What are the best ways for executives to develop leadership skills outside of a managerial role?

Golf Pro’s thrive with a partner caddie! Leaders lead better with a partner coach! A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear and who has you see what you don’t want to see — so you can be who you always have known you can be. A great coach sees all the chess pieces all of the time and has the luxury of not being on the board. Improve your leadership skills — parter with a Coach Caddie!

Expanding our network and influence is what we know best. But, what about focusing on expanding your team and its individuals and focus on the people around you versus yourself or the problem? Get the team right and you’ll get the issue, expansion and influence right.

Get out there, network, and engage with others from different industries and with different backgrounds. Look to develop key skills such as public speaking through going to a group like Toastmasters. I'd also advise anyone to go and volunteer for a board role, such as with a charity or not-for-profit. This will allow you to grow your network and put your skills to the test in projects that will be very different from what you'd usually do at work. I've volunteered for many roles over the years, and I've always found it to be a wonderful way to develop my skills whilst meeting people with shared interests.

One thing executives may find helpful in further developing their leadership skills is engaging in charitable activities in different capacities - e.g. volunteers, fundraisers, organizers. These kind of activities expose them to environments that are often very different from their workplace environments, where they might not hold a leadership position and are required to listen and collaborate with individuals from diverse backgrounds and life experiences.

To not speak at a tactical level.Leadership is the ascension within the corporate world. If you are not a "Born leader" then a lot of tenets such as ethics, integrity & mindfulness in action and intentions are overlooked and overridden in attempt to "Look Strategic" as opposed to "Being strategic" . Conscious cultivation of the above is paramount to earning the "Inside out/Outside in". Creating a niche and a distinct identity by way of thought leadership is a close second. The mantra is "Don't Chase ... Attract"

Think of your organization, company, team like a family — when one member of the family is down the rest rally around to help. This is how companies grow to be 100! Make cross function a verb. In the end, all players must be ready to place the needs of the team above the needs of the individual.

Stretch assignments and projects can exist in two spheres: 1) Within your organization: are there cross-functional teams, pilot test groups, or incubation teams that you could contribute to? 2) Outside your organization: To ensure you don't have a conflict of interest with your job, first read your HR policies and employee contracts well. Some best stretch assignments are in the social development sector, aligned to the UN SGDs. These are great spaces to test your leadership skills, creativity, decision-making, and networking skills. You can connect with policy makers, students, communities and like-minded professionals.

If you can't find senior leaders whom you admire to mentor you, find ways to seek their insights, and listen to their podcasts, and interviews, if there is an event nearby where they plan to speak- show up! Make a list of books written by learners you admire and read them try to implement learnings in your life. I also recommend building complementary skills, if you are great with people try and learn more about technology and sustainability, this helps you expand your perspectives.

Humans always seem to focus on unpacking their errors so as to learn from their mistakes. But, what would it look like to unpack your successes and transplant what was happening in those past moments onto what’s about to happen in the future. Forget your mistakes and understand and dissect your wins. In the same way, unpack the successful leaders and leadership moments and transplant those elements onto who you want to be as a great leader.

Reflection sounds great but what are you comparing it to? If you want to reflect, start first by answering the question of what success looks like for you. What are your goals? What are your realities? What are you obstacles? What is your will? What do you want to be known for in the future that you’re not known for at the moment? And if success is a pie chart of 100%, what are your personal slices and how are they sliced up in the chart? Once you have above, then you can reflect regularly and see where you stand on your personal learning forward journey!

A way you can show leadership is by how you treat other's in lower paying positions that are not employed by you. Be kind to that new janitorial service worker, who is keeping your office clean. Your staff will see this. I see too many Founders and CEOs who forget where they started and have no time for the "little people".

Executives, regardless of their title, can improve their leadership skills by taking on new challenges and pursuing development opportunities. -collaborate with colleagues from different teams to develop communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills - volunteer for a non-profit organization or join a community organization's board - pursue higher education - seek feedback > take 360 feedback seriously - work with an executive coach - work with a senior mentor from within the industry but outside the company -pick up a sport

The future of work is flexible. As a leader, you need to be agile and have flex experiences. If organizations formalize the stretch experience process and embed this into their succession planning practices, the quality fo the leadership pipeline and the probability of new leader success both go up.