How to Develop Leaders - Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast

Hey, before we go to this episode of the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast, I wanted to let you know about a special leadership event we have coming up. As many of you know, Craig has the opportunity to speak at leadership events throughout the year, sponsored by Catalyst One-Day. Catalyst One-Day is coming to Oklahoma City on October 24th. Craig will be joined alongside Levi Lesko, teaching leadership throughout the day. Plus, Catalyst One-Day has created a special discount for all of our listeners to register and take advantage of this promotion. All you have to do is go to catalystleader.com and register using the promo code CraigPodcast. It’ll give you a 15% discount. That’s catalystleader.com and the promo code CraigPodcast. With that in mind, we’ll see you on October 24th. And now let’s go to this episode of the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast.

This is the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast. It’s great to have you back for another episode of the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast. If you’re new with us, we release a brand new teaching on the first Thursday of every month. And we’re very passionate about investing in leaders because we know that when the leader gets better, everyone gets better. But what we do each month is pretty similar. What I’m going to do is try to answer questions as often as I can. Then we’ll do a short teaching. We actually review the teachings so we drive the message in even deeper. And then at the end of the episode, we do application questions, which, to me, is so important because we don’t just want to receive information, but we want to apply it to our leadership so we can get better and help our whole organizations improve along the way. If you have questions, ideas, comments, suggestions of topics you’d like to hear about, email me anytime. You can email me at leadership@life.church.

On the last episode, we talked about the dark side of developers. When you’re trying to develop others, there’s a dark side to it. Today, I want to talk about practically how do we develop leaders. Let’s start with a couple of questions and then we’ll get into new content in our teaching. Carly asked this: Carly said, “I struggle with innovation or big-picture thinking. I want to contribute to my company and provide value beyond my role. What are some questions you consider to launch creativity to better your organization?”

All right, Carly, I love the way you asked that question because here’s what you said: You said, “What are some questions you consider?” I think that innovative ideas often begin with asking great questions. So let me give you a couple of questions you might want to ask and then a thought to consider. The first question that I would ask is this: What problem are we going to solve? What problem are we going to solve? Notice I didn’t say, “What problem are we trying to solve,” but “What problem are we going to solve?” Innovative ideas come out of solving problems. Sometimes people think we’re just gonna be innovative. In my world, a lot of leaders say, “We just want to have an innovative idea.” Well, innovative ideas are born out of solving problems. So identify clearly the problem you’re trying to solve, and that can lead to innovative ideas.

In the second question, Carly, I’d ask is: What do we have? So often people ask, “What do we need?” or “What do we not have?” But we’re gonna start with what we have because what we have, even if it may not be enough, is a catalyst to innovation. So often people think we need more: We need more time, we need more resources, we need more this or that in order to be innovative. But innovative ideas are often born out of limited resources, not unlimited resources. In the early years of a company, a startup, what you’re gonna find is people have to be innovative. After a while, once the organization is built, has a lot of cash flow, sometimes they become less innovative because they learn to depend on resources instead of innovative ideas. And so let’s ask, “What do we have?” We’re not looking at what we lack; we’re looking at what we have, and we’re gonna apply it and try to be innovative.

Then whenever we see something that we’re working on—you know, “How do we do such and such”—sometimes, Carly, you can add a zero to the number or percentage, and this can spark an innovative idea. Let me try to explain it. You might say, “How do we grow 10% in revenue?” Or, “How do we increase the number of people in small groups by 20%?” Or, “How do we cut costs by 3%?” Those are all fair questions. If you add a zero to the percentage, this can break you out of just normal thinking into the creative or innovative zone. For example, instead of saying, “How do we grow 10% in revenue?” what if you add a zero to it and say, “How do we grow 100 percent revenue?” Okay, now we need to change the way we think. How to increase the number of people in small groups by 20%? What if we say by 200 percent? Okay, that breaks us out of normal thinking. How do we cut costs by 3 percent? Well, how do we cut costs by 30%? So anytime you force yourself out of the comfortable question into an uncomfortable question, that can spark innovative mindsets. It takes your mind out of what I call the “tweak zone” and puts it into the innovative zone. In my world, we were asking for a long time, “How can we open three new locations a year?” If I ask myself, “How can we open 30 new locations a year?” that’s gonna force me out of the comfort zone into a very, very creative mindset, and that may spark some type of innovation.

