Reprising a theme from the beginning of this book, experience is an opportunity but only when we capitalize on it. With the knowledge, insight, and skill you've acquired, you now have everything you need to make the opportunity of experience your own and leverage it to the fullest.

It's not enough to have a great opportunity before you. As you've no doubt realized, making the most of your experience involves hard work and, at times, some pain and sacrifice. You need to have a strong motivation to invest the time and effort necessary to become an experience-driven leader. It needs to mean something to you personally.

So take a moment to ask yourself what you will gain as a result of applying, practicing, and refining the mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets featured in this book? How will they change you as a leader? As a person? What will they enable you to do that you haven't done before? How will they lead to different results for your career, team, and organization?

Identify those things you might gain that resonate with you most strongly and make sure your efforts at developing and growing your experience-driven leadership skills bring you closer to achieving them.

When you're ready to set some goals, keep these time-tested, research-based fundamentals in mind.

FOCUS!

When you're motivated and excited to develop and change, the temptation is to take on a bunch of things at once. Well-intentioned? Yes. Ambitious? Yes. A recipe for success? Hardly. Focus your efforts on a select few areas (maybe even one) that will really yield an impact and tap into your underlying energy and passion. Now you're heading in the right direction. But not so fast. Consider what you're getting into. How hard will it be to change? How long will it take? A quick reality check might lead to identifying an area of focus that, while still challenging, has a better chance of success associated with it.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT KIND OF GOAL

Different goals fit different purposes. Three in particular are relevant to developing what you've learned about experience-driven leadership.

• BEHAVIORAL GOALS CHANGE HOW YOU ACT.
• COMPETENCY GOALS IMPROVE A SKILL.
• OUTCOME GOALS MEET A TARGET.

One type of goal is not better than another. Just consider which goal is the most appropriate for the area of focus you've chosen.

HAVE A PLAN

It seems obvious, but a lot of people just go straight to doing. Yes, that's consistent with sensemaking and some of the other skills we've highlighted, but it doesn't apply as well to intentional, goal-focused behavior change. No need to get too fancy. A solid plan should include the following four elements:

• TACTICS: THE SPECIFIC STEPS YOU WILL TAKE.
• RESOURCES: WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE THE CHANGE.
• TRACKING: MEASURING IS KEY TO MAKING PROGRESS AND RECALIBRATING WHEN NECESSARY.
• CELEBRATING: THAT'S RIGHT. YOU'VE EARNED IT!

DEAL WITH OBSTACLES

Things will go wrong. Let's repeat. Things will go wrong. Anticipate it. Have a plan. Learn from what happened. And most importantly, don't get discouraged. Pick yourself up, get your bearings and keep moving ahead.

TAKE ACTION!

MORE ON THAT NEXT.

CONNECTING GOALS TO YOUR LEADERSHIP JOURNEY

To tie this together, here are three more tools that will help you with the critical task of putting your goals into action. An element common to each is staying focused on building your development as an experience-driven leader into your day-to-day activities. That way, your development isn't separate from your work. It is your work.

Applying your development efforts in the context of a key leadership challenge is an excellent way to galvanize your efforts. To identify the right leadership challenge, consider the following criteria. Your key challenge:

• SHOULD BE OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE TO YOU.
• SHOULD INVOLVE OTHERS WHO ARE INVESTED IN THE OUTCOME.
• SHOULD BE ONE THAT HAS PERSISTED FOR SOME TIME.
• MIGHT REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN VALUES, ASSUMPTIONS, OR BEHAVIORS OF THOSE INVOLVED.

Examples of a key leadership challenge may include

• GAINING BUY-IN FOR A CHALLENGING REVENUE GOAL FOR THE SALES TEAM.
• SECURING BUDGET AND BOARD APPROVAL FOR A NEW INITIATIVE.
• LEADING A CHANGE INITIATIVE.
• MERGING DEPARTMENTS WITH A NEW GROUP.
• BEING SHORT-STAFFED AND NEEDING TO COMPLETE A HEAVY WORKLOAD.

Take a moment to identify a leadership situation or challenge where you are being called upon to use your best leadership skills.

DESCRIBE THE SITUATION BRIEFLY BELOW.

IDENTIFY THE SPECIFIC CHALLENGE.
(“HOW DO I . . .” OR “HOW AM I GOING TO . . .”)

HOW WILL THIS CHALLENGE PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE IN BEHAVIORS THAT WILL HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR DEVELOPMENTAL GOALS?

At this point, you should have a clearer sense of where you need to focus your energies to become an experience-driven leader. It's important that you take ownership of this, but of course it's a much easier and more productive task when you've got someone in your corner. We recommend partnering with a manager or peer to hold you accountable, using this commitment as a motivational tool. Your accountability partner should:

Consider now some of the key things you would like to address in your development and specifically how your accountability partner might best support you.

DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE/GOAL

HOW MY ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER CAN SUPPORT ME

We define development in place as adding challenges (at work and outside work) that broaden your portfolio of leadership experiences. These opportunities don't only come in terms of major promotions or job changes. You can also seek out significant learning opportunities as part of your current role, laying the groundwork of experience. For example, when you take on high-stakes assignments, tight deadlines, or unfamiliar tasks that a boss delegates to you, these experiences prepare you for new roles in the future.

Consider these questions when evaluating development-in-place opportunities:

• HOW CAN THIS CHALLENGE HELP ME ACHIEVE MY DEVELOPMENTAL GOAL?
• WHAT ARE THE MINDSET, SKILLS, AND TOOLS I NEED TO PRACTICE?
• WHAT ARE THE SUPPORT MECHANISMS I NEED, AND WHO CAN PROVIDE THEM?

The road ahead of you is long and will have twists and turns. All the better. That's the nature of learning from experience. It's more about the journey itself than the destination. And the missteps and misadventures along the way offer some of the greatest opportunities for learning and growth.

So keep moving on your journey. Drawing from the past. Fully realizing the present. Looking ahead. Stay on the journey long enough that your ability to capitalize on experience becomes more than just a set of skills. It becomes a way of life.