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!