I hear a lot of corporate professionals these days convicted about growing sales, profits or market share, but to achieve any such worthy goals means shooting for something worthier – the growth of people. If you want to build your business, start by growing your people.
Leadership is all about growing big people inside your organisation. Leaders should be the enlargers of souls. I have seen many a man or woman entering an organisation with a shrunken visage bred of constant defeat and failure. In fact, I clearly remember a colleague of mine many years ago for example; when she joined a company I was consulting at. She’d been made redundant and had been completely gutted by the long, drawn out process, and we could tell her self confidence was lacking, regardless of how she tried to hide it. Yet the transformation into a corporate dynamo occurred almost immediately for her when she was offered the gifts of self-belief and self worth. I have witnessed this many, many times: people are capable of anything when they possess self-esteem.
Do you have members of your team who need a boost in self-esteem? How is your self esteem as the leader?
I believe in the people I work with. They want to grow in Leadership and an effective Leader brings about a change in people, which is the highest calling of leadership by increasing the faith they have in themselves to grow. Likewise, their performance escalates in line with their improved self-talk and self-image. All this growth stems from right thinking – on our part, and then on the part of the people we lead.
Have you witnessed this in your business? Where does your thinking need to change in your business? What processes do you have in place to bring about a change in thinking with individuals to growth their self worth?
Right thinking bequeaths a winning mindset. We start to see ourselves as valuable and as having the right to our own dreams and lives of purpose. Discovering we are creatures of purpose empowers us to see meaning and value in all our attitudes and actions. That’s what winners possess – a can-do attitude rooted in deep personal belief, coupled with the high net value placed on their ambitions. Winners see their dreams and ambitions as meaningful – not just for themselves, but also for the advancement of the team they’re part of and even all humanity.
Do you have a winning mindset?
Do your team members have a winning mindset?
Leaders need to see themselves as having been granted a very special mantle – to help other people think like winners and see themselves as high achievers. Real CEO’s are not critics pouring insult after insult: they are inspirers – through their words, encouragement, acknowledgement and pats on the back. To inspire literally means ‘to breathe into”. Inspirational leaders don’t suck anything out of people – they breathe into their follower’s dreams, vision and belief. When leaders inspire right thinking in their staff, employees or colleagues, almost anything becomes possible.
The organic growth of an organisation is in direct proportion to the internal enlargement of people. A very good friend and mentor of mine said it very well: “We don’t get people to grow our business: we are in the business of growing people”. With such an emphasis on people development, you are “forced” into leadership roles where you become a mentor, counsellor, friend, confidant and CEO, all wrapped into one.
Leadership is not about the one with the most money, the most prestige, the biggest office or the best pot plants; it is about the one with the most passion and the highest level of commitment to growing their people.
What programs do you have in place to enlarge your people?
However, growth is not an automatic process and it takes more than some encouraging words and acknowledgement to see continued growth – you must have a PLAN to grow your people. It is a strategic move. Without a deliberate plan, the growth of your team can be easily forgotten in the busyness of business. It’s not something that’s reported on spread sheets or in Board Meetings (though it should) so it’s easily overlooked, but personal growth, as said above, of your team is critical for the growth of your business. Treating your team members with respect, giving them your trust and singing their praises are all excellent, excellent leadership practises, but the thing that sets leaders apart are the fundamental processes they put into place within their organisation to build their team up on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
What processes you ask? One On Ones are a great start. Scheduling regular time to sit down with your team members one on one allows you to connect with each one and discuss their performance and any issues or concerns they or you might have. It formalises the communication process and strengthens the communication within the organisation to drive Accountability and Respect, which are the 2 key platforms to a successful organisation.
This process allows you to lead for growth because you are able to set clear and concise expectations of what you expect – no doubt, no confusion. The only constant is change. It’s a complicated world we live in and the people you lead need optimism. The One on One process allows you to stay connected to the people you lead. It’s a process that builds trust and leads to clarity, alignment and unity. It allows you to add value to the people you lead because it shows them that you do actually value them by developing and making them feel heard.
Do you schedule in time to have One On Ones with your team members? If so, what benefits have you seen? If you haven’t done regular One On Ones, why not? Can I encourage you to?!
From a strategic standpoint, bringing someone into your organisation that ‘s independent, who is a real leader and has created real success in their life brings in a different voice and different thinking to empower individuals one on one and as a group.
Another powerful process is Empowerment Team Sessions driven by a deliberate strategy called Edification – you can promote anyone but yourself. This builds trust within the group and strengthens the unity but it must be done by someone independent.
So can I encourage you to “Breathe” into your team, put time and energy into building them up, developing their skills and abilities, acknowledging their own dreams too. Put into place deliberate, scheduled and prioritised times for this. If you’re not too sure how to go about it, find a good Leadership Coach you trust and allow them to lead you in this process.
If you truly want to grow your business you must first grow yourself and grow your people. Growth is a process and there is a deliberate consciousness and understanding about the importance of growing the people you have around you.
Are the people you lead growing?
