Here are six ways leaders can become more agile and acquire the skills they need to facilitate a learning environment.
From the board of directors to lower-level employees, no organization wants senior management that relies on decades of knowledge. When you become an executive, don’t be a one-dimensional leader, either from a “vintage” perspective or from a functional perspective. Throughout your career, you should continue to stretch in terms of learning.
As you move up the ranks, your role becomes more complex in terms of leadership and management. In these roles, you likely won’t have time to keep up with industry advancements and best practices along the way, and your decision-making ability may suffer.
It’s important to intentionally invest in learning agility, not only in yourself, but also in the teams and organizations you lead. A learning organization is a healthy one, able to adapt quickly to changing environments and recover from ever-present business cycles and crises.
#1 – Be best in class in one or two areas
In many organizations, functions are where high-potential talent is hatched, then focused and leveraged on increasingly cross-functional leadership assignments. No matter how high your career rises, you always have the function you were born with, so your deeper insights usually come from that “root” function.
We encourage all prospective leadership candidates to continue to develop their professional expertise to avoid becoming obsolete in what was once “best in class.” As you progress, you need to broaden your base of expertise. Actively seek out sources of knowledge and educate yourself to be best in class in one or two of his areas or functions beyond the “root” function in which you grew up. A thorough consideration of what the major drivers of organizational growth will be in the company’s next planning period will help determine which areas of expertise to prioritize. For example, my commercial background in the biopharmaceutical industry is extensive and he has been in marketing and sales for 20 years. As my responsibilities expand, I spend more time at the intersection of R&D and commercial to be able to support strategic development decisions and to be involved in the decision-making process about which projects to focus on. became.
Fortunately, it became part of my responsibility along the way. I have been able to learn from attending and contributing to these decision-making meetings. is to find out if you should pay
#2 – Be a Multi-Functional Leader
When entering management, it is important that you are not only best in class in your role, but understand best practices for all other functions in the organization you lead. This makes them effective leaders who can make effective decisions, rather than just janitors. The time to learn that is before you enter the executive ranks. If you represent the entire company and all teams within the company, you must have a general understanding of what all groups are doing in order to build trusting relationships with all teams and be recognized as a leader. I have. Additionally, you can’t be at the beginning of the learning curve for a particular business or function when urgent action is required. This learning process should begin before becoming a very senior leader.
#3 – Start Learning Before You Become an Executive
I doubt that once you’re in the C-suite, you’ll have the time to learn to be a multi-functional leader. Before reaching the C-suite, you should start by broadening your understanding of the industry in which you operate. Be interested in learning from people who are not in your group. it makes you aware. Some people have the attitude, “I don’t understand what you’re doing, so it must be worthless.” In fact, it’s you who are “worthless” because you haven’t spent time understanding what the rest of the company is doing. The best leaders in any function are well connected across groups and don’t operate in silos. So aim to be that person as you grow. This makes working at the C-suite level feel like “what I do.” These leaders are often recognized by members of other groups as a bridge between groups. This realization can be very helpful along the way, especially when you need help solving tough problems, as it gives you richer advice.
#4 – Demand the same learning agility from your team
When a crisis strikes, there is little time to react. However, learning organizations can tackle crises much more effectively. Therefore, it is important that senior recruits have learning agility. Teach yourself, your colleagues, and your direct reports. Introduce incentives that encourage learning and educating your organizational culture (start by spending time on your agenda). Take time as a leadership team to discuss topics that keep you up at night and learn how to solve these problems as a team. We also listen to internal and external examples of how to continuously solve complex problems.
#5 – Create a learning organization
Having a leadership team with learning agility is not enough. The hiring process should focus on hiring employees with learning agility. Your talent management process should encourage learning at all levels. As soon as an employee is determined to have talent for development, they should spend time working cross-functionally with his team and learning beyond their core expertise. Organizations that continue to learn are better able to deal with setbacks quickly.
#6 – Leading Healthcare
Understanding the nuances of your industry is critical to your success as an industry leader. For example, in healthcare, it is important to understand how offerings/modalities fit into the larger ecosystem (reimbursement, doctor behavior, patient behavior). I struggle to improve performance. At that point, leadership starts to doubt you, not the plan. Also understand that the barriers to entry into healthcare are relatively high. Innovation tends to be incremental and not disruptive. As such, having an in-depth knowledge of an industry almost guarantees a long-term career in that industry.
About the author
Paul Fontaine is the former Chairman and CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim USA. He has served on the board of PhRMA, chaired the National Pharmaceutical Council, and been CEO against cancer. He also serves on the boards of several clinical stage biotech companies including Gelesis, DalCor, Amylyx, Apellis, Ypsomed AG and Covetrus (CVET). In addition, Paul serves as Resident Director of Canaan Partners.
This article appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of In the Lead magazine of the Stillman School of Business and its Business Leadership Center. The biannual magazine focuses on leadership perspectives in healthcare, with curated content from leaders across the industry who share lessons learned from real-world experiences.
