Over the last few months I have been really focusing on leadership and ways in which I can improve my own, this has been one of the bigger driving forces behind me getting back into reading after all these years.
As a Kid I absolutely loved reading, the library was probably my second home to a degree. I loved reading and often returned the books well before they where due in order to stock up on a fresh stack.
Not really sure why, but this kinda fell away around the time high school began.
Picked it up for a short time when I had to commute by train to work, not that a train is the best place to read a book, but that was really short lived, maybe a year or so.
Getting back into was important, books have become a very valuable source of information and I always got high scores for my reading comprehension back at school, and what I learned in general through these books is that while not everything is directly applicable to your situation, there are reasons that can be learned and ideas/solutions adapted to work with your team and it’s specific needs.
Going from only ever reading fiction, moving into personal development I opted to start with a routing, a schedule in case it was not as entertaining, that did not last very long as so far most everything I have read has been either entertaining, interesting or insightful, but all of them had some form of captivation, and so far only 1 book I picked up was dull enough for me to abandon it half way.
Dare to Lead / Daring Greatly - Brené Brown
I read both and I group them as they for the most part cover the same topic, vulnerability, trust, connection but from a professional and a personal perspective so I would say individually they are great and working on yourself personally will certainly impact you professionally, but Dare to Lead gave me a lot of insight into the purpose and importance of leadership.
When I first started doing 1:1 with my team it really was a quick “check in” and random conversation, so providing limited value which is probably why when we got really busy, I let them slide and it took ready Dare to Lead to get them going again, but this time with purpose.
While it could have been shorter, biggest take away for me here was around communication, talking about the dimensions of Radical Candor being measured at the listeners ears instead of the speakers mouth.
So instead of focusing on your own “management style”, you need to get to know each member of your team individually and learn how best to communicate both for the team and the individuals themselves.
The Successful Manager - James Potter
This is a nice short, concise but very relatable, almost overview of leadership. It touches on everything the previous ones do and I feel like this would be a great first read for anyone new to, or looking to move into a leadership role; as well as those more seasons as a bit of a summarised refresher.
This is something I’ll keep on the kindle and re-read over my end of year break.