Continuing Education v. Continuing Interaction

“This is the end!” you think to yourself as you walk across the stage, shake a hand while taking the encased document, walk back to your chair, and finally swivel the tassel from one side of your graduation cap to the other.

“Free at last!” you think with a mix of ecstasy and exhaustion.

Having spent a bulk of your life working through some kind of learning experience, you’re ready to focus on living and leading … and leaving the books behind!

That is, unless you’re serious about being a leader.

If you’re passionate about not only leading, but leading well, the end of your formal education will mark the beginning of lifelong learning that will be essential for keeping you equipped to lead, serve, and equip others.

How leaders pursue continuing to learn and grow will directly affect the depth and breadth of the educational foundation they have already built. Some leaders extend their development with a continuing education program, while others opt for a continuing interaction program.

Some leaders think they are continuing their education when they are really continuing their interaction. These are the leaders who were more true to the “Free at last!” idea, and have hardly picked up a book since. Instead, they opt for interactive learning opportunities such as attending a couple favorite conferences each year, taking on a mentor, swapping thoughts and ideas on social media sites, or being involved in fellowship offerings with peers.

These leaders try to stretch themselves through continuing interaction with others. This interaction can contribute some to greater depth, but usually adds more to their breadth of experience. Interaction may garner the occasional great idea, instead of whole concepts. Being involved with others provides more example than sample.

Such a pursuit of continuing interaction may help a leader expand their practical capacity, but may not contribute as much to their depth.

Other leaders focus on consistently extending their depth with a pursuit of continuing education. Taking an occasional course, attending a lecture, participating in structured mentoring, studying online curriculums, and creating a personal library from the volume of books they read are examples of some of the methods used by these leaders to continue their education. These leaders strive to go deep, but the breadth of their learning might be limited as their methods are more academic and less practical.

A well rounded approach to continuing to learn and grow is a combination of education and interaction to stretch oneself in both depth of knowledge and understanding, and breadth of experience.

How do you continue to grow and learn as a leader?

Scotty