Everybody knows that organizations have to watch their flank all the time -- making changes, getting better and learning constantly in order to avoid being outpaced by the competition. But what about the individual leaders in those organizations? When execs are too busy doing the job to commit some of their precious time to learning, they ensure their own obsolescence.

But where do you go to figure out what educational experiences are going to work for you and your crazy schedule? Here are four different approaches to consider:

1. External training paid for by your company.
The management development professionals in HR will share with you the names of institutions and programs particularly suited to people at your level. Word of mouth among colleagues is also a good way to find out what the effective programs are.

You can, of course, do some research on your own. A good Web site for exploring potential executive education programs is Intercity Executive Education Services.

Don't forget some of the specialized programs, too. Women, for instance, might benefit from the tailored curriculum at the Smith Management Programs, which features mentoring plans with high-placed executive women. For international execs in the U.S., try http://www.execed.com.

2. In-house training provided or contracted for by your company.
One option is to do some sleuthing on your own to discover trainers who could design modules specifically geared to your unit or organization, so that you and your senior team can learn together.

Dr. Seymour Tilles, for instance, of the Northeastern University School of Business, in Boston, designs learning modules for whole teams. The idea here is that it is much easier to teach a set of skills to an entire group than it is to train each member of the group individually. You can read about executive education at Northeastern here.

3. Your own graduate degree, perhaps reimbursed all or partially by your company.
There are lots of ways to go to school -- for either an advanced degree program or for selected courses aimed at staying ahead of the ever-widening learning curve, particularly in areas of global marketing, finance and technology.

To find out who's teaching what, go to Peterson's online and click on the kinds of study you are interested in. You can search by field and location for the name, address and e-mail for schools at any level.

4. Peer mentoring programs, both formal and informal.
Biblio-training is a time-tested strategy for learning new things on your own by reading selected books and then discussing them with colleagues. The Off the Shelf area [http://executive.monster.com/books/] on Monster.com has suggestions for good reading.

Strategic support groups, an outgrowth of networking and mentoring, help you learn with your peers in small, safe, confidential settings. They're like writers groups in some ways. (And what new writer would try to get started without having a writers' group for support and honest feedback?)

The trick is to find two to four people you trust, and with whom you'd enjoy sharing books, new ideas and problems to be tackled. Meet for two hours a month in a safe place, and see what you can learn from each other.

Having been in strategic support groups over the years and having helped groups of leaders start them many times, I can attest to their effectiveness. As one senior VP told me after she had been in such a group for six months, "The most important thing I learned was that I didn't know what I didn't know before we started meeting."