Women leaders, how open are you to learn more about your given craft? It can be an easy trap to feel that because you have performed a certain role for a number of years that there really isn’t anything new you can learn.
WayUp CEO and Google alum Liz Wessel shared one of the seven core values of her company that speaks to the idea of continued learning and growing in your chosen profession.
“At WayUp we have these 7 company values and one of them is “Be a master of your craft, but know you are not the master.” Which means be really good at what you do, but know there are other people out there who are way better at each of the skills, and so go out and find as much information as you can.”
Who can you connect with who is also a master at your craft? Perhaps you are the top within your company, so who might you learn from who is at a different company?
Women leaders understand the benefit of reaching out to others for advice and best practice ideas. No one person can know all there is to know about a given craft.
Chris Brown, president of Marketing Resources and Results, Cleveland, once used the phrase “co-opetition” in a speech she gave at Pod Camp Cleveland. The idea behind the two-word mashup was to combine ‘competition’ with ‘cooperation.’
The women leaders we might learn from could be part of the competition, however, in the interest of learning and growing, there are benefits to reaching out and making a connection.
What books, podcasts, blogs, magazine articles are available to help you learn more about your craft? What classes are being offered at your local college that might give you a fresh perspective on your job?
If you are feeling stagnant in your current role but don’t really want to leave the company, why not seek out other masters of your craft to breathe a fresh breath into what you do each day?
Women leaders who offer continuing education to their team also benefit. According to an article entitled Benefits to Workplace Continuing Education expands on four areas your company will benefit by offering continued education:
Profits Continuing education means you have employees on staff who familiar with the latest innovations in the industry. They can help you applies these innovations to your processes so you can stay ahead of the competition and increase your profitability.
Productivity Employees who are current on the latest innovation can lead the company to improving productivity through implementation of new methods and technology, combined with the creativity of student learning.
Retention Employees who are offered educational benefits are more apt to stay with the company. One reason they stay is that they value the opportunity to keep current in their field without the need to change jobs or foot the bill themselves for classes.
Value Employees offered continuing education opportunities feel valued and are comforted thinking that the company would not spend the money to educate them unless you planned to keep them on the payroll.
Whether you are the business leader or seek to improve your craft, look for opportunities for continued education. Remember the Way Up core value:
“Be a master of your craft, but know you are not the master.”
