That Stuff Will Stunt Your Growth

I have a confession to make: I LOVE COFFEE.

But not only do I love coffee…I NEED coffee. My entire family has learned that until I have had my two cups of coffee in the morning, don’t even try to talk to me. The fog is too thick and you will never get through.

Last summer Laura and I had the opportunity to take our granddaughters to Disneyland. While we were there they found an ideal birthday present for me. This cup…

You know, sometimes you wished the sayings they put on stuff like this wasn’t true. But, this one couldn’t be any more accurate of me: “MORNINGS AREN’T PRETTY.”

You also need to understand that my love…OK, addiction, to coffee is not a recent development. My mother tells a story about hearing my dad and I giggling in the kitchen early one morning. She came in to see what was going on, and there I was sitting in my dad’s lap. He was dipping my pacifier in his coffee and then letting me taste the coffee.

That’s where it all began, and for as far back as I can remember I have started each and every morning with a cup of coffee.

I remember going to my dad’s warehouse several times as a child and drinking coffee with the men that worked there. They would see me drinking coffee and they would always say: “don’t you know that stuff will stunt your growth?” Well, if that stuff stunted my growth, can you imagine how big I would be if I hadn’t been drinking coffee?...

As leaders we need to be aware of things that will stunt our growth. I have the opportunity to coach and observe lots of leaders in a variety of contexts. Over the years I have identified several factors that will stunt a leader's growth. In fact, not only will these stunt your growth - they could completely derail you.

Growth stunter # 1: Lack of trust. Often people in leadership arrived in a position because they were highly technical individual contributors. They were the "Go To" people who could always be counted on to get things done. But the skills required of individual contributors, are not the skills that will make a successful leader. Not trusting others will keep you from letting go of things that should be delegated to others.

Which leads to

Growth stunter # 2: Inability to delegate. As leaders we must see that one of our most important tasks is the development of others. Therefore, we must see delegation as a developmental tool. However, that requires letting go and accepting the fact that the task might not be done exactly like we would have done it. But that is the price to be paid for letting people grow and develop.

Too often leaders hold on to tasks they should release. This is often due to lack of trust; but, it may also be a subtle form of work avoidance. The leader stays busy on these tasks so that they can avoid taking on other tasks that they should be attending to.

Growth stunter # 3: Insecurity. I have seen some people who are so insecure in their position that they feel threatened by others, including their subordinates. The thinking goes like this: "If they learn what I know, they might be able to replace me. So, I need to keep them in the dark so that they will not threaten my status or position."

The other side of this coin is

Growth stunter # 4: Ego-centric leading. Actually, I'm not sure its appropriate to call this leading. Too many people in formal positions are more coincerned about advancing their own agendas rather than working for the good of the organization or seeking to use their position to serve others by creating an environmnet where they can flourish and thrive. These egotistic people use their position and its inherent power bases to take care of themselves instead of building people and organizational capacity.

There are probably some more, but this is a good start. So, let me ask:

What's stunting your growth as a leader?