Why you need a standing 90-minute meeting – with yourself

There’s a quiet irony in the modern boardroom: directors spend hours scrutinising strategy, innovation and future-proofing for their organisations, yet routinely put their own development at the very bottom of the agenda.

There’s a quote often credited to Albert Einstein: “When you stop learning, you start dying.” There’s no record he actually ever said it, but it floats around LinkedIn all the same, because it feels like the kind of sage thing Einstein would say.

However, when you’re dealing with the highly complex workloads and responsibilities of a board position – or several at once – finding the time, energy and bandwidth for personal growth and development can seem next to impossible. Even selfish.

As general manager for people and culture at the Australian HR Institute Matt Connell puts it: “We all carry heavy workloads and unfortunately we tend to not prioritise our own development, which is sad when you think about it. 

“We’re all so busy prioritising everyone else’s needs and pressures that we think of our own professional development as a ‘nice to have’ instead of an important part of our day or week.”

Far from it. A director maintaining and updating their skills is not only a duty of care and diligence, but research shows the desire to learn and improve yourself is associated – perhaps unsurprisingly – with higher overall job performance.

Your growth is the board’s gain

“How much time, money, and effort did you put into your first profession in terms of learning?” asks leadership coach Donna McGeorge. “Are you putting the same amount into your second profession – your directorship?”

McGeorge is author of Red Brick Thinking, which is about how to strip out value-draining time-sucks from your work so you can focus on the things that matter. She says when it comes to learning and development, a lot of leaders see it as a personal indulgence or a luxury, so don’t allow themselves the space and time to do it.

But your personal development and growth are part of how you continue to add value, she says.

Nicole Meehan, a senior leader in the AICD’s education team, agrees. “As the director’s role becomes more complex, staying informed is essential,” she explains. “Investing in a range of learning strengthens your boardroom practice, helps you contribute as a board colleague and prepares you for future board opportunities.”

The speed of change these days means staying on top of things is even more time-pressured than ever. It’s no surprise AI-related training remains in hot demand, according to Meehan. “This also affects the current and future cyber risk landscape, so cyber security with recent quantum developments continues to keep directors awake at night,” she says.

But beyond the specific, technical understanding that so many leaders are seeking out in formal settings, it’s important to push yourself in less predictable ways – and ferret out your own, perhaps less obvious, blind spots, says McGeorge.

“I want leaders to read, listen and look for things they disagree with,” she says. “Because your inbox and your world is full of stuff you already know. If the title of a book or a concept really challenges you, that’s the one you want to read.”

Get comfortable noticing and admitting when you don’t understand something, she says.  

“If you’re in a meeting and something happens that you weren’t really clear about, just ask. Follow up and say, ‘Hey, can you just take me through it?’ If you’ve got smart people around to learn from, use them.”

Set realistic goals and stick to them

Connell recommends breaking bigger learning goals into smaller bites and pacing yourself – it’s a lifelong marathon, after all, not a sprint.

“Don’t overreach,” he says. “I completed an MBA through the COVID years and found a model that allowed completion to be done one unit at a time. I also took a few breaks between units, which was incredibly helpful to maintain the engagement and motivation required. 

“I would also recommend micro-credentials as an opportunity to gain some quick and modern education uplifts.”

“I love the concept of one director who nominates a ‘meta-theme’ each year for a professional development deep dive,” says Meehan. “I admire that practical and focused approach.” 

And while formal qualifications are of course important, not every development goal needs a course wrapped around it. McGeorge couldn’t agree more.

“Don’t think about professional development as, ‘I have to go to a course, go off-site or attend an event’,” she says. “Because if you package professional development up in that way, you’ll never do it. There’s never time for someone at that level.”

Instead, she suggests a standing 90-minute calendar meeting – with yourself.

“No-one’s going to tap you on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey, here’s some PD time’ and make you do it,” she says. “It’s up to you.”

Why 90 minutes? It’s long enough to properly dig into something, says McGeorge. Stop after half an hour and you never quite pick up where you left off. Aim for once a week. If that’s not realistic, once a fortnight or once a month. But once that time is in the diary, defend it, she says. You need to treat it as core work, not a frill – which means it doesn’t get bumped when something else comes up.

And that time slot also needs a plan. 

McGeorge’s advice is to be intentional. Block out the time with a specific activity attached. That might be a walk-and-talk with a peer from another industry, a session with a tutor on a subject you need to get across, or an online course or webinar on an emerging issue. Whatever it is, plan it out.

And the AICD’s own rules now nudge directors towards this kind of regular learning commitment. Members with professional development requirements now need to accrue 20 points a year rather than 60 units over three, which Meehan says is about keeping directors current, rather than catching up in a binge every few years. Her advice is to mix formats – webinars and other short options to keep across emerging issues, and a course when you need to go deeper. 

“The key isn’t choosing one format over another,” says Meehan. “It’s building a learning habit that combines depth with the ability to stay current.”

Einstein may never have said it, but the point stands all the same. “A director can never really stand still,” she says, “because the environment around them certainly isn’t.”