Been preparing for my 15 Laws of Invaluable Growth mastermind workshop at my organization. It’s the first time I’m facilitating this program at my workplace. Everyone’s excited and eager to learn more about personal growth. One
of the obvious reason is that most organizations primarily focus on competencies, skills-development, team development and/or leadership. And yes, all those are important aspects of a healthy and productive workplace but I think we ought to address the person before we get to assess and upgrade their knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
Of course, that’s going to ruffle some feathers. Organizations and HR leaders don’t see an ROI in a workshop that focuses on personal growth. What happens if everyone realizes they’re better off elsewhere? To which, I usually shrug and say, “if they intend to leave, they’ll just leave sooner.” That’s a fact you can’t change.
The way I see it, the person comes first, followed by the people around him/her, succeeded by the leader among them. I believe that’s the pathway to become an intentional leader than an accidental one. You know who they are. The ones who’re holding on to position and power but barely have any influence over their subordinates or peers.
The intentional leaders are never born. They’re made. They first commit to growing themselves personally. And then build onto the new found habits to become an effective team player and influencer among peers and subordinates. Then they stack up additional skills and insights to develop the leader within them. Guess what, that’s an origin story right there! All it took was having the intent to grow personally.
The realization is enough to know that growing is a process that takes time. There are rough terrains to be tread and ruts to get into but the best among us will figure out a way to push themselves and come out of it. Each time and every time. Because they know the key to getting out of ruts is to decide not to stay longer and get comfortable.
John Maxwell said it the best, “the only difference between a rut and a grave is the length.” And people with an awareness and compassion for person growth know that.
If you’ve ever aspired to be a leader, know that it all starts with a commitment towards personal growth. No manual on leadership would prepare you to lead and influence unless you have not gone through the process.
Person > People > Leader
The HR leaders or the board of directors may not see an ROI in this practice and probably there isn’t any. But there’s an ROE (return-on-engagement) that will change the game your people think. And that’s all the trigger you need to unlock exponential growth. But like all things, it’s easier said than done. Takes a lot of courage to embrace something unconventional like this.
In my opinion, it’s a risk worth taking. The worst that can happen is that some of your people may choose to graduate early and become potential leaders elsewhere. The best would be that your people take charge of building a culture of intentional leadership.