Shania asked, “What are your favorite business or leadership books you’ve read recently, and what is your reading strategy?” I love this question. Thank you for it. I actually have a goal—kind of a soft goal—of listening to a book a week on average throughout the year, and it’s actually quite easy to do. I listen: If I love the book, I listen at 1.25 speed; if I like it, I listen at 1.5 speed; if I don’t love it, I listen at two times the normal speed. If I go through half the book and haven’t gotten a big takeaway idea, I put the book aside and keep moving. Let me tell you the books that I’ve listened to recently that I really like. Before I do that, some may say, “Why do you listen, not read?” And I just want to answer that: I spend so much time studying and writing that I can’t sit still any longer. I retain more when I read than when I listen, but I’d rather listen than do nothing. So that’s kind of my strategy. I went through on my app the last 100 business or leadership books that I’ve read. I selected the top ten, in no particular order. I read recently: *Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Why Everything You Know About Success Is Mostly Wrong* by Eric Barker. I thought it was a helpful book. I just re-listened to *How to Win Friends and Influence People* by Carnegie, and I put in the same category *The Like Switch*, which is a newer book by an FBI agent who said—it’s just the title is—*An FBI Agent’s Guide to Influence and Attracting Money Over People*. I put those in the same category: Great for relationships. Love those books. *The Four Disciplines of Execution* by Covey is a must-read for every organization. *Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World*. It actually changed the rhythms of how I work during the week. *Hit Makers* was helpful to me. *Essentialism*. *Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Teach Us About Who We Really Are*. There were several things that bothered me about the book, but there was enough in there that was helpful that I would recommend and put it in my top 10. If you want an autobiography, *Shoe Dog* by Phil Knight: Incredibly well-written, brilliant book. *The Compound Effect* by Darren Hardy. I’ve had all my kids read the book. And then, *Adjusting: Finishing the Game, Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, Thrive with the New Science of Success*: Really helpful, and I’m actually changing some things. Anytime a book helps me change something, I will recommend that book. Those are my top 10 favorites on the last 100 that I’ve listened to.

Okay, let’s review the content from the last episode. We answered the question, “What is your highest calling as a leader?” Harry Firestone said, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling in leadership.” The problem is so many leaders obsess about finding the right strategy. The best leaders obsess about empowering the right people. As leaders, we don’t bet on strategies, products, or ideas. What do we bet on? We bet on people. Let me cover this real, real fast. We talked about the four dark sides of developers. When you’re trying to develop people, you can have a dark side. We talked about the controlling leader, the critical leader, the avoiding leader, and the rescuing leader. The controlling leader often creates compliant followers. The application is simple: You can have control or you could have growth; you cannot have both. The critical leader produces insecure followers. The application is this: The critical leader gives blame; the strong leader takes responsibility. The avoiding leader—what is he or she do? The avoiding leader creates disengaged followers. The application is: You cannot correct what you’re unwilling to confront. The rescuing leader creates helpless followers. The application is: The leader’s got to stop rescuing. Once the rescuing stops, the growth begins. We talked in the last episode about the common theme about all these different dark sides is that they create followers, followers, followers, followers. But as leaders, we’re not called to create followers; we’re called to create leaders. So the new content: I want to talk about how do we develop leaders. How do we develop leaders? We need to acknowledge that developing people is something that never, ever happens by accident. It’s something that happens when we are intentional.

