Challenging Ourselves

As we manage teams we should always be looking for ways to push their limits. This is not a revolutionary idea, however we need to constantly practice the idea to constantly improve. Without calculated growth exercises or strategies, we run the risk of allowing ourselves and our teams to be mediocre. Constantly challenging ourselves and pushing the boundaries of what we’re capable of is the only way to get better. In sports this is when teams play someone at a higher level, for entrepreneurs this happens almost daily when faced with new challenges that we’ve never seen, in sales this happens when we stop choosing the low-hanging fruit and swing for the fences, and for me it happened when I was reading.

I was recently asked to perform a guest lecture at CSU and I am extremely excited to speak to a class of juniors and seniors about my experience thus far in the ‘real world.’ While I was putting together my notes for this class I came up with a particular piece that will be encouraging each of them to continue their education through constant self-improvement with books, articles, podcasts and more to help them grow. As soon as I transformed those thoughts into words I realized I was not practicing what I am about to preach.

Fortunately, I had just finished the book I was reading and it was time to pick another.  Most of my book selections these days are non-fiction business books that tend to be 200-400 pages in length. I chose Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin which happens to be close to 1,000 pages. I came to the conclusion that I have not been challenging myself enough and that it was time to step my game up. 27 pages in I realize this will be a long journey, but I know that when this book is finished I will have pushed myself further than I have been.

This lesson is more than applicable to the ‘real world’ that I’ll be lecturing on in a few days. With the teams and the projects that we manage, are we pushing our team members? Are we giving the people we work with challenges that will enable them (not force) them to grow? Have we set BHAG’s for them? Have we taken on that project that nobody wants to touch because it’s “too much work” and everyone is scared of it? How can we push the limits of what we’re capable of today? This week? This month? This year? Without challenges, we do not have opportunities to grow and the worst thing that an organization can do is remain stagnant. No growth means we are standing still, and that means the competition is catching up or even worse, pulling away.