You only pick up what you need — or — what is packaged right!
Photo by Martijn Baudoin on Unsplash
Learning about Leadership is like Shopping
You only pick up what you need — or — what is packaged right!
Being a student of leadership is an interesting thing. There are innumerable resources and descriptions that provide information for leaders. For this reason, I often equate learning about leadership to a trip to the supermarket.
I was with a friend pushing our shopping trolleys through the supermarket, when we got to the end of the aisle, I examined what they had in their trolley. To my surprise, even though we walked down the same aisle, they had vastly different things in their trolley.
They had picked up almost a full trolley down that aisle, and I only had a few things. The reason for this difference is simple, they needed that stuff more than me.
The thing is, this is the same for learning about leadership. I’ve found that when I’ve had leadership learning opportunities, I’ve picked up what resonated with me at that point in time. At a later date, when I’ve revisited the information, I pick up something different. Something else resonated with me. The same happens for other people exposed to the same information. Everyone picks up what they need…
And this is really cool.
Let me describe a recent trip down the leadership shopping aisle, and what I picked up.
I consume a lot of leadership information through Podcasts. They are my leadership shopping centre. In a recent episode of my go-to show, The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk, I picked up something that really resonated.
Ryan was interviewing the founder of the Springfree Trampoline, Steve Holmes. This episode was packed with learning, but there was one part that really caught me, so much so, that I went back and listened again so I could write it down. Steve made the point that if it is important you should write it down, and he borrowed and wrote down the six steps for leaders.
Photo by Lindsay Henwood on Unsplash
Six steps to leadership
Everyone likes a simple list, it makes it seem achievable to implement, and this one is no different.
Perhaps that’s why these are often picked up and put in trolleys at the leadership and self-improvement shopping centre. The below checklist is six-steps for leaders and should be done regularly.
- Setting goals for yourself to yourself (how do you set the tone for the team, how do you treat people)
- Set goals for yourself for others (setting direction, and interacting with others)
- Get the right people
- Get them the resources they need
- Get yourself and other obstacles out of their way
- Evaluate, Evaluate, Evaluate
This six-step process made a lot of sense to me, and maybe it will for you too. I really liked the intentionality of how you show up (step 1), and steps 3, 4 and 5 align with how I like to approach things. Especially 5…
This is a reminder that there are several reasons why someone else might be consuming the information differently than you. What you needed to learn, was not what they needed to learn. Or, perhaps they weren’t ready for it yet.
If you take a shopping trolley mindset, you will realise that you are always looking for the thing you need. It will also cause you to reconsider things that you were introduced to earlier.
I often talk about the shopping trolley mindset, and it is useful for me to remember not everyone is in the same aisle looking for the same thing as you. It helps me stay curious and humble, it helps me try and find out what is resonating with others.
It might also help you.
Leon writes about leadership and personal development. He is inspired to create high-performing teams and grow leaders; he blogs, mentors and coaches leaders and future leaders from across industries. Editor of Sparks Publication, a publication aimed at transferring a spark from the writer’s mind to the soul of the readers.
By Leon Purton on October 21, 2022.
Exported from Medium on December 22, 2023.
