We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are

Oprah Winfrey

Growth

Growth doesn’t come from 5 quick steps, 8 important characteristics, or the latest technique to be a successful manager. I don’t believe in quick fixes and chasing the newest, greatest, and latest leadership fad or technique. What I believe in is you. Your awareness of who you are and your ability to understand and accept your areas for development.

There are a flood of books, podcasts and workshops for management and leadership and many of them have great value. I’ve read a ton of books and attended too many workshops to count.  The common scenario looked something like this:

You attend a workshop, get all hyped up about it, swear you will go back to the office and instantly change the world with your new knowledge.  Reality – you try it for a day and the tornado that is your role whirls in. You revert back to coping with your day and the learning material becomes a place for spiders to live.

Occasionally, some follow up and implementation after a workshop may occur; for a few weeks, even a few months. Then the process gets dumped for the next shiny penny.

Books, courses, conferences, podcasts, and articles are a good start. But they’re pretty much useless if you don’t actually do something with the information. The cycle of practice, persistence, review , revise and repeat will allow you to grow and develop.

If you’ve read a post and found it valuable, taken the time to reflect on the Ponder Points, then it’s time to take ACTION.

Practice

Start with a commitment. Let’s say you want to get better at delivering feedback. Make a commitment to deliver a specific type of feedback (positive or constructive) at specific times (every day, twice a day etc.). Be clear on why you’re making the commitment. Is it just to get better at something? What’s the point? How will it impact your effectiveness? How will you know when that has happened? Learning is great, but there’s no sense learning to speak Spanish when you’re taking a trip to France.

Persist

Next, make your commitment visible and track your progress. Blah – who likes tracking stuff? Tracking sounds too much like work. Well, development is work but mostly it’s rewarding. Fortunately there are so many ways that you can personalize and make tracking simple yet effective.

For those who like to journal, write it down and review it at the end of the day. Be sure to have a place for a weekly and monthly progress check. Not into journals? Try one of the hundreds of tracking apps available. The great thing about trackers is they are simple to use, you can set notifications, track weekly and monthly progress automatically, and share with others. You can use something super simple and free or if you love to dig in you can get as detailed as you want. Here’s an article to help you choose.

What about all that social media you love? You can video, pin, photograph, and start or join a Facebook group to keep your progress going. Get creative about how you can use your favorite social media to track progress.

Review

Review your progress with regular check ins. Depending on your goal, this can be weekly, monthly, whatever you choose. But please choose. It’s the only way you will truly know if you have made the progress you set out to. When your progress isn’t going as planned, this is your alert that a change in approach may be required.

Revise

Once you’ve made a habit of your new commitment it’s time to step back and see how it’s working.

Circle back to your commitment. Has your new behavior made the impact you want? What’s working? What’s not? I feel this is a step that’s missed so often. We get rolling on something, so pleased with ourselves that we’ve made progress, but forget to evaluate whether our original outcome is materializing. Input from others is helpful at this stage. Sometimes a mirror isn’t enough to get a really honest self evaluation. So humble up, ask for feedback and ask for help. Then go back to your method of tracking, update it, and keep on growing.

Repeat

To summarize – practice, persist, review, revise, repeat and GROW.

Next Steps – Share & Celebrate

Don’t be shy! Every time you move a step forward Share and Celebrate. If you love the spotlight, then get it out on your social media, share with co-workers, family, and friends. If you don’t like the spotlight, at a minimum share with at least one other person. What better reason to toast with a glass of wine?

SHARE your stories in the comments. SHARE posts with others who will benefit.