Attributes to Coach Vikram- The Executive, leadership and Career Development Coach
Who doesn’t love to be the best at something? To be the person others come to when they feel lost or tangled in some problem and regard you as their intellect superior? Who doesn’t want to be an expert in what they do?
When you are an executive leader in a major organization, having technical expertise within the industry is important. It gains you the respect of your colleagues, as well as adds credibility to your brand of leadership.
Praveen Tipirneni, CEO at Morphic Therapeutic says, “We need our managers to have expert professional knowledge and judgement in their field, so they can have a deep understanding of the problems at hand and the ability to develop ideas and solutions to address those problems.”
And, it makes sense. Let’s say, you’re leading a team of software engineers, you must have the fundamental knowledge of testing, and knowing what is needed to develop and implement a particular software.
Domain expertise is critical for a leader to tackle challenges and devise solutions.
For all the good we talk about, however, reaching that sweet spot is not an easy task. Even though every single one of us carries the will to win and rise, few of us actually have the will to prepare for it. And as to why that is, a case could be made against all the things we’ve been told about how to study, learn, or train, all our lives.
Gaining knowledge or learning a skill shouldn’t feel like a drag. And, if you’re ready to do what it takes to be the best, you should start following the given tricks:
- Discover a Mentor
The X-Men had Xavier. Harry had Dumbledore. Frodo had Gandalf. Mike Ross had Harvey Specter.
In the endeavors you wish to excel in, it is absolutely essential to have an experienced hand guiding you through the journey. A mentor helps you grow, as well as expand your learning and working capabilities; they reveal your weakest points and show you how to improve upon them.
If you are lucky enough to find the right mentor and establish such a relationship with them, you will find them not just caring about what you learn, but also how. They stick with you through your best and your worst moments. They are willing to say, “No,” and let you know when you are going wrong. This kind of mentor-mentee relationship is the key to achieving outstanding results in terms of both functional expertise and joy of learning.
- Figure out what’s important
Gaining expertise in a field is never about learning just one singular thing; it’s got to do with learning multiple things and following a multitude of steps. Trying to learn all of these little things or take multiple steps in one stride is almost always a mistake. It is also not very helpful to equate excellence with perfection; in other words, to be an expert in a field doesn’t mean you have to know every single thing about it.
When playing a game of chess, for example, one way is to play blindly and think about each and every step. The other way would be to think about just a few powerful principles at a given time that can apply to the entire game in many different circumstances. Doesn’t the latter seem much less time-consuming and more rewarding? The hallmark of expertise is figuring out what information is important and focusing on learning just that.
- Practice like the Real Thing
Does a band’s practice session need to be as good as their live performance? Does a business presentation, to be given in front of your superiors, need to be practiced beforehand to perfection? Should a batsman perform as well in the nets as he does in a match? The answer to all the above questions is an absolute yes.
Research has backed the theory that people tend to perform better in a task if they have practiced it in a similar fashion as when doing it for real. One can play tennis in a practice setting so frequently that it then becomes routine, which in turn could help make him the ultimate champion on the court. By being in the same state of mind in both situations, you feel a sense of familiarity and comfort, which adds to your confidence.
- Make use of “Desirable Difficulty”
Even though casual reviewing or re-reading material a few times is one of the most popular ways to learn, it’s also one of the least effective. An alternative that can be used here is Bjork’s “Desirable difficulty”.
Robert A. Bjork and Elizabeth Bjork, cognitive psychology researchers based out of UCLA, closely studied the facilitating effect of apparent impediments to learning. And they found that “any activities that involve testing yourself—that is, activities that require you to retrieve or generate information, rather than just representing information to yourself—will make your learning both more durable and flexible.”
Their scholarly work helped in provoking that you learn better by working harder to try to retrieve something from memory. The underlying principle behind Desirable Difficulty is that learning is more durable and deeper when an intentional effort is put into it. The more time you spend in your discomfort zone, the better and faster you learn.
- Don’t forget to take Naps!
“You’re able to get more done on a good night’s sleep, not less”, argues Matthew Carter, PhD, a sleep specialist at Williams College, in his TEDx talk.
There is no dearth of studies building a strong correlation between the efficiency of your task and your average amount of sleep. You’re not learning or performing as well as you could be if you’re not getting enough sleep.
It’s understandable that not everyone has the time to take out long hours from their busy schedule and tasks filled with deadlines to get a good night’s sleep. That is, however, what naps are for.
Overall, power naps have been proven to be highly effective in improving cognitive function and increasing creativity.
Summary
Great leaders embody a multitude of attributes – from strong analytical and interpersonal skills to confidence in forming strategies and making decisions. In our rapidly-changing and ever more complex world, learning on one’s own is becoming increasingly important. But, more than that, learning how to learn is fast becoming the ultimate survival tool, especially if you hold a leadership position in the corporate world.