Now this is a challenging topic because when we talk about developing leaders, there are so many approaches. It’s difficult to know where to start. There’s life coaching, there’s group coaching, there’s target training, there’s inductive coaching. There are dozens of different philosophies about developing people, and all of them have strengths that are important. I would say this: In your organization, whatever you do, do it intentionally. Have a strategy that you own, that you believe in, to develop people. If you do not have a defined strategy, chances are really good you are not developing people in your culture. Again, developing—it’s not something that just happens when we show up for work. We are—we tend to be task-driven rather than kind of mission-focused. We have to be mission-minded about developing people. So let me just give you five big thoughts. Each of these we could actually spend a whole episode on, but I’m—we’re gonna go abroad today rather than deep. Five big thoughts about developing people: The first one is this: Self-awareness is the first step to growth in development. Self-awareness is the first step to growth and development. We have to recognize that, unfortunately, people have an unlimited capacity for self-deception, especially leaders. I always joke around, but nobody lies like leaders because we love to tell ourselves the best story possible. We love to put our best game forward, but it’s difficult for us to talk about weaknesses or areas that need to develop. Nobody lies like leaders. The problem is, for so many leaders, is if we don’t know about a problem, we cannot solve it. If we don’t recognize where we’re weak, then we cannot get better in that area. So you’ve all seen this: You work for somebody, maybe even now, this person would say, “Well, I’m a good delegator,” and everyone else knows, “No, that person’s actually a control freak; they just don’t know it.” Maybe you work for somebody who says, “I’m laid-back, easygoing,” and everyone else goes, “No, you’re not; you’re lazy, you’re always late, and you’re driving the rest of us crazy.” Maybe you know someone in your organization who says, “I’m a strong, confident leader,” and everybody else thinks, “No, you’re an arrogant, narcissistic jerk.” The problem is there’s a lack of self-awareness. So we need to understand, in developing people, that the best foundation for future success is self-awareness in the present. If we want to improve in the future, we need to be aware of where we need to be developed in the present, in the present. The problem is people do not know what they do not know. Very simple: People don’t know what they don’t know. So as a leader, we can never assume that people will become naturally self-aware. What you want to do in your organization is come up with some tool, some assessment, some process, some systems, some type of training that help people become self-aware. We put people through different types of tests; we have different types of meetings; we do this early on in the developmental process, and then we do it for years to come because self-awareness is necessary for personal growth. Again, I’m not going to tell you the hell, but you need in your organization to help people become self-aware because they don’t know what they don’t know. Self-awareness is the first step to growth and development.

Number two: When we’re developing, we need to recognize this: Development hinges on trusted relationships. Development hinges on trusted relationships. In other words, I need to trust that you really care about me in order for me to receive correction and coaching from you. Now the problem is, in so many organizations, here’s what people wrongly believe: They believe this: Trust must be earned. Trust must be earned. In my organization, we’re gonna take a different philosophy, and I hope that you will too. We’re gonna have a different starting point or a different base of assumption. We believe—we’re gonna hire the best people; we’re gonna surround ourselves with people of high integrity. So in our organization, we’re going to say that trust is given; mistrust is earned. We’re gonna start with an assumption that because we’re around great people, we are going to trust. And instead of waiting two years to say, “I don’t really trust you; oh, you finally earn my trust,” day number one we’re gonna say, “You know what? I trust you. Therefore, you now have the credibility to invest in me. I believe that you care about me; you believe that I care about you. We have mutual trust, and that gives us the currency to build into one another.” The here’s the thing: When I’m more trusting of others, guess what? They tend to trust in me. If I’m skeptical as a leader, not trusting people, that I’m not likely to create a climate of trust, and without trust, we cannot have growth. When trust becomes more than lip service, it opens the door for true growth because people believe that we have their best interest at heart. A couple of quotes: Simon Sinek says this: “A team is not a group of people who work together; a team is a group of people who trust each other.” Jack Welch said this: “Leadership, very simply, is about two things: truth and trust—ceaselessly seeking the former, relentlessly building the latter.” Here’s the little formula that I have: How do you want to deepen trust? Transparency plus truth plus care equals deepening trust. So you want to create a culture of trust? What do you do? What do you do? Transparency plus trust plus care equals deepening trust. What are we in our organization? We are never me-focused as a leader. Why? The me-focused leader creates skepticism; the you-focused leader builds trust. Let me say it again: The me-focused leader—all about me, me, me, my organization, my vision, my draw, my company. The me-focused leader creates skepticism; the you-focused leader creates trust. I believe in you; I want you to get better; I want you to succeed. That’s why, when you talk to some leaders, they make you think that they are important, but when you talk to the best leaders, they help you know that you are important. That creates a climate of trust.

