4 ways a leader needs to grow so their business can grow

Christian Muntean Jan. 5, 2022

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I love helping many organizations "unlock" themselves and grow. It is exciting to see leaders break through, especially if I know they've been struggling and straining for years.

What is the big secret that helps leaders get to the next level? They change something. Always. The change they make is almost always personal. And the personal change triggers an organizational change.

Personal development is leadership development. Leadership development is organizational development.

If you want your organization to "get to the next level"—whatever that means to you—the answer starts with personal development.

Some leaders love this. They love the fact that the answer lies in the one thing they have the most control over (themselves).

Some leaders don't love this. They don't like the idea that they might need to change. Or that they might even have something to change.

Why is there resistance to change—especially when it leads to growth?

Fear and arrogance: Often hand-in-hand

In my experience, when a leader resists personal growth, it boils down to two reasons: Fear or arrogance.

Fear:Many leaders carry fear. Fear of not measuring up, being seen as weak, being seen as "less," being found out for not knowing everything, fear of making a mistake…

Leaders have a tendency to bolster their self-image with successes and accomplishments. This makes sense. I'm not immune to it either but it's a shaky foundation for a stable self-image.

Why? The more someone achieves, the more there is to lose. Success (especially if measured through accolades) is difficult to sustain. Fear of failure often grows along with success. It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Arrogance:Arrogance is a deception. It's the perception thatIam somehow more valuable or better than someone else. When I allow arrogance space, it distorts my perspective. Over time, the only thing (or person) that matters is me. My vision. My risks. My goals. My efforts.

Enormously arrogant leaders are often also enormously insecure. They might express it differently than some. But it is still there and it holds them back.

Where the work needs to be done

1. Identity: The self-image of a leader determines much of what a leader can accomplish. A healthy self-image for a leader includes two central ingredients:

• A sense of acceptance or worth:When people describe a "good" leader, they use words like, "courageous," "humble," "caring" and "honest." These traits are naturally expressed by leaders who are comfortable with who they are. These leaders aren't easily threatened. They don't feel they need to prove themselves.
• A sense of self-efficacy: Self-efficacy is the belief that we can act and achieve results. There is a mature confidence, accepting both effort and risk. But also believing that intentional actions can achieve intentional results.

2. Vision:Most people are natural visionaries. The problem is most people only exercise this negatively—through worry or anxiety. They easily imagine what might go wrong.

A natural result of a healthy identity (as defined above) is the emergence of a positive vision—or a picture of a desirable future. There is a self-reinforcing dynamic here. Small visions pursued and accomplished reinforce a leader's sense of self-efficacy, which then allows a leader to pursue and accomplish a larger vision.

3. Self-discipline:Structure creates freedom. This is an unwelcome fact for many leaders, especially entrepreneurs. And structure depends on the self-discipline of a leader.

Every growing organization hits a phase where it is no longer possible to be everywhere at once. A leader can't see everything that's going on. Structure is needed. It helps identify success metrics, for clear and consistent communication, to ensure consistent processes and results, to be able to track results, and so on.

Many leaders struggle with putting structures in place. They like being able to do what they want, how and when they want. But when they are self-disciplined, they find that the freedom they want is only achievable by building structure. Which requires self-discipline.

4. Trust:Trust comes from knowing someone will do what they say they will do. It's the ability to count on the character, reliability, or quality of work from someone. Leaders often fear being taken advantage of. Or someone's work not measuring up. So they don't delegate authority to others. This is one of the primary reasons why organizations stagnate. Because they don't trust, they can't widen their organizational stance and grow.

Trust becomes much easier when there are good structures in place to help you track what is going on. But it also has to come from a place of willingness. To grow, a leader has to be willing to trust others. This means making yourself vulnerable to others, which isn't easy. But it allows growth.

Your growth makes everything grow.

Take a moment for an introspective coffee break. It might change everything for you:

• Is there something about how you see yourself that is holding you (and those you lead) back?
  • If so, what will you do about it?
• What kind of vision do you tend to have?
  • What positive vision do you need to pursue?
• Where are you resisting structure?
  • How is that preventing future freedom?
• Who (or what) do you struggle to trust?
  • What can you do to give an opportunity for trust to grow?

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Christian Muntean is a seasoned expert in fostering business growth and profitability. With a Master's degree in Organizational Leadership and certifications as a Master Coach, Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), and International Mergers & Acquisitions Expert (IM&A), he guides entrepreneurial leaders through growth, succession planning, and exit strategies. He is an accomplished author of three books, including Train to Lead. Christian resides in Anchorage, Alaska, with his family.  Learn More »

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