Here are 3 characteristics of an environment that will serve you very well.
- Healthy culture (trust, honesty, grace, high standards, light-hearted, accountability)
- Developmental mindset (growth, training, coaching, etc.)
- Spiritual Leadership (Godly leaders who care about you and are passionate about the vision.)
In the right environment, your potential for growth is significantly increased. However, the leaders may give you a seat at the table and deliver great teaching and coaching, but ultimately you are responsible for your own growth.
3. Asking the Right Questions
John Maxwell’s book, Good Leaders Ask Great Questions, is an excellent source of practical guidance in asking the right questions.
Good questions demonstrate humility, a hunger to learn, and a curious mind.
Good questions require some thought on the part of the one asking. We should not require the one coaching to do all the thinking.
Good questions are not generic; they are thoughtfully prepared, specific, and relevant to something we need to learn.
The next step is to practice the insights we gained by putting them into action through our leadership. (The purpose for which we asked the question.)
I’ve had many young leaders say they don’t know what questions to ask. That’s legit. Start there, “Can you teach me to ask questions?”
If you and I were talking, and you didn’t know what to ask, I’d start by asking you questions about yourself personally and how you could be a better leader. Then I’d ask you questions about the problems you need to solve.
We’d be off and running quickly, and you can learn that same pattern.
4. Making Your Best Decisions
Andy Stanley’s book Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets is an outstanding guide for making wise decisions.
Decision-making is one of the most important skills every leader must learn. There are practical elements like those I’ve written about in this post.
There are also emotion-related elements that highly impact your decision-making process and ability.
For example, the amount of pressure and what kind of pressure you are under require a certain level of emotional maturity to still make your best decisions. Therefore, it’s often necessary to have wise counsel around you to ensure it’s the right timing and you possess an appropriate frame of mind.
Other examples are things like learning not to make a decision when you are angry or learning to wait when you really want something now but it’s not the right time.
I say making your “best” decisions because none of us make great decisions all the time. It takes years of experience. That leads us to the next practice.
