7 Keys to Successful Growth in Leadership

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7 Keys to Successful

Growth in Leadership

By Dez Futak

CEO Magnetic Marketing Ltd.

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7 Keys to Effective Growth in Business Leadership

by Dez Futak CEO Magnetic Marketing Ltd

Visit

http://dezfutak.com/1yearplan

for more information about Dez Futak's business.

Introduction

When we think of business, there is a tendency to use the term 'growth' in the context of the growth

of the business itself.

In this article, however, I will be focussing on the 7 keys to growth for anyone who involved

business in leadership. The main reason for such an emphasis is to encourage the role and promote

the idea of personal development as being an essential part for any business or organisation.

These keys are an adaptation of Stephen Covey's outstanding book on personal development "The 7

Habits of Highly Effective People", where you can find a more comprehensive exposition of the

material covered here.

Key 1: Interdependence

The appreciation of the need for teamwork

As part of many western societies' goals for young men and women, there is an emphasis on the

ability of the person to be able to make decisions and become skilled independently of the help of

others. This is undeniably an important aspect of a child's growth into adulthood. What is perhaps

lacking as this progression occurs however, is the need to foster and develop interdependence the

mentality and practice of teamwork. Teamwork, after all, is probably the singlemost

important aspect of any organisation's success, and learning how to help your team pull together and move in

the same direction will ultimately mean the difference between success and failure.

Cultivating such an interdependency cannot come solely as a practice, however. There also need to

be underlying principles that you as a leader must develop in your own character, if interdependence

is to show itself in the way you think about and deal with the other members of your team.

I will overview these underlying principles now:

Key 2: Personal Sustainability & Growth

By personal sustainability, I mean the ability to maintain a certain level of productivity in the way

you do your own work, and by growth, I'm talking about how that capacity can develop and mature

over time. Sustainability and growth are to some extent in rightful tension with one another, and if

the tension is a healthy one, you will achieve good balance. If you are aiming to grow too quickly in

terms of your own skills development, and capacity to produce results, one or more of the following

is much more likely to happen:

You will wither burn out, or you will leave a trail of half completed

and vulnerable structures in your wake.

Sustainability in your own life is less immediately visible to yourself or those around you, because

in a sense it's more to do with an investment in or cultivation of your own future capabilities rather

than an attempt to meet your current needs. It has more to do with the personal qualities of a human

being in the areas of mind, body and spirit.

Mind: Continuous feeding of your mind through personal education

Body: Practical exercise routines promoting health

Spirit: Understanding and cultivating an awareness of deeper principles at work in the universe

than just the material world around us, and learning the tremendous joy and fulfilment that

comes as a result of serving others.

Growth is, in many senses the outward reflection of these and other internal qualities, and as you

attempt to grow into new areas of mastery, you should always be monitoring how your attention to

the above is doing. It's easy to see, for example, how lack of regular exercise will diminish you

ability to cope with the demands placed upon you as a leader, if the end result is serious illness.

Less perceptible are the long term effects of lack of attention to your mind and spirit, but these need

equal cultivation if you are to be truly human to yourself or to others around you.

Key 3: Personal Responsibility

Recognition that I am the one who has to work through my mistakes and challenges

There are two sides to personal responsibility: one that acknowledges past mistakes, and the other

that plans for future successes. If we are willing to embrace the part we have played in our past

failures, we are more likely to be able to be successful in what we want to achieve in the future. In a

leadership context this is paramount, because as you rise in leadership, your mistakes and successes

become evermore transparent to others. Accepting personal responsibility is, in effect a humility,

that if practised, will result in a team that will be many times more likely to share openly with you

as a leader.

Key 4: Self Belief

I can make a difference vs I am just a cog in a machine

Genuine self belief comes as a result of personal sustainability and growth, alongside the daily

development of expertise. In this sense, it can't be manufactured solely on the basis of conditioning

of the mind via rehearsal. There *must* be some daily practice or outworking of the skills that

eventually result in mastery. Daily mental rehearsal (sometimes referred to as 'visualisation', but

rehearsal takes into account all 5 senses) has been shown to accelerate the process of gaining

mastery in a particular skill development.

Self belief comes as you develop rituals around the development of these skills. Once gained, your

capacity for growth into new skills increases.

The previous 3 keys have been describing the development of personal qualities; the remaining

3 will be looking more at how the development of interpersonal qualities results in true

interdependence.

Key 5: Selfless Cooperation

The greatest opportunities and boundless accomplishments are reserved for those who work

with mutual respect for mutual benefit.

Selfless cooperation comes when each team member recognises the benefit gained from working for

the benefit of the whole team rather than for each individual's needs. Selfless cooperation occurs to

its fullest extent when each person on the team has the above keys being developed in their own

lives.

Key 6: Deep desire to listen

An ability to focus on what the other person is trying to communicate

True listening focuses on trying to understand the meaning behind the message of the person

speaking to you, rather than just waiting to jump in with what you think are the solutions. When you

truly listen to your team members, the resulting empathy provides a very powerful vehicle for the

remaining key to growth in business leadership: creative cooperation.

Key 7: Fostering Creative cooperation rather than compromise

The ability to find win-win, rather than win-lose/lose-win or lose-lose strategies in conflict

Compromise is often seen as the default position to reach when dealing with conflict. This in effect

a lose-lose situation, because both parties have stepped back from the solution that they perceive as

being the best one for themselves.Win-win

rather than working around it. Working through the conflict happens in its fullest extent when

selfless cooperation and true listening are grounded principles operating within the team structure,

and in each team member.

These in turn are more likely to occur when each team member has mastered their own balance

between sustainability & growth, the acknowledgement of personal responsibility, and the fostering

of self-belief. Then, real interdependence within the team becomes evident.

So, in your role as a leader, you should be aiming to model these keys in your own life to your team,

in ways which will inspire them to follow suite. True growth in leadership happens most powerfully

in the context of the team that you are there to serve.

The above ideas are partly adapted from Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective

People", and have been combined with my own direct experience in working in teams led by

outstanding leaders.

Dez Futak

CEO Magnetic Marketing Ltd. 

,on the other hand, is produced when both parties strive to work through the conflict,

Visit

http://dezfutak.com/1yearplan

for more information about Dez Futak's business

For links to videos produced by Tony Robbins on what it takes to

become truly successful, visit:

http://dezfutak.com/holygrailsuccess

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