By Peter Myers
Increasingly, seasoned talent is stepping out of senior leadership roles and green talent is filling the void. By 2030, 21% of the population will be 65+ (a 25% increase over five years) and Gen Z will represent ~30% of our workforce.
As institutional knowledge and wisdom voids are created, credit union leadership and governing bodies must also grapple with the reality that 32% of U.S. adults score below the baseline proficiency level in adaptive problem solving, and that a growing number are “clustered at the bottom levels of proficiency.”
However, big changes also present big opportunities for those committed to developing their leadership skills.
Enter Generative & Agentic AI
Not only is the composition of the workforce changing significantly, existing processes and jobs are being upended by Artificial Intelligence. Boards are asking for the AI strategy as employees fear being replaced. It’s a new and evolving landscape that requires a new type of leadership adept at problem solving and critical thinking.
Urgent Tasks = A Lack of Critical Thinking
Too often, organizations are reacting to the current reality through a responsive and urgency-oriented work environment. Here are some of the typical traits we see:
- All requests are “important” (service level agreements see to that)
- Quick responses = Rewarded
- Being rewarded = Low-grade operational thinking encouraged
- Consistent low-grade operational thinking = rewires the brain and nervous system to express hypertension
- Tense and operationally focused managers = Task masters
- Task masters = not critical thinking
- Empty inbox = “Now what am I supposed to do?”
As organizations push for ever increasing operational efficiency, the imperative can become noise for managers. Edicts such as “We must become more precise and accelerate the speed of our execution” send mixed signals as it is unlikely to do both well at the same time. And the popular idea that “Innovation is necessary” must also take into account that innovations often come with failures, are costly and can conflict with being more precise.
Taking Control of Your Own Career Path
We all have the option to be accountable leaders, especially in today’s rapidly changing landscape. This is different from waiting for accountability to find you or having a “that’s not my job” mentality as you patiently await a promotion. Leaders seek accountability. Period.
No one has ever (really) been rewarded for blame shifting. Most executives would love to only support, empower, and provide development opportunities to accountable leaders. However, many are not skilled at structuring/providing development opportunities or discussing empowerment. In today’s environment, we must take ownership of our own development.
What is Your Plan?
- Have you explicitly defined your ultimate career goal?
- Set milestones for 3 Years? 7? 10?
- Written it down?
- Formulated specific action steps?
- Accountability partner?
- Reported out regular updates?
(For more on this, go here.)
A Strategy for Your Career
A Leadership Development Plan extracts and documents your primary concerns while building a contextually relevant and comprehensive roadmap for your leadership development. Without the roadmap, you will likely still progress but may not be following the most direct or accelerated path. The plan provides a structure to align your development (and work) efforts for you and your boss.
Six Framing Questions
Here are six framing questions to help you get started:
- What are your one and three-year professional aspirations? Why those?
- How does your development benefit the organization?
- Where will your boss(es) endorse you stretching?
- Who will benefit from your development?
- What technical competency (“hard skill”) do you want/need to develop or sharpen that will support this evolution of your role and career progression?
- What requests/offers do you need to make of your boss(es) to advance your (and potentially your team’s) leadership and effectiveness?
Measuring Leadership Development
We recommend establishing SMART goals that will measure your leadership growth. These should be different than your job’s goals, but you should gain buy in from your boss (on your empowerment). It’s important that they endorse you stretching in these capacities, conversations, and actions.
It’s also critical to solicit their feedback regularly (through monthly, not annual) meetings to discuss progress and next steps. Ask direct questions such as, “What marks am I hitting and missing?”
Remember, you are always interviewing (presenting your candidacy). Get organized ahead of meetings and frame the conversation effectively. Know where the organization has been and where it’s going in addition to what competitors are up to – this includes keeping up with executives and other industry leaders’ profiles on LinkedIn. The questions you offer often leave a bigger impression than the answers you give so be ready to ask well-informed ones.
As you make progress in your leadership development plan, be sure to find or create opportunities to present great content and practice, practice, practice.
Keeping Your Eyes on the Prize
Building/refining your proficiencies in your role (getting better at your job), getting your team’s performance to the next level, and enhancing cross-functional coordination and execution should be the primary goals of an effective leadership development plan. Each one of those goals packs a promotional punch and may open the door to new opportunities at both your current organization and others within the industry. Don’t wait to start charting your career path.
Peter Myers is Senior Vice President, DDJ Myers, an ALM First Co. Note: The content in this message is provided for informational purposes and should not be relied upon as recommendations or financial planning advice. We encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding all personal finance issues.
