Grow Your People

“When you think about growing your people, are you excited by their potential, or do you fear they’ll use it to find greater opportunities elsewhere?”

I heard something years ago from a Vistage member telling the growth story of his company from $5 million to $75 million. His most adamant piece of advice was, “Grow your people, and they will grow your business.” Thirteen years later, this has stuck with me.

Yet, I have had CEO clients say this: “I am not going to invest in them because they will just use it to go somewhere else for more money.” I tell them, “You are right. They might. But sit with that feeling for a second instead of managing it. What you’re really protecting when you hold someone back is not the business. Maybe it’s the fear of losing them.”

What kind of leader do you want to be? Do you want to keep the status quo because it’s easy? If you develop someone and they become exceptional and move on to do great things, is that really a bad outcome? Trying to contain your people is exhausting, and it never works in the long term. What if you develop them and they become exceptional and stay?

Now think of a key person on your team right now. What is the one thing that, if they became really great at, if they took up to the level of mastery, would improve overall success significantly?

Now here is the kicker: What plan is in place for them to master it? What is the routine that has been put in place for them to get better at it?

Try asking yourself the same question, What the on thing that if you mastered would have the greatest impact on your business and life?