Becoming a Resonant Leader: Post #4--The Learning Agenda

Becoming a Resonant Leader (Getting from Real to Ideal Self—the Learning Agenda and Experimentation and Practice).
a.    Organizational performance and personal dreams and goals are rarely linked and thus fall flat. We all want to learn and grow (and be engaged in that process), but that’s rarely connected to what we do at work. In essence, personal development and change is all about YOU and not about performance improvement at work. So, your Learning Agenda/Plan is not a performance-improvement plan. Planning to learn and develop ourselves activates the positive emotional attractor state (hormones and neurology that lead us to positivity—give us hope, compassion and mindfulness). However, performance improvement (for work or for what others want of us) often moves us to the negative emotional attractor state (negativity and dissonance).
b.    Planning Style: People approach the future in three different ways: Goal-orientation, Direction-orientation and Action-orientation (see My Planning Style indicator on pp. 157-8).
i.    Goal-oriented people like to pursue goals which may not be necessarily tied to a dream. For them, accomplishing the goal is the brass ring. And setting new goals moves them forward. About 50% of subjects in a study conducted by Annie McKee on planning styles were goal-oriented people.
ii.    Direction-oriented people have a dream and a good idea about how to get there but are less driven by goals, more so by the dream/vision. Less than 33% of McKee’s study were direction oriented.
iii.    Action-oriented people are in it for the moment—living task by task. For them each task leads to the next—their form of planning is linear and task-oriented and living in the present.
c.    Learning Style: David Kolb’s learning theory.
i.    Comprehending & Apprehending: Comprehending—trying to grasp aspects of an experience. Apprehending—understanding what you’ve comprehended.
ii.    Reflective Observation (focused internally) & Active Experimentation—externally focused on how the environment responds when you try something.
iii.    Resonant Relationships: Develop a personal board of advisors— people who you trust to act as a sounding board. Alternatively, a coach works well.
iv.    Continuous Improvement and Refinement: Experiment and practice to deepen and make new neural pathways in your brain. Change comes from rehearsal and practice.
d.    Learning Plan: Look at your Personal Vision (Ideal Self) and then at your Real Self and note any gaps that exist between the two. The difference with this model is that you’re working toward the positive emotional attractor not trying to stop something (the negative emotional attractor).  The cascade in planning is Personal Vision (5-10 years)  ► Learning Goals (1-5 years) ► Milestones (6-12 months) ► Action Steps (present to 6 months). See charts from p. 166-173.