The Connection Between Revenue Growth and Personal Development

When we conduct initial discovery interviews with new clients, we commonly hear the executives say their goal is to create revenue growth for their organization. Less commonly, we hear those executives also express the need for better teamwork and cohesion. This comes out in different ways – "We need to work better as a team" is one common way it is stated – but whether the goal is higher collective performance, a more cooperative culture, faster decision-making, or a blend of all of those characteristics, most experienced leaders understand that reaching higher team performance is a pathway to better financial results.

However, we rarely hear an executive say, "I want to unlock personal growth for my team members." It's not that senior executives hope to keep their team members stagnant – it's simply that most don't instantly connect personal growth to the organizational results they want to achieve. 

That's a missed opportunity. One characteristic of high-functioning, high-achieving organizations is that organizational, team, and personal growth are interdependent. As the individual leaders uplevel their skills, the team achieves more. As the team functions better, the organization achieves more. It works in other ways, too – for example, as the organization grows, a high-functioning organization calls forth more from its members. 

If members of the team aren't willing, encouraged, and supported to stretch themselves, nothing will change. By "personal growth," I don't simply mean the ability to handle pressure. Yes, that's usually a skill that is needed. But there are so many other skills that conscious, high-functioning leaders are able to practice:

• The ability to give and receive constructive criticism.
• The ability to make decisions based on incomplete information, and to trust their instincts when they need to.
• The ability to update their perspectives and decisions when new information comes to light.
• The ability to see and express their own personal worth, without diminishing the ability of others or needing constant affirmation. 
• The ability to listen as well as talk, but also the ability to say what needs to be said whether it is popular or not.
• The ability to be present with both comfortable and uncomfortable circumstances and events, without the need to step into fear, anger, anxiety, or controlling behavior when things inevitably don't go as planned.

These are advanced conscious leadership skills rooted in cultivating an awareness of internal thoughts and external surroundings, aligning decisions with personal and team values, and acting with intention. The organization can encourage them, and the team can help model them, but ultimately, each team member has to make a choice to lead more consciously. 

Executives can help this process along by encouraging their leaders to spend at least as much time on their individual growth as they do on their team and organizational building. We communicate this message a lot, but I'll admit, it's a tough sell. Most CEOs seem eager to explain their balanced scorecard to the company and most grudgingly admit to the need for a supportive culture and team-building work. But we get some blank stares when we ask, "What are you doing to help your people grow as leaders and humans?"

So you may have to take this part up on your own, and in any case, that's where most of the growth happens anyway. Your organizational goals have probably already been laid out for you by the board, market pressures and opportunities, your own strategic planning, or a combination of all three. And with a bit of intentionality, your team building can happen naturally as you work together to achieve your shared goals. 

But the personal growth? That's on you.

Who are you ready to become?