Becoming a successful manager or leader requires keeping improving your skills. And this is a continuous process we must commit to do all along our professional careers.
I'm presenting a simple, five-step process we can use to keep our focus and progress, so we can make this improvement inevitable.
A part of this process calls for getting to know ourselves better. Here are the links to the three FREE tools commented in the video.
Myers-Briggs personality test: 16personalities.com
DISC Assessment: onlinepersonalitytests.org/disc
360º Survey: echospan.com
To your growth and success.
Eduard.
Video Transcript
When we jump into a management or leadership role obviously, at the beginning, we don't have all the skills we need to be successful and it's up to us to start identifying, learning, practicing, and mastering those skills for us to become better and better at what we do.
But it's not only when we are new at that position. There are many managers who have been in managerial roles for many years, and who are not happy at all about the results they get.
Some of them take the path of blaming: they blame clients, they blame their company, the economy, their situation where they are in... they blame everything else except themselves.
But chances are if you are not getting the results that you want it's because you still need to develop some of those leadership skills that you need to succeed and it's up to you to make a plan, to make a commitment, and to keep on going to getting better and better at what you do.
My purpose today in the video is to present you with a simple five-step process that i have seen that works very well, because it gives you all what you need to do and also the structure to replicate that process in the future and to keep getting better and better at what you are doing.
Let's review this five-step process. I have given it the title Personal Development Plan.
You can give any title you want. At the end you are responsible for your own development. The term Personal Development Plan has been used, or is being used, by many companies, and it makes reference to something that has to be personal, and don't take this as something that your company will do for you. I would like you to take this as your own, taking ownership of your own Personal Development Plan. It's about you, it's not about your company, it's not about your colleagues, it's not about your friends. It's about you. You have to take ownership of what you do.
So let's review the five steps that are to follow on this Personal Development Plan.
The first step is: you have to define your goals.
Where you would like to be, let's say, in 12 months from now. Do you have your goals in written?
Do you know exactly where you would like to be in 12 months from now? Because if you don't, chances are that you will go right and left but not in the direction to achieve something meaningful for you.
I suggest to start applying the SMART concept for your goals.
So identify, or define, goals that are Specific, are Measurable, are Actionable by you, are Realistic, and are Time-based.
Spend some time (stop this video if you need to), and write down which are the two or three main goals that you would like to achieve at the end of the year, or in 12 months, or in 6 months; you decide the goals, you decide the period of time, but it's important your goals will give you the direction that you need for your actions.
So, first action, first step, is: define your goals.
Second step: run a personality test.
Maybe you think you know yourself very well (like everybody), but I have seen it very very useful to run a personality test.
There are many personality tests on the internet today. I am proposing you to start with two that are free (the links are below this video) and they provide you information about yourself from different perspectives.
One is the Myers-Briggs, and you can find it at the 16personalities.com website.
The other one is the DISC Assessment, that is telling you which are your natural ways when you relate to people.
So these two tests, please run them, get the results, print the results, and you will see which information is there that you didn't know about yourself. Valuable information, if you want to start achieving the goals that you just defined.
Step #3: ask for feedback.
Don't try to do everything yourself. There are people around you who are willing to help you, so ask your colleagues, your friends, your family, which are the areas that they think would be very beneficial for you if you would improve them.
If you don't want to do that face to face and you would do that anonymously there is also one link for one anonymous 360 Survey where you can add as many people as you want and to create feedback that will help you to identify aspects that other people see from you and you don't see from yourself.
Step #4: Commit to take action
So from all the information that you have received, identify two or three actions that by taking them consistently over the next 12 months you will achieve the results that you want to achieve.
You have to commit. If you don't commit to take action nobody is going to commit for you. So commit to take action in the direction of the objective that you just defined.
And, step #5: Don't try to do everything alone.
Identify a mentor or coach, internal or external your organization, share with him or her your goals. your intentions. your actions, and ask for support. Chances are that that person will help you, will support you in the way to achieving your goals.
So you have now two options:
you have now the option of stopping the video and doing nothing, or you have the option of stopping the video and taking the five steps.
The results at the end of the 12 months will be huge, the difference in results will be huge.
So it's up to you. Do you want to keep developing yourself, or just observe others and complain about the situation?
Hopefully you will take the second option!
Thank you very much for listening today.
Talk to you soon