Dear Daughter,
I was talking to a new manager the other day about how to ensure you learn new things and grow throughout your career. How do you make sure you continually absorb new information and new ways of doing things? It got me thinking about what I’ve done in my career to make sure I learned new things ongoing. I think the most important thing that I did was making it my mission to learn. I observed people and events with an intent to learn from them. Every interaction is a lesson.
You have to make sure that you don’t fall into the trap of becoming a robot that just goes through the day on autopilot-- counting the hours and minutes until it’s time to close down the laptop. We often don’t realize that there are teachable moments throughout our days. Every day. Just look at your situation last week, Elsa, when you had to deal with a professor that could have managed a class discussion better. You learned a ton. You learned how to not deliver feedback. You learned that your words matter and that when you give someone feedback, make sure it’s constructive feedback. You also learned how easily you can impact a group of people as a leader. A leader should be a role model and lead by example since your team will follow your approach.
So, how can you make sure you are open to learning?
You create an intentional and active plan for learning:
Be mindful of and evaluate how you react to situations. How did it make you feel? How will you handle a situation like that in the future? Do you think the other person approached the situation correctly, and if not how should you think they should have managed the situation?
Collect well composed emails that you can use as templates (examples: introduction emails, meeting notes, announcements, etc.)
Observe leaders to see how they communicate and collaborate (remember, to learn from the bad ones what not to do - link)
Collect and study process documentation
Collect templates for different deliverables and plans
Pay attention to Retrospectives since they will provide you with valuable advice of what works well, and what doesn’t
I definitely think that my project management brain has helped me with this in my career. I’m used to looking at projects trying to figure out a better and more efficient way of doing things, and I look at situations the same way. You should evaluate your week on Fridays and think of what you’ve learned and what you would have done differently. A big part of learning is also evaluating yourself and being able to be honest about things you need to improve. So many of us don’t even consider what we ourselves need to change and improve on, and that will prevent you from learning and growing.
So, Elsa, make it a mission of yours. Every Friday jot down what you’ve learned or witnessed that week. Identify things you are going to do differently or start doing moving forward. No event or item is too small!
Happy learning!