Leaders Should Always be Learners

I recently presented at the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools’ (NCAIS) conference for Head of Schools, board chairs, and business officers. The topic was on how to build stronger leadership and board teams. 

As an aside, it is very interesting to me that most board education centers solely on the board’s fiduciary responsibilities and not on how the board should work together. While understanding the board’s fiduciary responsibilities is a necessary, it is not a sufficient to develop great boards.  

Anyway, I talked about how all great teams needed a compelling and agreed to purpose, appropriate structures to facilitate their work, and the appropriate team membership. I also mentioned the advantage of team’s having coaches to aid and guide them. 

The talk was about 45 minutes and at the end, I mentioned that just like teams need feedback and guidance to improve, so do speakers and wonder if people would share how I could improve this presentation. 

It was gratifying to hear a number of helpful suggestions--particularly how the talk would be more compelling if I included anecdotes about teams that struggled and then found their footing. 

Knowing that stories are indeed compelling, this suggestion will improve my next speaking engagement.

As a speaker, it is easy to assume you are doing things well and not ask for feedback. The same is true for leaders. People tend to defer to leaders so it is easy for a leader to assume he is doing a great job. However, everyone has room to grow and improve. 

Leaders must find a way to seek honest feedback so they can continue to develop. How will you seek feedback today?