Five routines that help leaders learn

Abstract

Leadership involves learning to face new and more challenging goals, but past success can result in developing counterproductive attitudes toward learning. Four counterproductive attitudes that often arise from past success include overconfidence, expectations of top performance, belief in consistent and predictable progress, and overvaluing the role of mental toughness. We propose five strategies to help leaders overcome these counterproductive attitudes that we call learning routines: 1) generating positive emotions when facing new challenges, 2) seeking creative solutions to problems, 3) believing you can learn in the face of frustration, challenge, and setbacks, 4) approaching new problems with flexibility, and 5) seeking feedback, coaching, and developmental opportunities. Research and theory-based approaches are proposed for cultivating these five routines to support leadership development and practice.