One of the great approaches in leadership is to never stop ‘becoming’.
John Maxwell in his book The Leadership Handbook says there are 3 Zones of Learning that apply to that concept:
- Challenge: I attempt what I haven’t done
- Comfort: I do what I already know I can do
- Coasting: I don’t even do what I’ve done before
Today, let’s take a brief dive into each of these and then you can discover which zone you’re in and which one you desire to be in (hopefully, we all are aiming for the challenge zone).
Challenge –
If leadership is a stewardship, then we should approach the opportunity that way – that we are stewards.
We are entrusted with the responsibility of that undertaking and we shouldn’t take it lightly.
Former President Harry S. Truman said, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers. - Harry S. Truman” Click To Tweet
This area requires stretching.
If we want to attempt what we haven’t done before, then we have to allow ourselves to be stretched past the boundaries of our current state.
Like exercising a muscle, in order for it to grow, it must be stretched beyond its current limits. Through proper nutrition and rest, that muscle grows not only bigger, but stronger also.
If we are not advancing in this way, we’re not challenging ourselves or those we lead to come up to a higher place.
Comfort –
This is probably the place we slip into most easily.
I believe we all like to think of ourselves as educated, intelligent, and studious.
Perhaps we’ve reached a place where we have done work in our particular field for some time and we’ve gotten quite good at it.
If we decide we’ve reached a place where we don’t need to grow anymore, we’ll just keep doing the same things over and over.
We’ll neglect the things that we should be doing for personal development.
We rationalize we’ve done “enough” and there’s no need for us to advance, grow, or stretch.
This will cause us to plateau and can also stifle the growth of others if we are leading people.
Coasting –
The most dangerous place for us to be is not to repeat over and over what we’ve done, but to not even do that.
This zone could also be described as going backward.
Because if we aren’t even performing the things that we know to do, that got us into leadership to begin with, then with arrogance, we sit and do nothing.
The true mettle of a leader is when it’s clicked that it’s not about us, but about others, and this zone doesn’t reflect that recognition at all.
Moral accountability is the foundation, either solid or crumbling, upon which our legacies stand.
Moral accountability is the foundation, either solid or crumbling, upon which our legacies stand. Click To Tweet
How are you creating that foundation in your life and leadership in order to leave a legacy worth remembering?
When we continue to stay in the challenge zone of learning, we are fulfilling that momentum of becoming. We’re becoming someone better than we were yesterday, someone wiser, someone more compassionate, someone more accountable, someone more humble.
If we want to be the kind of leader that stays in the challenge zone of learning, we need to leave the “what if” behind and press forward into growing and advancing ourselves and others.
What zone would you put yourself in today? What are some things you could do differently to get you into the challenge zone? Comment below and share!
