When you are working within a leadership role, it can be very easy to become stagnant. If you find yourself in this exact position, the struggle of pushing forward and getting the most out of your career can be all too real. However, taking a leap of faith, focusing on your education, and establishing where you want your leadership career to go are all essential elements to success. If you want to learn more and discover how you can push your leadership career to the next level, keep reading.
Knowing You Are Ready to Make the Next Move
If you feel like a spark is missing within your current leadership role or that you have lost the direction and drive you need to move forward, it is probably time to start taking your leadership career to the next level. Settling is no good and will not be beneficial to anyone. So, instead of staying put, push yourself once more. If you are unsure as to whether or not you are ready to move on or not, then look at your weekly working week. Evaluate your level of happiness and satisfaction throughout the week. If you feel that the week is lacking kick, or you are just waiting until Friday comes around, then you know that you are ready for a change.
Deciding Where You Want to Be and Pushing Forwards
After establishing that you are ready to pursue both change and growth, you next have to decide where you want to be. As you are currently in a leadership position at the moment, progression within leadership feels natural. For example, you could pursue an executive leadership post. Alternatively, you could focus on senior leadership roles. Pushing forward and breaking through barriers or guards you have set can be difficult, but if you do not push yourself to achieve more now, you may well regret your decision further down the line.
Establishing What You Want to Achieve and Why
What exactly do you want to achieve as a leader, and why? Have you achieved what you wanted to in your current post? Establishing what you want to do and why is crucial because this, in turn, acts as a driving force for your career and your future. Without this end goal in sight, you could find yourself just drifting through leadership roles without really gaining any satisfaction or achievement. So in your next role, what are you hoping to achieve? Do you want to create a more cohesive leadership team? Or, do you want to push the company into new markets? Once you have established this, you will have a light to guide you at all times.
Analyzing Your Current Leadership Skills and Approach
When you are looking at where you want to be, you should also be looking at what skills and approaches you currently adopt. For instance, are you are a leader with great analytical skills who leads from the front, or are you a great communicator who leads from the middle. When you have established what approach and skills you have to offer, you can then focus on improving this to ensure that you are a progressive leader who welcomes and embraces change.
Returning to Studying and Going for a Doctor in Business Administration
To improve your skills and your approach, you would benefit from studying once again. Yes, you already have your master’s, but there is still so much to be learned and gained that it would be a shame not to continue with your education and really see where it can take you. Studying for a doctor of business administration online can allow you the chance to really hone your business research skills. Within a doctor of business administration, you will get the chance to research key areas that are crucial to business and perhaps to your industry. When you have more targeted and specific skills to offer, as a result of the enhanced study, you have an advantage on your side, which will come into use when you apply for new leadership positions.
Balancing Studying While Working
Of course, studying while you are working can be challenging. Balancing deadlines and other commitments can be tricky, even for the most experienced of leaders. To ensure that you do not feel overwhelmed, you need to ensure that you can spread out your learning. Ideally, you will want to study for your doctors in business administration over a longer period of 4-6 years, as this will give you plenty of time to absorb and digest what you are learning. To further help you get the right balance, you also need to create and utilize support networks. Having people around you to lean on is crucial. When you are juggling a leadership position, other commitments, and then studying on top, you will need all the help you can get, so be cautious about who you say no to, as they may not offer assistance again.
Growing Your Skill Set and Your Leadership Skills
At the same time as increasing your knowledge, you also need to focus on growing and enhancing your skill set and set of leadership skills. No matter how long you have been a leader, you will always have room for improvement, and you will always be able to do things a little bit better. To establish where your areas of weakness lie, you need to be honest with yourself. For example, if you struggle to listen to others and take on board their thoughts and ideas, then you need to be more proactive with listening and communication. As a great leader progressing with their career, you need to ensure that you hone and polish as many skills and areas of weakness as you can.
Being Dedicated to Make Sustainable Change
When you take your leadership career to the next level, it is important to remember that you must focus on making sustainable changes. Implementing sustainable changes within yourself and within your new post will ensure that changes can be maintained moving forward.