Your leadership and enterprise will only grow as far as your commitment to see them grow. Organizations do not grow out of thin air. It takes effort, great effort. You can never be a great leader without great effort.
It is folly, to say the least, to expect a return where there has not been an investment. You cannot be a great enterprise or leader without a commitment to do what it takes. Leaders that embrace this truth intentionally create ways to grow themselves and their teams.
These leaders have put in place measures to grow themselves and other leaders. They seek out growth opportunities such as conferences and workshops to be challenged.
They are constantly asking questions on how they can get better and are open to be challenged by those in their organization and the ones their organizations serve to be better.
(Great organizations have leaders that listen to those they serve with and those the organization serves.) It is a great feat, if not impossible, to grow an enterprise without growing its leadership.
Change for Growth
While enterprises work to grow their leaders they often overlook one critical blind-spot. Many leaders and organizations often make the mistake of challenging their team without creating an environment that allows them to come challenge the organizations.
Leaders are grown and returned into an organizational environment that does not allow them to extend the same growth to the enterprise. Rules, policies and procedures sometimes stand in the way of the change that we challenge leaders to bring in organizations.
Clarity
Be clear about what change or growth you want to see in your organization. After you have prepared your leaders for it, you need to engage them on the implications for the organization.
Find out what things stand in the way of bringing about the change. What rules or policies will stand in the way?
Consider This
It is counterproductive to build your team to bring change in your organization and simultaneously stifle them in doing so. You constantly need to check if your organization’s environment is conducive for growth you want to bring.
Assess the alignment of the measures you take for growth with the readiness of your environment for the best return on leadership and organizational development. Be careful that you are not squaring blame on your team for growth and change that is not happening.
It could be that you have not made the rest of your organization ready for the change you want to realize. When you send your team for training are you giving them enough space to practice what they have learned? Do you trust them enough? Perhaps the issues may be that you do not trust your team enough.
However you grow or plan to grow your enterprise, make sure that it is adequately prepared and ready for the change you want to make. Growth is only possible with change.
See to it that you do not frustrate your leaders by charging them to bring growth but inhibiting them with an environment that does not allow for change.
illustration by sean macentee | (cc)
Question: what are the other blind spots in growing organizations and leaders?