It is one thing to grow and another to continue to grow. Continuous growth is essential for lasting quality leadership. No organization can grow beyond the level of its leadership. The height any organization will reach is greatly determined by the growth level of the leadership. Once a leader stops to grow, the organization he/her leads automatically stops to advance.
Leadership is not just about position or titles. Leadership is about influence. A leader is somebody who can influence other people to follow him/her to achieve a particular set of goal. The bane of our generation is not scarcity of leadership but lack of leadership growth. People assume leadership positions everyday but only few make conscious effort to grow and only few organizations put in place modalities for leadership development. This is why there are "dwarfs" in leadership positions today. This has stagnated the growth of many organizations, including the church. Many organizations have become stagnant because their leaders are ordinary maintenance officers who do not have focus for growth because they too are not growing.
QUALITIES OF A GROWING LEADER
A growing leader is a:
- Learner
- Spiritually sensitive person
- Passionate leader
- Trail-blazer
- Fearless /courageous leader
- Thinking person
- Goal-setter and goal-getter.
**HOW TO GROW IN LEADERSHIP **
Ways one can grow in leadership includes :
a. Personal growth: this involves spiritual growth, physical growth, mental growth and emotional growth.
b. Vision
c. perspective
d. **Commitment **
e. Passion
f. Self-discipline
g. Problem-solving
h. Raising leaders
i. Sacrifice
j. Love
k. Prayer
HOW NOT TO GROW IN LEADERSHIP
They include :
Sin
Deceit
Pride
Arrogance
Greed
Selfishness
Laziness
Imitation
Insecurity.
DANGERS OF LEADERSHIP'S LACK OF GROWTH
a. organizational stunted growth.
b. Loss of focus/vision
c. Confusion and disorganization
d. Majoring in minors
e. Rebellion/break-away
f. Loss/wastage.
CONCLUSION
The need to have quality leadership cannot be over-emphasized. This is because no vehicles can head towards any direction apart from where the driver directs to.
References
Purposeful living for students