Leadership peer groups
Why every leader needs a tribe
You can’t effectively lead an organization or team if you aren’t regularly experiencing growth as a leader yourself. It’s just not possible. There are many ways to invest in yourself and your leadership development.
As I’ve said time and again, all successful leaders are lifelong learners. One of the most effective ways that leaders develop themselves is by regularly reading and learning from the stories and experiences of others. John Maxwell, the world’s foremost leadership expert today says that “All leaders are readers.” Another key way that leaders continue to develop and grow is by building mentoring and professional development relationships. For me, this is a personal board of advisors — a group of people I can go to at any point of any day for help and guidance. Think of this as the three, four, or five people that you could text any day of the week, just about any time of day, and get a response.
We can all learn in a variety of ways. And we need to.
But there’s one leadership learning and development tool in my toolkit that is more valuable than just about anything else. It’s the leadership peer group that I participate in through Convene. My good friend Beth Fisher leads this group of business leaders and intrapreneurs who are on a mission to impact the world by becoming better leaders and supporting others in their leadership journey.
A leadership peer group like this is important because it provides a confidential place where you can go to fellowship, connect, challenge, and be challenged. Often these groups are made up of people with a variety of work and life experiences (in Beth’s group we have people in personal finance, commercial lending, nonprofit, consulting, SaaS sales, etc.), which is great because it provides you with a diverse set of perspectives from which you can consider your biggest leadership challenges.
What’s so valuable to me as a leader in a group like this is that I can bring any issue or challenge to this group and within 30-45 minutes get a dozen different perspectives from other leaders on how to work through my situation. They may not have ever done the kind of work that I do, but they bring a variety of perspectives that I hadn’t considered and help me think and explore options to resolve my biggest leadership challenges. That kind of insight and collaboration is incredibly valuable to leaders, especially when you’re navigating a complex challenge or facing something you’ve never experienced before.
If you are a leader and you’re not yet participating in some type of confidential leadership peer group, you need to give one a try. You might just find (as I did) that it’s the most valuable leadership development tool in your toolkit.
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