SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How much have you grown as a leader in the past 12 months?
- A great deal — I’m a much better leader now: 29.91%
- Some — I’ve improved a bit: 53.76%
- Not much — I’ve seen no noticeable improvement: 7.89%
- I’ve regressed — I’ve lost ground in the past 12 months: 8.44%
Grow every year. Happily, the vast majority of you have experienced leadership growth this past year (some have grown substantially). Your challenge is twofold: keep growing yourself and also see how you can help your team members continue their growth as leaders. Remember — a leader’s primary job is to create more leaders. For those of you who haven’t grown (or worse, have regressed), spend some time here at year-end and identify two to four areas where you want to focus your development in 2014. Once you’ve done so, work with your boss to find projects or responsibilities that will give you those opportunities to grow. Enlist your boss’s (or a mentor’s) assistance in helping you build those focused competencies. See if you can make 2014 your year for tremendous growth.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”