Development for Drive for Learning
Supporting the Lead Success Profile

Tips | Tools | Websites | Courses | Books

Tips

Whenever you are in a meeting or seminar, listen carefully for a least one idea that you can integrate immediately into your work. Establish a board in your office where you can post and share the ideas you are working on.

Start a "tip of the day" e-mail for the people on your team. Rotate the responsibility of providing the tip with your team members.

Seek a project or assignment that requires you to stretch outside of your comfort zone.

After each meeting, give yourself a score on effectiveness and write down three things that you can do next time to make the meeting better.

Have each member of your team list the top 10 mistakes the team made the past year. At a meeting, exchange the lists randomly and read them aloud. Write the items on a chart and rank them by the number of times each was mentioned. Then ask: "Are we still making the same mistake today?" If yes, ask: "What will we do to correct it?" If no, ask: "How did we fix it and what did we learn?" (You can do a similar exercise with top 10 successes.)

Reflect on the results of a poor decision and try to think of at least two alternative solutions before moving forward.

In your daily calendar, write the behaviors you would like to practice or improve. Write them in red so they stand out. Make practice a daily ritual.

Read one of the books listed in the resource section for this competency. Pass it on to someone who you know would benefit from the information. Consider marking your favorite sections for him/her.

Get input from your team on what went wrong in a particular scenario and their perception of what could have been done differently.

Set a life long learning goal-take a class, read a book, join a professional organization, etc. to achieve your goal.

View differences with others as an opportunity to learn from and about other people.

Discuss with your manager the value of completing a multi-rater feedback assessment process, such as Wells Fargo's INSIGHTS, in order to get in-depth feedback on your strengths and development needs.

Create a personal "board of directors" (3 to 5 people who know you well, are invested in your success, and are not necessarily a part of your organization) and ask them to brainstorm three "breakthrough ideas" to help you become a better leader.

Select a personal improvement objective and share it with your team. Ask for weekly feedback on how you are doing. (Improvement objective ideas can come from a multi-rater feedback instrument, from your development plan, or from direct feedback by your manager, peers, or direct reports.)

Schedule the Wells Fargo Learning and Development course you've been meaning to attend. Enroll today.

Find out who the experts are on various topics within your business or region. Make the time to get to know them and ask them to share their expertise.

Whenever you are a participant in meetings, make it a practice to observe the leader and write down one effective behavior that you would like to practice. Make a note in your daily calendar as a reminder to use this new behavior.

Make it a priority to learn from your team members. Start off your week by writing down what you learned from them last week. Understand the impact of these learnings on your business and take action. Recognize the people you learned from as a way of continuously building a learning environment. If your journal is blank, ask yourself "Am I listening to my people?"

Identify a person whose life exemplifies life-long learning. Spend an afternoon with this person to develop an appreciation for his/her wisdom and approach to life.

Plan time to learn. Bring team members together in a professional learning group to broaden everyone's perspective on business trends. Ask each team member to pick a trade journal or business publication that he/she will follow. Make it an agenda item at your regular business meeting that group members report any relevant information and the impact on the business.