Imagine you’re a business owner whose company has stayed at the same level of revenue for years, unintentionally. You’ve done everything in your power and you just can’t get past $350K in yearly revenue. You’re frustrated. You’ve been making all kinds of changes in the business, yet your business is producing almost the same results.
Perhaps you have reached your Leadership Lid? As John Maxwell says, “Your leadership ability determines your level of effectiveness.” The Law of the Lid speaks to the fact that the lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on their potential. The higher the individual’s ability to lead? The higher the lid on their potential.
Leadership Ability = Level of Effectiveness
You see, in most cases, the person who finds their business hoovering at the same level for years even though they are working to improve the results, probably has not looked at their leadership competency. To do so, one would have to have a high-level of emotional intelligence and self-awareness because it requires looking inward to see why (and where) they have reached their ceiling.
“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”
Maxwell also points out that when organizations are trying to improve their results, they often replace the leader or leadership team. It’s the same in sports. When teams aren’t performing, one of the first things they do is replace the coach under the guise of increasing the team’s effectiveness. But, this is not the only way to get results. In order to have a greater impact on the business, leaders must raise their individual leadership lids, which will, in turn, raise the organization’s effectiveness and increase results. I’ve seen firsthand (many times!) how one leader raising their lid allows an entire company to break their “revenue limits.” This is probably the reason Maxwell has 20 other laws in his book, and certainly the reason we here at Quest2 Consulting focuses on developing leaders.
Look Within Before You Look Outside
From a business perspective, we’ve seen companies stop growing because their leadership didn’t trust anyone enough to hire at the right levels of the organization. We’ve seen companies flat-line because their leaders didn’t commit to developing their team or a success-driven culture. We’ve seen companies lose top talent because leadership was unable to connect with their employees. A lack of trust, weak managerial skillsets, and low engagement will absolutely hinder a company’s growth. These are all leadership blind spots.
The Answer is Right in Front of You
Focus on developing YOU. You can start with your own leadership competencies: your vision, planning, critical thinking, diplomacy, understanding others, communication, people skills, and empathy to name a few. Watch what happens. How are you doing? No really, how are you doing? The answer to that question is the first step in raising your lid. Check with your people, look at your results, pick your first area to develop and get that lid moving in the upward direction.
We’re helping leaders raise the lid, so share your stories because we would love to hear them!
Originally published at www.quest2consulting.com