skills.
The benefits speak for themselves.
Organizational leaders stay up to date with the latest trends and continuously seek out opportunities to acquire new skills to manage their teams better. We know that to improve performance at work and boost our confidence, we need to be growing. Additionally, we need to prepare to control and guide the unexpected in life effectively.
What we are Learning from The Pandemic About Unanticipated Change
These unprecedented challenges that are before us in 2020 only confirm that companies and organizations will always need to contend with unanticipated change.
And change, whether forced upon us or consciously chosen, is best managed when regarded as an opportunity for leaders and organizations to grow.
Unfortunately, the old tools you and I relied on are now not up to the task.
We can take enormous encouragement from the multitude of organizations that have found creative solutions for conducting their work. Forced indoors, or on the front lines, entire business models have reconstructed themselves in a matter of weeks. Their pivoting examples remind us that we need to be – and can be nimble as individuals and family members too.
Fiore Group Make Over
As an example, take me.
The last training session that our company delivered was on Friday, March 13th, 2020.
Since that time, I have watched several webinars by many different trainers on the techniques and benefits of using ZOOM. I have now delivered more than a dozen training sessions utilizing that technology.
Before March 13th I had delivered precisely ZERO training sessions virtually.
Although we had bought some equipment to have a video studio in our home office, there was no time to assemble it – well until NOW.
We restarted our Podcast – so you can now listen to each Living Leadership on most of your favorite podcast services.
In retrospect, I realize that our Leadership Accelerator Program, which we decided late last year to put into an online format, might have been a genius move (or more likely a massive coincidence).
Now it is there and available for you.
The Decision Is Yours
George Bernard Shaw once said that progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
I could not have said it better myself.
So, keep up with your training and development daily. We live in unprecedented times, and we will make the history books. But our time is now. It is time to Grow Yourself for a better tomorrow.
Remember, you owe it to yourself, your team, and your organization.
In the meantime, stay healthy and well.