Let’s review: Number one, self-awareness is the first step for growth and development. Development hinges on trusted relationships. Number three: People grow best while they’re in the game. So important: People grow best while they’re in the game. You see so many organizations feel like they need to build programs just to train leaders and—and create a separate pathway just for development, but this undervalues the idea that growth can happen in the course of doing your job. So we want to help people become self-aware, but then we want to give them permission to grow and stretch them where they are. So what we’re going to do is change the way we look at some things. Instead of seeing people as a means to get things done, we’re gonna see getting things done as a means to developing people. Once you think about it: People are here just to get the job done, but the job or the tasks can actually be a means to develop the people and help the people get better. We’re gonna do is we’re gonna take risks on people; we’re gonna push them out of their comfort zone; we’re gonna give them permission to fail; we’re gonna err on the side of empowering rather than err on the side of controlling; we’re gonna believe the best about people, and we’re gonna help them grow while they’re in the game. We’re gonna push them to do things beyond what they even think they can do, and we’re gonna see growth there. Number four: Number one, self-awareness is vital. Number two, development hinges on trust of relationship. Number three, people grow best ball in the game. Number four: Asking questions help people grow more than giving answers. Massively important: I want to spend a little more time here. Asking questions helps people grow more than giving answers. So if you want to be a good developer, you’re gonna listen more than you speak. As leaders, here’s the problem: We tend to want fast results. You’ve got experience; you’ve got wisdom. So what do you want to do? You want to dump it right. But we need to remember that people don’t retain truth when you dump it. People retain truth when they discover it. So important: People don’t retain truth when you just dump it on them; they internalize it; they own it; it becomes theirs when they discover it along the way. So what you want to do when you’re developing is you’re not just a—your—you’re not just a preacher that preaches; what you are is you’re a teacher that guides and helps people discover the truth along the way. So ask questions. Ask questions. And when you do, you want to lead people gently. So important: In other words, if you say, “Why’d you do it that way?” Okay, that’s not a gentle question; that feels threatening. If instead you just simply say, “You know, I was wondering what made you choose to do it that way,” what that does is it softens the question, and it keeps you on their side. With—to remember that questions can come across as threatened, and so what we as leaders want to do is we want to try to remove the threat where we create a safe environment of trust. So instead of saying, you know, like, “Hey, here’s what I would have done next time,” then we might ask a question in this soft way: “Hey, if you’re chance to do it again, what do you think you might try next time?” That’s a soft and a safe question that gives them the chance to discover the right answer instead of you telling them. Instead of you saying, “What in the world were you thinking when you did that?” Okay, we might say something like this: “You know, hey, after you learned something obviously from your first run of this, what advice would you have for someone else who’s trying the same thing?” And so what you’re doing is you’re putting them in the posture of taking what they learned and using it to help someone else potentially, and that creates ownership. Here’s a challenge: We’re not great listeners. Most of us are not great listeners. I read in one book that doctors interrupt patients after 18 seconds. Honestly, I might even be tempted to do it faster than that when I’m in some kind of leadership conversation. I see the answer; I want to move quickly. And if I—if I’m always speaking and not listening, I’m not helping people discover truth; I’m just dumping it on them. So what we want to do is we want to ask, and we want to listen. Most of the time we are—we’re not even listening; we’re thinking about what we’re gonna say. We want to listen to understand where they’re coming from, and so we can guide them into discovering truth. Now as they’re learning, remember this: People are in the process of constantly forgetting. Let me just say this again: As they are learning, they’re also forgetting. And that’s why at the end we cover the content in—repeat it at the end because if you hear it again, chances are you’re more likely to remember it. That’s why a timely question in a developmental conversation can interrupt the forgetting process. For example, at the end of a conversation, I’ll always try to ask something like this: “What was the biggest takeaway for you?” And what happens? They put it in their own words; they verbalize what’s been internalized; it becomes their truth, and they speak it out. Say—and also what I said was here: “What’s the biggest takeaway for you?” Before you softens—think the question; it makes—or personal to them; it shows that I care about them. Then when someone recalls the truth, they’re more likely to retain it. This is what Tom Landry said: “Coaching is telling a person what they don’t want to hear, helping them see what they didn’t want to see so they could be the person they always believed they could be.” I love that.

