Everyone Wins When The Leader Gets Better

Everyone wins when the leader gets better. The leader wins, the leader’s team wins, the organization wins, and the recipients of the organization’s mission wins. There’s nothing wrong with the leader growing, improving, and maturing.

Luke 2:52 states that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with both God and man. Even Jesus, who was God in the flesh, grew. He learned and accelerated.

When you as a leader grow, you’re making a difference in your own life, and in the lives of people around you.

Reasons to Grow

Growth helps us become more effective and productive. Behind the scenes, leaders need to maximize their days, learn new tricks for batching work, organizing their flow, saving time, automating, delegating, and streamlining. You need to grow into those things that help you become more effective so that your time can be focused on what you’re called to do.
Growth gives us insights into those around us. The better a leader can work with his/her team, the better everyone will be. Leaders must continually grow in the area of caring, connecting, and communicating with those around him/her.
Growth helps us manage and lead better. It’s not always easy to make the tough decisions, set the pace, or determine the best direction for the people you lead. Growing your skills and knowledge will aid you in the process.

Barriers to Growth:

Growth takes time. You may find a few shortcuts, but it will take time if you want to grow.
Growth requires energy and discipline. Growing as a leader is hard work. It’s constant. I think leaders are typically early risers because it requires that kind of discipline to improve yourself and your leadership, and to fit it all in each day.
Growth will cost us. Growth will cost more than time. To grow, we will have purchase books, attend growth events, hire coaches and mentors, etc.

How to Grow as a Leader:

Here are five overarching categories in which leaders can grow.

Habits – Jesus was a master of the habit of being in the synagogue and learning. Jesus had the habit of Sabbath rest and early morning prayer and quiet times. Leaders must develop growth habits to grow as leaders. Reading, learning, disciplines, preparation, scheduling, and taking care of our physical and spiritual lives are all supported – one way or the other – by our habits.
Questions – One of the best ways to grow as a leader is to take on a learning posture. Ask questions, listen, and learn. Don’t feel like you have to have all the answers – be a learner. Jesus was a master at asking questions.
Challenge – Pinpoint your current challenge. Challenges help us to grow just as lifting weights helps our muscles to grow stronger. What is your challenge and what are you learning through it? If you don’t have a challenge, you’re probably not growing.
Vision – Your vision for the outcome of your leadership will help you grow as a leader. If you are a parent of young children, your vision for your kids to be successful, faithful, and well rounded will help you grow to be the kind of parent you need to be. The same is true for any area in which you are leading. You will be motivated by a potential outcome – the vision.
Action – Growth requires action and movement. You must take a step even if it’s small. Actions may be as small as writing down goals or taking one step toward a goal you have. Action may be meeting with someone to learn more, reading a particular book, signing up for a conference or event. Your first action may be getting up earlier to exercise and plan your day more effectively. Leaders grow through action. If you feel like you are in motion and getting nowhere, it’s time to funnel your actions toward your goals. You learn to do the essential things for maximum growth.

If you consider yourself a leader, you must grow. And as you do, everyone wins.

You can take a listen to the podcast on this topic here!

Listen to the podcast here!