It all starts off with a thought, not an action. You may have read about something, seen something, tasted something and then you want to understand that little bit more about it.
A wise man once said you grow by reading and as someone who has had dyslexia since childhood I always thought well that’s me stuffed! When I look at the majority of clients who engage with me here at Roud Career Coaching I sense that a great deal of these wonderful clients are actually looking at growing.
From childhood we are constantly growing both in shape & size but also in experiences.These experiences fill our brain. It is most probably that these early experiences will shape our adult future. So what happens when we hit adult-hood? Do we stop growing. Again take a look around any great leader/sport person, musician, artist………I shared a post recently about Sir Peter Snell a multi-olympian. He would have had most possibly started off with just running around his back yard, school field, town and then someone may have said to him ‘Peter you know you have a gift, you could be a great runner’. And it sometimes is just that little bit of support, encouragement that sends a light bulb of in someone and the rest (well for Peter it was winning a number of gold medals.
As a leader I encourage you to look around at your people, those you have maybe hired, incised over from another team or inherited. As a leader one of your main responsibilities is to grow future leaders, to grow people into better people and whilst doing this growing yourself. Growth for any leader shouldn’t stop once you are awarded the grand title, most of the best leaders who work with me are looking to grow and by doing so the natural cycle of team growth flows on. Lets look back at Peter Snell, why you may ask am I mentioning this wonderful human. Well we have taken our family on a road trip around our beautiful country New Zealand and by chance we stopped in a wee small village and a tremendous statue of Sir Peter Snell stood in front of us and this got me thinking and sharing stories with our kids about how does a little boy growing up in a small rural village grow to not only win numerous races around the world but also be honoured by his home town?
When looking at yourself as a leader and in your regular one-on-ones with your teams are you looking to help them grow? What support, advice, wisdom are you going to share with them? How are you going to ignite greater things from them. I remember working for a wonderful Partner in a CA firm many years back and we had regular one-on-ones, in it we spoke about family we spoke about the company and we spoke about the day to day work. But he always made a point of getting me thinking about (me). He congratulated me on things I never thought were important but it is these little things that continue to help one grow. Never underestimate the little things you mention to people you lead. Take time to really push them onto bigger personal things. Sure Peter could have just stopped at running around his back yard but he didn’t and the world is a much better place for it.
I truly believe that within us all lies growth, but what gets will it take for you to take that thought and turn it into an action.
So what are the ways we grow. The world has evolved and will continue to change, we may choice to grow by doing, by observing, by listening, by reading. We may well have a wonderful leader who gives us that small taste of something – and we take it onto bigger things. It may be a curious act that leads you down a new road, one that you have never visited but you like that road and want to go that little bit further. Many of the great leaders have not gotten to where he/she is by chance, they have had a leader who has seen something in them, provoked or suggested and then supported that person onto other things. The world needs leaders who can put their own gains to one side and to continue to honour our future leaders.
As we all start a fresh new week consider your teams, those individuals who work for you, put some time to one side in your one-on-ones and see if you can’t help that person in one way of another.
Lead by helping and supporting them.
Look after yourself and each other
Nick – Coach
About Nick,
Nick is a Master Certified Executive Coach and is one of the Top3 executive coaches in the world on Intelligent Leadership Executive Coaching. Nick partners professionals in their leadership and careers. More information on Nick coaching work can be found here