I am a huge fan of professional development and leader development. I've always been a junkie for it. This goes back decades. I was like this in the military, I was like this when I was working for a Fortune 100 company, I was like this when I was pastoring at a large church, and I'm still like this now that I run my own company.

I love leadership development.

I would pursue a second doctorate if it didn't mean taking so much time away from my family. This is less about wanting another certification and more about my deep desire to learn. That is one of my top strengths from CliftonStrenghts: It's to learn. Many people have told me that I'm one of the most curious people they know. I'm curious about people; I'm curious about the world; I'm curious about things.

Whenever I pursued some professional development or advanced degree, I came back feeling inspired and eager to implement what I've learned to transform my team.

But if I'm being honest, when I tried to convey these valuable strategic insights to others, I often encountered a lack of interest. The truth is, this builds resentment instead of understanding.

This is a common trap for a lot of top leaders. The more complex an idea is, the harder it is to share and implement it across the organization. The leader might have spent days learning something at a conference or training, but think about the perspective of the rest of the team? They didn't have the opportunity to go to the class, so it's like they're behind and have to catch up.

This can create resentment towards the top leaders, where the rest of the team is saying, “They are at it again; the leadership has another book that they want us to read because they went to a three-day conference.” Considering that the executives that attend these trainings are only about 15% of the organization, there is another unintended effect: We create a sense of “I'm in the club” if you are part of the group that gets to go to see a famous leader speak. But if you are not going to the conference? Well, you are not part of the “in-crowd.” That is, if you are not part of the leadership team, then you are not reaping the benefits that come from going to the school, conference, or cohort. The executives that attended the conference got the benefits, but the remaining 85% of the people didn't.

What if we did something different and instead of developing only the leaders, we invest in leadership development programs where everyone participates and understands what's going on in order to shape the organizational culture effectively?

What you truly need is the ability to ensure that everyone within the organization can understand and embrace the language and vocabulary you use. At RethinkWork, we emphasize the importance of implementing programs that are simple, scalable, sustainable, and meant for everybody. Not just for the people in the ivory tower. Not just for the executives. But for the entire organization. Yes, this will take money and time, but it is an investment in your people. It takes more than just having people read a book. If you have some principle or practice that you think will be transformational, you don't want to be exclusive with it. You want to be inclusive. 100% inclusive. You want the WHOLE TEAM bought in. You want the entire organization to be transformed in some way.

Your people – all your people, not just the ones at the top of the org chart – are the key to your organization's success. All your people are vital. Be intentional about having a plan to develop them.

Don’t Fly Solo, Learn as a Team