Let’s say you want some nice, fresh tomatoes, so you decide to grow a tomato plant.

What is your process?

First, you plant the seed. And then, you leave it alone for a while, and eventually, it grows, and gives you some beautiful, ripe tomatoes. No maintenance necessary. Right?

Of course not!

That would be nice! But unfortunately, there is some more to it than that – you have to plant the seed where it gets enough light; water it; and then, only after great care, will you see results.

Growth takes intention!

We don’t get better by accident – growth must be on the schedule to take place. Even the unexpected experiences that help us become better teach us things that we must implement by choice.

Are you growing?

When we are in school, we have our teachers to create our learning plan for us. They create lesson plans and quiz us to be sure we have retained the right information.

When we get a job at a new organization, they train us and equip us with the insight we need to complete our tasks. Then, our manager creates our growth plan so we can maximize our professional potential.

But when you are leading, whose intention is directing your growth? (Hint: if it’s not you, then you’re not growing!)

Many leaders struggle with stagnation. For a season, things will boom; then momentum slows, then things seem to grind to a halt. We try and try to diagnose the issue, but often, we must look at our own development to find the hold-up.

As leaders, we set the tone for our teams. As much as we might plan their growth and use our words to tell them that growth is important, they will do what they see, and not what they hear. If we are not growing, they are not growing – and if they are not growing, eventually, they will stagnate!

I’ll ask again… are you growing?

It is said often that what you value is made clear by your calendar and your chequebook. Time and money are two of your most valuable resources, and how you spend them will clarify what you consider important.

That said, I’d like to invite you to my free training on 2 June, Discover 3 Keys to Developing the Leader Within You. I wanted to offer my readers the chance to begin – or renew – their intentional growth journey right here, with me.

In this workshop, I will dive deep into some insights that will add direction to your leadership development, such as…

1. Recognize what leadership is and is not.

Effective leadership is the difference between a group of people doing separate tasks at the same company, and one team giving their best in collaboration toward a common goal. Still, this word “leadership” is so commonly used and misused, it can be difficult to know just what it is.

For example, a title does not make you a leader. It makes you responsible to your organization for a certain list of duties, but not a leader – not necessarily.

Positional leadership is the most basic level of leadership there is.

In fact, there are five levels of leadership, each with more efficiency than the last. And the only way to grow is to climb that ladder of leadership.

2. Discover the quickest way to gain leadership.

It could be said that all commerce is – the purpose of all businesses, transactions, and even job roles – is solving a problem for a profit. That makes problem-solving one of the world’s most profitable skills, so leaders with a creative problem-solving perspective add value to their company in a powerful way.

And the more quickly a leader establishes the value they can add, the more quickly they can make their impact.

3. Learn the password to leadership.

What leader has never said, “If only there was more time in the day?” Maybe you’ve even said this in the last week – or the last 24 hours! Time is our most precious resource because we can never earn more of it. But so often we find ourselves at the end of the day with still so much left to do.

Sadly, there is no way to add more time to our productivity – but there are ways to add more productivity to our time. 

Likely you know the 80/20 rule – also called the Pareto principle – that states 80% of our results come from 20% of our endeavours. Investing in your most-productive 20% – tasks, team members, clients, etc. – is one way to make the best use of our most limited asset.

There are more – but just so that I don’t take up so much of your time today, I will save the rest for 2 June :)

Has growth got your “intention?”

If you want to open the door to progress for yourself and your team, I would love to help. Join me on 2 June for Discover 3 Keys to Developing the Leader Within You (save your seat here) – you’ll be glad you did!

That’s all for now.

Until next time,

Florin