Month: October 2023

4 Shifts to Make to Unlock Your Leadership Growth, Part 2

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How have you grown in your leadership capacity over the past month? The past six months? The past year?

Growth isn’t always immediately noticeable. But I really hope you can look back at the past twelve months and point out how you have grown. Maybe you added an arrow to your quiver, like moving conversations from surface to something more using intentional questions. Maybe you’ve spent more time pouring into someone. Maybe you’ve swung for the fences and learned something along the way.

I realized this morning I made a mistake with my first post. I assumed ignorance on your part. It’s possible I’m not sharing new information with these posts. In fact, it’s probably very likely.

So why am I writing them?

Because these are the things I either (a) wish someone would have shared with me 20 years ago or (b) completely missed when someone shared them with me 20 years ago. Sometimes we need to hear the same thing for the first time again.

Here we go.

2. Leadership is Most Effective as a Group Effort

I write a lot of my posts directed to you as an individual, hoping to help YOU grow as an individual. But the truth remains: we are better together. The very nature of this blog proves itself. I enjoy writing and reflecting, but I am better if you grow as a result.

Leadership can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, the best leadership isn’t lonely. Leadership works better when we understand we are part of a team working to improve. Accountability, camaraderie, encouragement, problem solving and so much more are only enhanced when multiple people participate.

Please allow me to be blunt. You need other people. You need people who will come alongside you and support your wild ideas. You need people who will challenge your outrageous ideas. You need people who will encourage you when your crazy idea doesn’t work.

And leadership is not always a top down activity. Sometimes leadership happens every direction in a group. The bottom rung of the ladder can still leverage influence up, if the leader understands and champions that everyone has a voice and a role.

For me, it’s easy to tackle opportunities on my own. To take things into my own control and move forward. After all, who knows what should happen better than me?

But leadership is better, stronger, longer lasting, and more effective when we lean into the reality that leadership is most effective as a group effort.

What shift do you need to make? Who do you need to invite into the conversation?

4 Shifts to Make to Unlock Your Leadership Growth, Part 1

How have you grown in your leadership capacity over the past month? The past six months? The past year?

Growth isn’t always immediately noticeable. But I really hope you can look back at the past twelve months and point out how you have grown.

Share this:
Share

How have you grown in your leadership capacity over the past month? The past six months? The past year?

Growth isn’t always immediately noticeable. But I really hope you can look back at the past twelve months and point out how you have grown. Maybe you added an arrow to your quiver, like moving conversations from surface to something more using intentional questions. Maybe you’ve spent more time pouring into someone. Maybe you’ve swung for the fences and learned something along the way.

Whether you can answer the questions above or not, I want to share with you the first of four shifts you can make to help unlock your leadership growth. Collectively, these shifts may not produce immediate results, but as you learn to lean into them, I think in time you’ll begin to see the benefit.

Here we go.

1. Learning is a continuing process.

Recently, I had a conversation with a former student and reflected on life after seminary. It took me quite a few years for me to decide I wasn’t done learning, but when I did, something started to happen.

Instead of relying on things I had learned, I started to pull from things I was learning. I know it’s a subtle shift, but hear me out. Instead of tapping into a well that was potentially growing stagnant, I started to tap into a well that was producing.

How do you learn best? Reading? Listening? Watching? Do you prefer a live workshop? What about an online masterclass? A YouTube deep dive? We live in an age where we have no excuse not to learn!

For the longest time I’ve identified myself as an auditory learner. My early days on a tractor taught me to appreciate the power of an audiobook over music (might make a good Lessons from the Farm post). But lately, I’m starting to realize how reading a book unleashes creativity in me. I can miss a lot when I listen to something (just ask my wife!), but a different part of me engages when I read the words on a page.

What’s your attitude about learning? What’s the last book you read that challenged you? What was the topic? I love a good Harry Bosch novel, but Mac Lake highlighted an itch I’ve been trying to scratch for the past year!

If you’re ready to unlock some leadership growth, embrace the reality that learning is a continuing process. So get started!

Make These Three Decisions Today To Unlock Your Leadership

We all face an abundance of decisions during the day. Some of those are as simple as what to wear, what to eat, when to eat and so on. But some decisions take a little more intentionality and thought.

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We all face an abundance of decisions during the day. Some of those are as simple as what to wear, what to eat, when to eat and so on. But some decisions take a little more intentionality and thought.

Today I would like to share with you a simple framework to help you unlock your leadership throughout your day. These are not the end all questions, but they do put us in a place where we are willing to meet the needs that arise around us.

  1. Is This A Situation Where I Need To Be First? Sometimes we meet an opportunity and find ourselves waiting for the response of others. But what if you need to be first? Be the first to send the text or email, to make the phone call, to start the conversation, to acknowledge the problem, or to meet the need? Sometimes leadership is as simple as making the first move and letting people around us respond accordingly. Where do you need to be first today?
  2. Is This A Situation Where I Need To Be Second? A few years back I was shown this video, and it has stuck with me. Every leader needs someone who will respond to their leadership. That includes people with whom you work. Maybe the best leadership move you can make today is to be the first person to go second, thus validating an idea or project. Where do you need to be second today?
  3. Is This A Situation Where I Need To Be Last? I am the type of person who hates to leave, so I always find myself hanging around to the end. But being last isn’t just waiting, it’s serving until the end. Be the last person working, the last person making effort or progress. Being last means you’re setting the tone for what finishing really looks like.

My theory is you do one, maybe two, of these really well. Maybe you like to take charge, or maybe you naturally respond to the leadership of someone else. Great. I’m glad you know that about yourself.

Now, push yourself a little further. Unlock your leadership and push yourself to work on the others. Which of these decisions does not come naturally, and how can you lean into that decision today?

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