Helping Expand Your Leadership Influence
I’ve been blogging now for 8 months. That’s a lot of posts. But the posts I got the most feedback on were from my “Lessons from the Farm” series where I reflected on leadership learnings I’ve gleaned from my time growing up working on my dad’s farm.
Today’s Check It Out is the first post from that series, and one that I needed reminding of this week: Training with a purpose. Click here to check it out.
How do you sharpen your leadership sword?
Obviously, the most efficient way you do so is by reading this incredible blog. But other than that, what have you built into your daily and weekly rhythm to help you expand your leadership ability?
I’ve talked around this subject before, but perhaps you learn by reading, or by listening to podcasts (I share some of my favorite podcasts in this series of posts).
Here are a few thoughts I have about how to build into your rhythm a sense of leadership development:
The bottom line is if you are serious in growing in your leadership, you have to be serious about learning. However you learn best, embrace it. Don’t be comfortable, but don’t guilt yourself into apathy, either. Always be willing to learn, and your leadership will continually expand.
Have you ever done something you never thought you would do?
For me, it’s running. I used to think people who ran 5K races were crazy. Now, I’m one of the crazies. I’ve run 5Ks (including one during a vacation), 5 mile races, 10Ks and even a half marathon.
Every time I’ve trained for and completed a race, I can look back and see decisions I made along the way that helped me achieve the goal. The most obvious was simply the choice to spend time running instead of doing something else.
Our leadership principle today is a simple one: Today’s decisions. Tomorrow’s direction.
The decisions we make today affect where we will end up tomorrow. For leadership, the implication is rather simple: are you making decisions today that will make you a better leader tomorrow?
Are you reading leadership blogs (like this one), books, and articles? Are you listening to leadership podcasts that will stretch your understanding of what it means to lead? Are you surrounding yourself with people who will help you grow as a leader?
What have you set up in your routine each day that will help you expand your leadership influence? It may be as simple as sending an encouraging text each day, or clicking over to Amazon to find a good book on leadership. Or, maybe it’s adopting the three questions and trying to answer them each day.
Remember: Today’s decisions. Tomorrow’s direction.
Back in May, I posted a series called “Lessons from the Farm.” Today’s Check it Out is a link back to the first in that series, titled “Perspective.”
What happens when the wheels literally fall off? Click to find out.
Do you know the hardest part of writing a blog? The consistency of having to write another post. It comes up three times each week, like clockwork.
Ministry is the same. Sunday is always right around the bend (or Wednesday for many youth ministers).
Farming was the same. No matter how many years in a row you planted a seed, the next year it was time to plant it again.
I imagine CPAs have the same feeling. Regardless of how hard you work from January to April 15 one year, the next year you will have to work just as hard.
But in the midst of the mundane, there is beauty. In the midst of the repetition, there is opportunity.
Something a mentor pointed out to me not long ago is what he called the “redundancy of leadership.”
What does that mean? Simple: a major part of leadership is repetition.
Take, for instance, the three questions (you can read about them here). The three questions work great when you use them one time, but they find their greatest impact when they are asked and answered on a regular basis. The more frequently you answer them, the more integral they become to your leadership style and effectiveness.
The problem, however, is when redundancy carries a negative connotation. Who likes getting their teeth cleaned every six months? Or, who enjoys shooting hundreds of free throws? Or, what parent anticipates the excitement of yet another dirty diaper?
The redundancy of leadership means having the same conversation over and over. Sometimes the audience changes, but sometimes the message and audience remain the same.
The redundancy of leadership means yet again casting vision for your organization, even though you did it last week, or last month, or last year, or all of the above.
This week, embrace the redundancy. Find the beauty in the mundane. Excavate the excitement of the repetitive. And, above most other things, hang in there.
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