How Are You Growing?
As we are in the midst oft he football season, I am reminded of how important setting goals are in order to be successful. At the beginning of every training camp, each of the 32 teams sets a goal of winning the Super Bowl. Obviously some have a better chance than others (a team whose name starts with S and comes from Pittsburgh). What is interesting is that a team sets a goal every week to win the game. Even in the midst of the game they are setting goals to get a first down and then score touchdowns. If teams didn’t set goals at the beginning of the season to win the Lombardi trophy or game by game to score touchdowns and win, they would not experience success. It is the same way with leadership. If you don’t set goals, you will not grow in your leadership. Do you have goals set for growing your leadership? Let me give you three areas that I have set goals in.
1. Reading. The saying goes, “Leaders are readers”. I have set a goal for myself both personally and professionally. I have a list of 15 books that I want to read this year that will help me grow as a pastor. They are mostly leadership books because that is my interest and one of my strengths. I want to be a better leader and recognize that I can grow that gift through reading. I also read to grow as a person. My personal goal beyond the professional books is reading 25 books or 7,500 pages outside of work. I want to be well rounded as an individual as well as a leader. You might not be able to sit down and read, but there are books on tape available from your local library or from Audible that you can listen to in car or at the gym. What are you reading to grow you leadership?
2. Listening to podcasts. One of the things I like to do when I go to the gym and am not playing racquetball is plugging in my headphones and listening to podcasts. There are so many that are available. I listen to sermons, but also to leadership podcasts such as Andy Stanley and Perry Noble. I also listen to other podcasts as well to learn about things I am interested in. It is very easy to download and listen to podcasts on your phone as you are going about your day. What are you listening to?
3. Spending time with other leaders. While I have not been as intentional with this area, I want to spend a few hours every month having lunch with a leader who I want to learn from. I want to be able to listen to them talk about leadership in their life. Fortunately in my job, I am around leaders on a daily basis from whom I continue to learn. Each of you in your own way as I spend time with you helps me to grow as a leader. So while I want to set the goal of spending time each month learning from other leaders, until then you are helping me grow into the leader God has called me to be. Who are you spending time with?
You don’t need to necessarily have goals in these areas but do you have specific growth goals? Do you have a plan to grow as a leader and how are you going to get there? That is the important thing to growing as a leader.
[1] Today Matters, 281.