One of the most significant contributions to business failure is the inability to get things done through people.- David Krajenowski
Leaders accomplish their visions through personal growth and personnel growth. Focusing on individual development is fine, but doing something truly significant also involves empowering others to grow to their potential. One is too small of a number to achieve greatness.
For a leader, growing people isn’t just a theoretical, pie-in-the-sky notion; it’s a pressing demand with real-world implications. An organization that’s not investing in its people exhibits all sorts of unhealthy symptoms.
1. Trouble on the bottom line.
2. High turnover
3. Backstabbing and infighting for turf.
4. Complaining that has little focus on real issues.
5. Low motivation.
6. Unaccounted for absences from the office.
7. Poor communications among workers.
8. Long work days but low productivity.
On the other hand, when leaders grow their people, they reap the rewards of high morale and synergies of teamwork.
The most effective way to grow an organization is to grow the people in it. Here are some growth practices that you can apply to grow your team.
1) Develop a game plan to grow others.
The highest function of a leader is not just to lead others; the highest function of a leader is to produce leaders who can lead others. There’s no outsourcing the responsibility to develop the leadership capacities of your people. You have to take initiative to mentor others within your organization
Mentors must possess a specific know-how. Without this confidence and knowledge they are not ready to transfer what they’ve learned to others. At the same time, the object of mentoring is not perfection but improvement. Don’t feel as if you have to be flawless before you can begin to impart your wisdom and skills to others. Also, realize that the underlying purpose of mentoring is not for people to act differently but rather to become different. Such a change certainly doesn’t happen overnight; the process is evolutionary, not revolutionary.
2) Connect with them.
Connection doesn’t happen unless you put in the time to learn about someone’s unique personality, perspective, and motivations. Ask questions about the people on your team to uncover their interests, and observe them in action to find out their capacity and strengths. Finally, demonstrate your commitment to their success by consistently adding value to them, providing constant encouragement, and making yourself available for questions.
3) Challenge them.
Giving others a project that causes them to stretch helps to build their emotional and creative capacity. Conferences and training seminars have their place, but most learning takes place on the job. People grow through actual assignments in which they encounter real-life problems that have immediate relevance to the company.
4) Empower them.
Empowerment begins by painting the big-picture for those you lead. Disney doesn’t give its street sweepers four days of training because street sweeping is complex; Disney wants sweepers who are able to answer guest’s questions about the park.
Empowerment also is all about trust. As Captain D. Michael Abrashoff said, “If all you give are orders, then all you’ll get are order-takers.” Leaders give power to those they lead, and then hold them accountable for using that power appropriately.
John Maxwell grew up in the 1950s in the small Midwestern city of Circleville, Ohio. John's earliest childhood memory is of knowing that he would someday be a pastor. He professed faith in Christ at the age of three, and reaffirmed that commitment when he was 13. At age 17, John began preparing for the ministry. He attended Circleville Bible College, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969. In June of that same year, he married his sweetheart, Margaret, and moved to tiny Hillham, Indiana, where he began his first pastorate.
While serving in his second church, Maxwell began to study the correlation between leadership effectiveness and ministry effectiveness. On July 4, 1976, while preaching at a service commemorating America's bicentennial, John sensed that God was calling him into a ministry to pastors. Within days after that event, pastors began to contact him, asking for his assistance in nurturing their churches. Over the next four years, on an informal basis, John helped scores of fellow pastors. Then, in 1980, he was asked to become Executive Director of Evangelism for the Wesleyan denomination.
Though his time at Wesleyan headquarters was productive, John soon realized that his deeper desire was to help pastors from numerous denominations. He knew that desire would be unfulfilled if he were to stay at denominational headquarters. As a result, in 1981 John accepted the call to return to the pastorate, this time at Skyline Wesleyan Church in the San Diego, California area. But he did so with the church's blessing to pursue his vision. The Skyline congregation allowed him to continue mentoring and assisting pastors even as he led them to new levels.
In 1985, as he continued to equip and encourage other pastors, John took the next crucial step in leadership development. He founded a new company called INJOY and created the INJOY Life Club, featuring a monthly tape for leaders. The fledging operation, established in the corner of a garage, was soon bursting at the seams. The INJOY Life Club tapes were received with great enthusiasm, and the number of subscriptions quickly increased from hundreds to thousands. Simultaneously, the demand for other resources and seminars exploded. Pastors from coast to coast were responding, and their desire for help was even greater than John had anticipated.
As the years passed, INJOY began demanding more and more of John's time. In 1995, he resigned from his position as senior pastor at Skyline following a very fruitful 14-year tenure. The church had tripled in size and its lay ministry involvement had increased ten-fold. Dr. Maxwell is in great demand today as a speaker. Through his bestselling books, audio and video resources, and major conferences, he communicates directly with more than one million people every year. He is frequently asked to speak for organizations such as Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family, but his greatest joy and desire is to help pastors become better leaders.
Because the need for leadership development knows no borders, John established EQUIP, a non-profit organization which trains leaders in urban communities, academic institutions, and within international organizations. EQUIP is also spearheading a movement which has enlisted more than one million pastoral prayer partners who covenant to pray specifically for those who shepherd God's flock.
John continues to seek new opportunities to help churches and church leaders. He knows that one thing is constant: the only hope for the world is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives life abundantly.