In our hypercompetitive and rapidly changing marketplace, it is critical for all of us to be intentional and relentless about continuing to learn and grow.  It is essential for our survival in the workplace.

Many traditional businesses rely heavily on the training department or human resources/leadership development teams to package together well-rehearsed programs to support a generic brand of leadership training, conflict resolution, job-specific skills, and team building.  If some business unit is falling short, most often one of the responses from operational leaders will be “we need more training” and then here comes the ½ day curriculum to make us all feel good that some action was taken to address a gap.   

Many of these top-down programs do provide a helpful channel to reinforce corporate values and priorities to keep the team aligned and on track to deliver on company objectives.  However, the idea that top-down corporate training and development programs can create the kind of nimble and effective leadership teams needed to effectively address today’s challenges is a false-hope. 

Today’s marketplace demands a radical shift from the one-size fits all, sit down and “feed me” top down development programs to remain competitive in the marketplace. Executives and their Top Talent need to expect and embrace a more effective way to remain individually relevant and forward-thinking in their roles and to be contributing in a manner that can help the team be more competitive.

The three behaviors below frame the mindset and routine practice of successful Executives and Top Talent who are intentional about learning and growing to add value to their teams and organizations.

1. Search. Beyond the top-down training curriculum, they are searching for resources that speak to them personally at their individual areas of need and interest.  There is an amazing amount of free content online from some of the foremost global thinkers and doers.  They read, they make time to interact with others outside their industry and they remain engaged in the search for the best and brightest ideas in areas that are relevant to them.   
2. Share. As new insights and resources are found to be helpful to them, they don’t hold their findings to themselves like some trade-secret to further their own personal agenda. They thoughtfully share helpful findings with others around them. They share what worked for them with a degree a humility that it was helpful them and may be of help to others.      
3. Impact Others. Overtime, the information and resources they find and share have a measurable impact on individuals and teams in a meaningful and relevant way to make them more effective. Others begin to proactively seek them out for quick, nimble solutions rather than requesting “more training” and scheduling another ½ day training session. 

Executives who still lead their teams by orchestrating top-down training and development vs fostering an environment for independent search and sharing will be less effective in leading their teams to succeed in today’s hypercompetitive marketplace.

What if I were to ask you, “What is the greatest leadership challenge you are facing today?” What would you say?  Here are a few resources to help:

1. Download FREE resources at www.harvesttimepartners.com  
2. Contact me. Email: david@harvesttimepartners.com (M) 269-370-9275

David Esposito