GROW LEADERS

By Robin Sharma

One of the training programmes that we offer companies to help them get to world class in their market space is called 'Grow The Leader'.

Organisations all around the world, including NASA and pharmaceutical giant Wyeth, are using our unique process to increase employee engagement, enhance culture, dramatically boost performance and produce superior business results. Grow the leader is based on a simple yet powerful concept: The ultimate competitive advantage of your enterprise comes down to a single imperative -- your ability to grow and develop leaders faster than your competition.

The more quickly you can get every single person in the company demonstrating leadership behaviour -- regardless of their position -- the more quickly you will lead the field. Your race is to grow leaders fast and develop a "culture of leadership" before your competition does.

A leadership culture is one where everyone thinks like an owner, like a CEO or managing director. It's one where everyone is entrepreneurial and proactive. This means they focus on getting to solutions rather than on the problems. This means they do whatever it takes to keep customers happy.

This means they worry about sales and do their part to reduce costs. This means they take personal responsibility for achieving results that move the business forward (whether they run the mailroom or sit in a boardroom). This means they shape culture, stay positive and lead by example. We've helped our clients create leadership cultures and the results have been nothing short of remarkable.

I pray that I've been clear: I'm not saying everyone needs to do the job of a CEO or managing director. Showing leadership doesn't mean every employee will run the organisation. That would lead to chaos. Businesses do need someone to set the vision and then lead the team to it.

All I'm suggesting is that all the people on your own team need to know their role and then show up fully in that role -- like a leader would. And when they do -- when they think, feel and act like leaders -- good things will happen. And soon, your organisation will get to great.