So let’s review: Self-awareness is the first step for growth and development. That begins on trust—a relationship. It grows—people grow best ball in the game. Asking questions helps people grow more than giving answers. Number five: People must own their own development. This is so important. Sometimes you might have someone that says, “No one will develop me.” Well, this may be true, but that person still needs to own their own personal development. But I want to do is I want to pour into my team, but I want my team to own their own development. I want them working to grow. So I’m gonna give them two things: I want to give them permission to fail, and I want to give them room to rise. Permission to fail: Growth always involves the risk of failure. I want them out of their comfort zone because growth and comfort never coexist. I’m not seeking perfection from my team; I’m seeking growth. I want to give them room to rise. So help your team know, “Listen, I’m gonna develop you; I’m going to pour into you, but you go—you go scrap it out yourself; use on you to ultimately grow.”

Let’s review and then look at some application questions. Number one: Self-awareness is the first step to growth and development. Why is this so important? People don’t know what they don’t know; they have an unlimited ability to deceive themselves. Development hinges on trusted relationships. Most of us think trust must be earned. No, no, I’m not here. Trust is given; mistrust is earned. What we’re gonna do is we’re gonna be transparent, communicate truth; we’re gonna care for people; we’re gonna deepen trust; therefore, we have the credibility to develop each other. Number three: People grow best while in the game. We’re not just gonna put them in a classroom; we’re gonna push them out of the nest and see if they can fly on their own. We’re gonna take risks on them; we’re gonna push them beyond their comfort zone to try what they don’t even think they can do, and suddenly they may not nail the first time, but they’re gonna improve incrementally over time, over years. They’re gonna wake up; they’re gonna be so much better. Number four: Asking questions—people grow more than giving answers. We’re gonna help them discover truth; we’re not gonna dump it on them. And then people must own their own development. We’re not seeking perfection; we’re seeking growth. Let’s deal with a couple of questions. Number one: On a scale of one to ten, how good of a listener are you in developmental conversations? How good of a listener are you? Now here’s a little bonus round for you: Ask the people on your team. I might score myself a lot higher than my team would score me. How good of a listener are you? You want to hear what people are saying, and you—that way you can actually help guide them. And then number two: What is the number one thing you could do to become a better developer? What’s the number one thing you could do to become a better developer? And then what are you going to do about your answer? And it could be this: It could be that you need to become more self-aware. It starts with you. It might be that you need to give people opportunities and trust them.

Might need you. You might need to take a risk on somebody. Maybe you need to create some sort of a system where you help people discern truths about themselves and they don't yet discern. Maybe you need to become a better listener. What do you need to do to grow and develop others, and what are you gonna do about it?

I want to tell you very sincerely, thank you so much for listening. Thank you for rating, reviewing, sharing on social media. It means the world to me when you do this. Um, thank you for working hard to become a better leader. When the leader gets better, everyone gets better. I look forward to being with you again on the first Thursday of every month. Don't feel pressure to be perfect. Don't feel pressure to be right. When it comes to being a leader, be yourself, because people would rather follow a leader who is always real than one who is always right.

Thanks again for joining us here on the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast. As always, you can find additional show notes and resources online simply by going to LifeChurch/leadership podcast. Or you can email a question to Craig for an upcoming episode simply by sending those in to leadership@LifeChurch. And as always, it would be a huge honor if you would rate and review us on iTunes. It's one small thing you can do to help us build leaders around the world. Again, thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next time right here at the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast. [Applause] You