Time is a finite, invaluable resource. For leaders, little time remains unaccounted for amid frequent meetings and demanding strategic internal and external initiatives.
Every week, leaders have an average of 37 meetings, which account for 72 percent of their work time, according to a Harvard Business Review study that examined how leaders manage their time. Meanwhile, 75 percent of CEOs’ time was scheduled in advance.
As leaders focus on the success and advancement of their team members and the business, investments in their own learning and development can rapidly decline. But by consciously prioritizing their own growth, leaders can bring an assured, forward-thinking perspective to the table.
“Tactically, building my knowledge base expands the toolbox from which I can pull to provide my team with options for challenges and situations they encounter,” said Medtelligent’s Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel Trisha Cole. “When leaders embrace an expansive and egalitarian view of learning and development, it can infuse energy into an organization around ongoing education and make it a part of everyday life.”
For Cole and two other leaders at Chicago companies, taking the time to deepen knowledge and advance personal goals has proven to be a meaningful endeavor. They shared how prioritizing their own development has made them better leaders.
Medtelligent’s flagship product ALIS — Assisted Living Intelligent Solutions — is used by assisted living companies.
Between the demands of leading and managing a team and executing strategy, it can be difficult to prioritize your own learning and development as a senior leader. How do you ensure you find the time to do so in the workplace?
Finding time to do anything these days is admittedly a challenge! The key is understanding the return on investment related to prioritizing your own learning and development as a leader. When leaders invest in their learning and development, they can empower whole departments — as well as specific individuals across the company — with new perspectives and tools.
Once a leader sees the ten-fold impact they can have, it becomes easier to prioritize making time for those activities and also building habits for continued learning and development into their schedules and routines.
When leaders invest in their learning and development, they can empower whole departments — as well as specific individuals — with new perspectives and tools.”
How does your company culture enable you to do so?
Given that we do software releases every six weeks, it is not just our culture but our actual company DNA to always be learning and evolving — personally and professionally.
Everyone at Medtelligent embraces new information and ideas and thrives on learning from each other daily and not just in a hierarchical manner. Everyone is encouraged to learn, share and teach others, which invigorates us all.
The other cultural aspect that enables me to continue learning is an environment that welcomes vulnerability. Learning and trying new things can be uncomfortable and awkward, but our environment values openness, honesty, transparency, vulnerability and progress over being perfect or “having all the answers.” I believe that creates a psychologically safe environment for continued learning and development.
How does prioritizing your own learning and development make you a better leader or manager of people?
Building my knowledge base allows me to curate targeted content for teams and people, which hopefully helps them save time and stress related to recreating the wheel or being overwhelmed with too many resources.
From a strategic perspective, I think that leaders can set a healthy example of lifelong learning and development that is both inspirational and achievable. Sometimes I’m learning from the Harvard Business Review, but more often than not, I’m learning from my son, family, co-workers, clients, my own mistakes, movies, books, songs, travel and other life experiences.
At the core of pursuing ongoing learning and development is a sense of curiosity and a willingness to grow and change, and those are the attributes that ultimately matter most.
For two decades, SDI Presence has provided strategic managed services, IT consulting and hybrid infrastructure solutions to clients across multiple industries.
Between the demands of leading and managing a team and executing strategy, it can be difficult to prioritize your own learning and development as a senior leader. How do you ensure you find the time to do so in the workplace?
As part of my role, I am introduced to new technologies all the time. I find the time to review the latest and greatest solutions because of the client’s needs and the direction of technology in general. My workday is usually packed with meetings, making it challenging to focus on the needs of my development unless it is product specific. I take the extra time to learn new technologies outside of work to help enhance my skills and keep them up to date.
How does your company culture enable you to do so?
Our organization allows us to take extra training, attend conferences and network. I was given the opportunity to speak at an event last year about single sign-on, and it was so much fun. I definitely learned a few neat things from other speakers while at the event. I was recently at a cybersecurity event and met new people in the industry, including other vendors. I know quite a bit about both cloud and cyber security, but what I enjoy about these events is not just the networking but hearing the thoughts of other leaders on how they handled a situation. I find that learning isn’t just about getting a certification or knowing a product; learning is also about hearing lessons from others to improve yourself as a leader and technical guru.
Learning isn’t just about getting a certification or knowing a product; learning is also about hearing lessons from others to improve yourself as a leader and technical guru.”
How does prioritizing your own learning and development make you a better leader or manager of people?
It is important to stay relevant as a leader, especially a technical leader. So many new technologies are available now, especially AI. With AI alone, you will get lost if you are familiar with it from the conception point. I remember when the cloud was becoming a “thing,” and I wanted to know everything about it. I am glad I did that because the things I learned — and where we are now — make it so much easier to understand than someone starting out new. I believe if you are a leader and leading a team of technical resources in this industry, you still need to know how to talk about it, understand it and be able to help your team members as best as you can.
The Heico Companies' diversified portfolio consists of applied solutions, industrial technologies, construction solutions and metal processing groups. The family-owned company is one of Built In’s Best Large Companies to Work in 2023.
Between the demands of leading and managing a team and executing strategy, it can be difficult to prioritize your own learning and development as a senior leader. How do you ensure you find the time to do so in the workplace?
It starts with time management. “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my ax,” Abraham Lincoln once said. As leaders, it is essential to prioritize and focus on important things, with self-development and learning being a key part of it. Time is limited for everyone, no matter what role, company or industry we work in.
I use some simple tools and techniques to manage time better, such as using the “Pomodoro Technique,” in which one time boxes activities in 25-minute blocks to hyper-focus on a task at hand. To avoid distractions, I also use the “Focus Time” functionality in Microsoft Outlook to block time and avoid getting unwanted and non-urgent peer pings. Like with many things, none of this can happen without your managers’ support; having transparent discussions to align learning objectives relevant to the role and organization is a crucial prerequisite.
How does your company culture enable you to do so?
The Heico Companies has a great partnership and collaboration with LinkedIn, where we can access LinkedIn Learning as part of our roles. LinkedIn Learning is a great platform that is broad enough to have relevant and applicable development training, whether related to soft skills or more technical. In addition, as part of the Heico HR programs, various programs are available for employees focused on front-line supervisors and managers, high-performing leadership and distinctive leadership, to name a few.
The company is also supportive of attending local networking events and conferences relevant to the role to increase awareness and bring different perspectives back to the company. There are also stipends for further education based on the individual’s performance, role and ambitions.
How does prioritizing your own learning and development make you a better leader or manager of people?
An important aspect of being an effective leader is self-awareness of one’s values, strengths and weaknesses. As Warren Buffett said, “Your best investment is yourself. There is nothing that compares to it.” We get so busy with our daily routine that it is vital to make conscious efforts to learn new trends, improved ways of working and outside perspectives as technology continues to change how we operate — not just in our roles but how a business operates — in unprecedented ways.
We get so busy with our daily routine that it is vital to make conscious efforts to learn new trends, improved ways of working and outside perspectives.”
Not every learning needs to be cutting edge or groundbreaking. Often, it is taking a refresher on basics and foundational elements, and revisions of leadership or technical principles go a long way. The more exposure and awareness I have, the more I can push for newer initiatives within Heico and appreciate and support team members’ and peers’ initiatives and personal growth ambitions. Prioritizing my learning also sends the message to the team members that investing in themselves is critical, which helps their growth and positively impacts the projects and the company overall.
