In today’s rapidly evolving technology landscape, it has become important for business leaders to keep their organisations updated with the latest industry trends. Failure to keep pace with the latest trends and best practices can result in missed opportunities, loss of clients and market share and ultimately, business failure. Recently, many businesses that could not remain up-to-date and relevant disappeared from the highly competitive market like they never existed.
Therefore, business leaders, these days have immense pressure to keep themselves educated about the latest trends in the industry. While the latest trends and developments in the industry might be poring over magazines, journals, newspapers and trade publications, it is still impossible for business leaders to stuff their minds with so much information in a limited time.
If you are struggling to keep up with the latest trends and best practices in the industry, you should consider executive coaching. Executive coaching will help you filter out the non-essential information and keep yourself up to date on the most important trends and practices emerging in your industry.
Scroll down to find an answer to your question, “How can I stay up to date with industry trends and best practices through executive coaching?”
Tips for Staying Updated on Industry Trends and Developments By an Expert Executive Coach
It has become impossible for business leaders to advance in their careers if they don’t have their fingers on the pulse of what is new in their industry. However, with many responsibilities, business leaders often neglect the most important one – staying informed on the industry’s trends and best practices.
When you have a leadership coach at your side, they will never let you go off track and keep you updated with the latest trends and developments in the industry. However, if you don’t have the time and resources for executive coaching, we are here to help you. Simon Ellson, expert executive business coach at ActionCoach, shared the best ways how business leaders can stay informed about industry trends and developments, which are listed below:
Allocate Time to Read
As mentioned above, every industry has free web journals, blogs, and newsletters that publish the latest news on trends and best practices. Business leaders can also subscribe to various journals to keep themselves informed. However, these subscriptions will not help you until you find the time to read the information in these journals or newsletters.
Unfortunately, business leaders have so much on their plates that finding time to read becomes impossible. Executive coaches help business leaders to develop time management skills and create a disciplined routine that includes allocating time to read daily. If business leaders do not allocate time to read, all the sources of information will just clutter their shelves or take space in their inboxes rather than get into their brains.
Listen to Business Podcasts
In recent years, the podcast industry has grown immensely. If you are not fond of reading or don’t have enough time to read, you should check out business podcasts. Millions of informative and entertaining podcasts exist for nearly every business industry and niche. Listening to podcasts is undoubtedly a great way to keep up with the trends while you pass the time on your commute, cook your meals, clean or walk your dog or at the gym.
It is completely your choice to listen to a 1-hour podcast or even a 20-minute one. However, the more you listen, the deeper your understanding of the topic you will get. Even if you disagree with the information presented, you will get a reference or common vocabulary to use while communicating with others in your field.
Attend Business Conferences
Do you know what else business conferences are best for other than networking? Business conferences help business leaders catch up on industry developments. However, for that, business leaders need to listen actively. Otherwise, they will just make a few new contacts and head home.
Create an Industry Peer Group
Executive coaching helps business leaders understand that reaching out to colleagues for help and having a good relationship with them is not bad at all. It will definitely not make them less competitive. When you have a leadership coach at your side, they will encourage you to hold regular meeting sessions with CEOs of different companies.
By doing so, business leaders will not only make strong contacts but also get updated on new developments and trends in the industry. However, if you don’t work with an executive business coach, you can take the lead and invite a few CEOs of different organisations over lunch or coffee. Later, you can use this time to share knowledge on industry trends, new developments and best practices.
Create an Internal Role
Staying updated on industry trends and developments has become crucial for any business leader’s career. Therefore, many executive business coaches encourage business leaders to acquire relevant updates from any source possible. Suppose you still lag behind despite listening to podcasts or attending business conferences. In that case, it will help if you assign someone to keep you updated on the latest industry trends.
However, assigning anyone the task will not be a wise decision. You should take your time and identify the right person to task them with providing relevant updates.
Conclusion:
As things in the business world change rapidly, business leaders must change their business models accordingly. Otherwise, their businesses will no longer remain relevant and may disappear from the highly competitive market. However, to make these changes, you should remain well-informed about the industry’s latest trends and best practices.
Unfortunately, it is not as easy as it sounds. Many business leaders struggle to keep themselves updated on the latest trends when they have so much more to do. That’s when executive coaching comes in handy. Executive coaching cannot only help you improve your leadership and time management skills but also keep you updated on your industry’s changing landscape.
