Accidental PERSONAL LEADERSHIP IS A BIG MISTAKE
Hello everyone I’m Brian Bratti with Bratti Innovation Group (BIG) where we help you achieve BIG Results through Executive/Personal Coaching and Leadership Development. Welcome to my BIG Leadership Blog. Today’s subject is Personal Leadership, the foundation for all leadership pursuits.
Leadership assumes that you cannot effectively lead others if you cannot lead yourself. As a former military officer, I remember learning the leader’s mantra: “don’t just do as I say, but do as I do” and believe that statement applies to anyone in a leadership role. This is because leadership by example creates legitimacy in the eyes of those you lead so if you struggle with leading yourself (Personal Leadership), you most assuredly will struggle with leading others. In fact, John Maxwell, the author of numerous books and the founder of the company for which I am licensed and certified to Coach, Speak & Train says there are two questions every leader must ask himself or herself: 1) What am I doing to develop myself and 2) What I am doing to develop others. I firmly believe developing yourself is the first step towards Personal Leadership and then, ultimately, leading others. So, let’s tackle the subject of Personal Leadership via your own self development.
One of the foundational principles of leading yourself is the idea of being intentional about your own personal growth. If you lead others and are not intentionally growing yourself, you will soon be left behind in terms of ideas and cutting-edge thinking, resulting in the loss of credibility with those you are trying to lead. This is because those you lead who are on intentional growth plans will grow and you will not. Moreover, if you are not intentional about your personal growth, you leave your own personal well-being and growth to chance and, chances are, when left to chance you don’t stand much of a chance in succeeding in being the person and leader you are meant to be (try saying that five times fast). So, what does being intentional about personal growth as a leader look like and what are some of the pitfalls of choosing to not being intentional about investing in yourself?
In his book, “The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth” John Maxwell discusses 15 laws that we must learn, live and master if we want to reach our true potential, the first of which is the Law of Intentionality. The Law of Intentionality states, quite simply, growth doesn’t just happen. And by growth we mean getting better. By not improving ourselves through personal growth, we remain as we are with the only difference being we’ve added to ourselves more years but not more wisdom and improvement. I’m sure you’ve seen examples in your own life where a person can have 10 years of experience and another can have 2 years of experience five times. That’s the difference between growing and aging. They can take place simultaneously but not necessarily. Unfortunately, many of us are not intentional about growing ourselves and this could be due to the 8 gaps that John says stand between where we are right now and the action needed to get us where we want to be. So, to be intentional in our Personal Leadership and growth, we need to identify and avoid or get ourselves out of these gaps. Below are a couple to consider:
· The Assumption Gap: This gap arises from the belief “I assume I will automatically grow.” As stated above, the problem with this assumption is that meaningful growth does not happen on its own and if it does by some miracle happen, the obvious question is how will we know it? If we haven’t set a desired outcome beforehand and have not been intentional about growth, how will we know when we reach it? Many assume we just grow naturally. We don’t. Don’t fall into the Assumption Gap.
· The Knowledge Gap – This gap arises from the belief that “I don’t know how to grow.” Because many of us haven’t had the structure of formal education in our lives for a long time, we aren’t in the habit of setting aside organized time for intentional learning and growing. Therefore, we might have forgotten how to grow ourselves. If you find yourself yearning for growth but not knowing how to do it, consider becoming more intentional in investigating how to put in place a plan for your personal growth today. It will be one of the wisest investments you can make in yourself.
While these are just two of the eight gaps, do either or both resonate with you right now. In the John’s course, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, which I offer to my clients, there is a chart that helps you measure where you are with regard to any gaps in which you may find yourself. Below are a couple from his book that may or may not apply to you:
Accidental Growth Intentional Growth
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Plans to start tomorrow ————–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Insists on starting now
Waits for growth to come ————–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Takes responsibility to grow
If you’re like most people who do not have a growth plan in place, your scores in one or more of these areas in John’s book may indicate where you are being held back and where you may need to become more intentional about taking control of your Personal Leadership. So, I recommend you consider checking out for yourself whether or not you need to become more intentional about creating a Personal Leadership growth plan today. It will be time well spent and you’ll be glad you did it.
Finally, do you want to put your Personal Leadership growth on the fast track? Email me at brian@brattiadvisors.com or check out some of my coaching, training and mastermind group services on my website www.brattiadvisors.com for more information on how I can help you and your organization achieve BIG Results. Thanks and I look forward to being with you next time.