Leaders as Learning Partners: Driving Higher Engagement
Looking to drive higher engagement as a leader? Serve as a learning partner for your team members. Gallup research identifies feeling supported in development, cared for as a person, and working with purpose as some of the key drivers of engagement. By partnering with team members to identify and pursue career and learning goals, provide resources and support, and offer ongoing coaching and mentoring, you can strengthen engagement.
In my experience, you have a fantastic opportunity to embrace the role of learning partner. This can unlock growth potential for yourself and your teams. Here are some practical tips to guide you on this journey:
Conduct ongoing growth and feedback conversations. Know what people want for their careers and how they want to grow in both technical and human skills. Ask questions like “Where do you want to be by the end of the year? In 2-3 years? What is your purpose? What inspires you? What matters most to you? How do you want to make a difference and impact? What do you want to learn? How can I best support your learning?” Meet at least monthly to check on progress and provide ongoing appreciative and developmental feedback. Help others connect their impact and performance to their personal purpose, which is now more important than ever.
Make the invisible visible. Actively engage in cognitive apprenticeship by sharing your thinking to help others grow. I coached a senior leader whose role was to recommend innovative and customized solutions for clients. One of this leader’s goals was to build their team’s capability and readiness for advancement. Much of the knowledge the team needed to learn was in the leader’s head. This leader conducted meetings with their team members to agree on the aspects of solutioning that each needed to learn. Over several months, the leader purposefully conducted their thinking and analysis out loud in detail with groups of team members, sharing the questions that needed to be thought through, analyzing what was unique about each specific client need, and exploring which components of previous solutions were relevant and could be considered into the client recommendation. The leader then began letting others lead the solutioning with their guidance and support.
Help team members identify stretch experiences and intentionally practice desired new skills and behaviors. Offer team members challenging tasks or projects that stretch their skills and align with their aspirations. Stretch experiences can be large-scale (e.g. leading a new organizational strategic initiative) or smaller-scale (e.g. leading a meeting). Encourage team members to be proactively intentional in finding daily opportunities to practice.
Make reflection on learning a priority. Set aside specific time regularly, such as weekly or monthly, for team members to engage in reflection. This can be done through dedicated team meetings to foster peer learning and sharing and/or in individual conversations. Find daily reflection moments with team members to debrief learning after meetings or interactions. Use coaching skills to ask powerful open-ended questions to foster critical reflection and processing.
Help people open their network. Invite team members to think critically about their network vis-à-vis their interests and career aspirations using a tool like Leader Network Diagnostic. Many individuals’ networks align with the past rather than the future. I partnered with a member of my team to do this analysis and help them expand their network to gain more influence and ownership. This team member took on a new stretch assignment that included working with new stakeholders from within and outside the organization, significantly opening their network. This effort enabled this individual to shine and shape their personal brand and network to align with future aspirations.
Recognize effort to foster encouragement. Acknowledge team members' strengths and inner character. Recognize their efforts and impact in their learning journey.
There are two success enablers to keep in mind:
Role model these behaviors: Share your own learning goals, engage in ongoing intentional practice and reflection, demonstrate openness in your network, and seek feedback from your team members. You inspire and encourage your team to do the same by modeling these behaviors.
Maintain an organizational mindset: Avoid siloed thinking and be willing to support team members in transitioning to other parts of the organization that align with their passions and aspirations. This mindset promotes a culture of growth and development.
This list provides practical tips to be an effective learning partner to drive higher engagement. It is by no means an exhaustive list. In the spirit of learning, what else would you add?