At MAP, one of our favorite ways to build understanding around leadership challenges and growth is simply by watching and analyzing great films about leaders. One of our workshops (the MAP Film Series), in fact, provides participants this very opportunity. Through the cinematic storytelling, people can quickly see the themes, patterns, pitfalls and successes within the leadership journey. Provoking discussion gives them the opportunity to reflect, dig deeper, and grasp the impact of leaders’ actions, mindsets and behaviors.

One of the biggest themes that surfaces, which happens to be one of the biggest takeaways within every successful leaders journey, is the absolute need for leaders to get out of their comfort zone. Part of leading yourself requires learning when to embrace challenges at strategic moments in your professional life. That means you’ve got to get unstuck, whether forced or simply on your own accord, even when it feels uncomfortable, risky or downright scary.

Think about some of the most profound movies that feature a strong leader or hero (yes, even Barbie counts!). The protagonist is always stuck in a comfort zone until something either internal or external ignites a need to question, change and grow. In the end, that leader achieves a goal that’s transformative, and the first step, always, is pushing outside that comfort zone. Importantly, however, truly successful leaders get the value of this experience and pro-actively learn to create habits that consistently embrace change, challenges and growth.

If you’re sensing (or are outright aware of) “stuckness” in your leadership, take some of these expert suggestions to heart:

Set your learning goals. Write down what you’d like to learn that will push your comfort zone. Review that list, circle your top picks, and then add those into your self-development plan. Create action steps around those learning challenges, such as researching courses to take, workshops to attend, books to read, etc. Assign dates and hold yourself accountable to accomplishing these goals.

See the sunny-side in leadership development. You’re busy, we get it. But trust us… Having worked with over 170,000 leaders since 1960, we’ve noticed a big, positive difference in the success rates of clients who carve out time to learn new things that improve their job skills and leadership habits. These are leaders who grasped the impact that learning has on confidence, capacity and ability, and didn’t just embrace that realization but consistently took action around it. Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more equipped you’ll be to effectively lead and manage the leadership ropes through the years.

Keep it fun! If learning feels like a chore, this professional development strategy will be unsustainable. Bring an attitude of gratitude to whatever you choose to do that gets you unstuck and out of that comfort zone. Seek out ways to make your journey of growth powerful and positive, whether you build in rewards, take on challenges with other leaders in a similar situation of stuckness, or create an environment that really supports goal achievement in unique and exciting ways. Up that fun-factor and you will up your odds of leadership development success!

Ready to create a professional development plan that gets results? MAP can help. Contact Us today!