Have you ever attended a training course because you thought ‘I don’t know enough?’. I have. Have you spent days in training rooms and workshops listening to content and leadership ‘experts’, only to return to work and not know how to apply any of the theories that were mentioned?
As a small-business owner and a facilitator of leadership and high-performing teams, there is always a nagging doubt of ‘do I know enough’, ‘have I done enough’. In this field, there is always someone writing, blogging (ironic, I know), speaking, podcasting and discussing leadership. There is a desire to accumulate as much knowledge on the subject as possible, constantly reading, discussing and talking with others who also talk about leadership and teams.
In my opinion, knowledge is only as good as it can be applied to something or someone. Leadership knowledge is useful, as long as it can be applied and put into action for yourself, your team or your business.
Far too many leadership programs (and associated coaching and workshops) focus too much on knowledge, and not as much on how that knowledge can be applied to make a difference. I have seen far too many potential leaders looking what they can learn from a leadership program, rather than consider what they can apply. Leadership itself is about application – people lead through action and people respond to action.
In this sense, tangible action is power.
Take Action!
If you are looking to learn more about leadership, focus less on the knowledge, and more on the application. Ask a trainer / facilitator / coach ‘how would you use this in the real world / in my business / with my team?’ If they can’t answer the question, one of two things is wrong. Either the theory isn’t all it is cracked up to be, or the person teaching it has no idea how to use it (or hasn’t used it themselves).
Your team and your business will be grateful for the things that you tried and applied, rather than the things you thought about and never actioned.
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Kameleons – Leadership Training In Action
Kameleons delivers training for tangible action rather than knowledge – focussing on developing leaders to build high performing teams for improved business outcomes. Take a look at our Executive Leadership Coaching and our three signature leadership programs:
– Leadership Accelerator Program for new and emerging leaders,
– Altitude Leadership Program for current leaders and teams developing themselves and their leaders
– Velocity Leadership Workshops – for teams seeking high performance from the existing team.