Sunday, September 21, 2008

Growth Environment

I've been plugged in to a Leadership Development Program for almost five years now, and the following from John Maxwell re-affirmed for me why;

From John C. Maxwell's book “Your Road Map for Success” (pg 107)


Create a Growth Environment


I mentioned before that commitment to continual growth has it's difficult moments as well as it's rewarding ones. But there is a way to make the journey more enjoyable overall: you can live in a climate conducive to growth. Just as the growth of tropical fish is limited by the size of the aquarium in which they live, you are affected by your environment. If your current circumstances do nothing to help you grow, you're going to have a hard time enlarging yourself to reach your potential.



That's why it's crucial to create an environment of growth around you. That kind of place should look like this:

  • Others are ahead of you: When you surround yourself with people from whom you can learn – instead of just people who are learning from you – you are more likely to grow.

  • You are still challenged: Complacency kills growth.

  • Your focus is forward: If you're thinking more about the past than the future, your growth has probably stopped.

  • The atmosphere is affirming: Industrialist Charles Schwab said, “I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.” The same is true not only of work but also of growth.

  • You are out of your comfort zone: Growth requires risk. Ronald E. Osborne stated, “Unless you do something beyond what you've already mastered, you will never grow.”

  • Others are growing: When it comes to growth, it's better to swim in a school than to try to do everything on your own.

  • There is a willingness to change: Clayton G. Orcutt declared, “Change itself is not progress, but change is the price that we pay for progress.” If everyone in your current situation isn't willing to pay that price, growth will be especially difficult.

  • Growth is modeled and expected: In the best possible environment, growth is not only allowed, but leaders model it and expect it from everyone. And when that happens, everyone's potential is off the charts.

The more positive the environment, the more rapid your growth is able to be. A life of continual growth is never easy, but a good environment makes the swim upstream a little less difficult. And it makes that trip much more pleasurable.

Every item on the list above is fulfilled for me with my involvement with Team. I am so glad to have met Chris & Kristen, and especially that they never have given up on us.

I am so blessed that I didn't have to create the growth environment, I only need to choose to be a part of it.


Sunday, September 7, 2008

Reading - quick quote

Ray Bradbury - "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them"


Also, from a DVD I just watched;

Learning takes no courage – it's the application that's scary!