A Must Read for All Leaders

I was fortunate enough to be chosen to preview Leaders Made Here by Mark Miller.  This book will make you really evaluate yourself as a leader.  Mark is a superb leader who puts all his principles into a simple, easy to read story.  You will become engrossed in the story while being taught essential leadership traits at the same time.

I strongly encourage all leaders especially in the Law Enforcement community to grab onto this book and really start evaluating yourself and your organization.  We can never make a true impact on our communities until we build a strong leadership culture in our own organization.

Below is a guest post from Mark Miller about Leaders Made Here.   P

Four Ways to Stimulate Growth in Others

Engaging and developing others is one of our primary roles as a leader. For some of us this comes very naturally and for others it is a discipline that must be cultivated. Regardless of the ease or rigor required, the leaders we admire the most figure this out.

One way to drive engagement, not to mention productivity and satisfaction, is to help people grow. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to do this. This is a topic we’ll certainly revisit in the future. For now, here are four things you can do as a leader to help those around you grow.

Share what you’re learning. This does a couple of things – it models the desired behavior. You’re demonstrating that you are learning. This makes your encouragement for others to be a life-long learner more credible. Assuming you do it well, it also influences the behavior of the person or group you’re sharing with. They should derive some value from what you’re sharing.

Ask great questions. When we ask questions, we’re helping others think. When we give answers, we often deprive them of the chance to learn and grow. Jim Collins talks about the need for leaders to become Clock-builders vs. Time-tellers. One of the practices he encourages is to double your current ratio of questions to statements. Questions help people grow.

Share opportunities. You and I often have opportunities that others on our team do not. We’re often invited to meet with people and go places because of our position in the organization. Take people with you. Send them on your behalf. Expand their world every chance you get.

Provide challenging work. How did you learn to lead? If you’re like most leaders, there were several significant factors – people, training, resources, time, etc. If we each made a list like this, we would find we all included actually leading something. The truth is that most of us learn the majority of what we know about leadership from leading. Actual hands-on experience helps people grow the most. Don’t miss the value of giving your people challenging work.

These are just a few ideas to jump start your thinking. If you haven’t devoted focused attention to this part of your role, give it a try. You may discover that helping people grow is one of the most satisfying things you do as a leader.

How do you help your people grow?

Mark Miller is the best-selling author of 6 books, an in-demand speaker and the Vice President of High-Performance Leadership at Chick-fil-A. His latest book, Leaders Made Here, describes how to nurture leaders throughout the organization, from the front lines to the executive ranks and outlines a clear and replicable approach to creating the leadership bench every organization needs.