The Finnish broadcasting company studied executives from large Finnish companies and concluded that top executives spend on average 10-14 hours a day at work, 3,5 hours work during weekends and use about 4-6 hours a week for hobbies. Only 29 % said that they have enough time for their families with even less time for friends and other important things.
The paradox is that we have no time to figure out ways to manage the whirlwind that life today is. We are so busy that learning and development becomes an extra, not a part of one’s work. Yet the recent Workplace Learning & Development Report revealed that 90% of executives feel that learning and development is a necessary benefit to employees.
Personal leadership, time management and peak performance are on the agenda of many of the development programs that Hanken & SSE Executive education offers. Many theories and studies support the fact that setting a personal vision for development and breaking this vision down into clear targets that you can focus on monthly, weekly and daily, helps drive personal motivation and growth. The challenge is that personal development, is often, as the name suggests, everyone's own responsibility. A parallel could be drawn with getting into shape for the summer, everyone knows how to do it, but it is very easy to not reach any results.
So how to stick with it? A personal development culture that includes personal development goals, should be implemented and followed-up regularly throughout the company. This enhances both performance and efficiency in the organisation.
Life is all about learning and true curiosity drives both people and companies forward. Summer is a good time to reflect and broaden your perspectives to shift your natural way of thinking. A few examples on how to do this during summer could be:
- See an art collection, think about what the artist was thinking when creating the piece
- Read some books, and discuss themes and characters with somebody
- Listen to podcasts about things that you would like to know more about
- Ask people about their learning experiences and their tips on continuous learning
- Write a list about the things you like in your job (or life) and the things that you want to change. Start with the easier ones and build your courage as you go along to the bigger things.
Hanken & SSE is on a mission to build the leaders of tomorrow for business impact. We continue growing together with you and we are now developing new exciting initiatives that help you lead from the future. We very much look forward to sharing those with you.
For now, it is my great privilege to thank all you, our fantastic customers and partners for this excellent spring and wish you a summer full of winding down, reflection and enjoying the good things summer has to offer.