If you’re like me, as you’ve grown throughout your life in leadership roles, whether personally, professionally, or both, you may have experienced a desire to improve.
Derek snyder
If you’re like me, as you’ve grown throughout your life in leadership roles, whether personally, professionally, or both, you may have experienced a desire to improve. Improve your techniques, skills, knowledge, way of thinking, and strategies for dealing with someone else. You may have read books, listened to podcasts, and attended conferences on how to improve as a leader. All those things are fantastic! As a leader, we should be developing ourselves. As Pastor Craig Groeschel states, “Everyone wins when the leader gets better.”
In today’s world, with all the problems that inevitably arise as leaders try to pilot a business, a project, a ministry, or a family, why wouldn’t we strive to get better? Why wouldn’t we want to learn more? Why wouldn’t we want to think differently or lead in a different way?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that at times I can get so caught up on improving my skills, that I neglect one of the most important aspects of growing as a leader—others. By others, I mean people in your life who are walking with you through your leadership endeavors. While most leadership advice focuses on how we lead other people, how we perform, and how we can build our own abilities, one of the most important, yet often forgotten, ways to become a better leader is through other people in our lives.
Time and time again in scripture, we see how important relationships are for our lives, and more specifically, as leaders. In the books of Proverbs alone, we are given numerous verses of wisdom telling us how other people can have a dramatic impact on who we are and the decisions we make:
Prov. 11:14, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
Prov. 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”
Prov. 15:22, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed.”
Prov. 19:20-21, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
A shift that I found beneficial in my growth as a leader was not only focusing on enhancing specific skills but also allowing for more time to listen to trusted individuals in my life. For example, I regularly meet and connect with a couple of trusted advisors who listen, advise, and, when needed, push me as a leader. Having a set meeting schedule with others is a good way to stay consistent in connecting. We all get busy and our schedules can get hectic. Be disciplined in your schedule to carve out the necessary time to connect with someone else. Another good action step in this process is to have questions or talking points prepared that you need to discuss. This will help you and your trusted partner(s) focus your discussion. Whether it’s a mentor, a family member, a friend, or a counselor, having someone in your life to help you navigate the challenges you’ll face as a leader is invaluable.
Maybe truly learning to grow as a leader is less about learning new skills, even though that’s important, but about learning to connect with other people more? Maybe learning to grow as a leader throughout this difficult year we’ve all faced is to allow someone to walk with us through the struggles, to help us make the difficult decisions, or just to provide a listening ear.
And while we are all being called to be more “socially distant,” I believe as leaders, now is the time to become more “emotionally connected” with others in our lives.
Derek Snyder is a strategist and servant-leader by nature. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Coplin Health Systems in West Virginia and Ohio and worked in direct patient care early in his career as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in West Virginia. Derek currently serves as the Vice President of Business Development for Mountain River Physical Therapy where he is also a member of he Executive Leadership Team. He currently resides in Parkersburg, WV with his wife (Kasey) and two daughters, Mia, and Emma.
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