With a new year ahead and the reflections of 2016 fresh in your mind, now is the time to get even more focused on putting your plan into action.

What is your vision for 2017? What can you do to ensure this vision is achieved? Have you included continued personal development as a servant leader as part of your plan?

Committing to Continuous Improvement

Servant leaders fully understand that you never “arrive” as a leader, but always need to be working on improving to be better than you were yesterday.
 
Jesus demands that you continuously improve as a leader to be like Him:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” John 14:12

Personal Growth Ideas

Once you have committed to Jesus’ call for improvement, you need to be intentional about getting yourself into a growth environment. By doing so you will enhance your skills and send a message to your followers how important it is to build performance. Here are some great ways to do so:

• Commit to a personal annual goal process – Establish 3 – 5 key goals that will help you achieve your vision for the year. Make them specific enough with time frames established so that you will know when you have achieved them. Commit yourself to keeping your commitments!

• Attend leadership training opportunities – Surround yourself with other like-minded individuals and together you will push yourselves to learn at an accelerated pace. The Triune Leadership Services, Servant Leadership Roundtable Training will be beginning our seventh year of helping leaders to lead Jesus’ way in 2017! I invite you to join either in person or a new Online Training option in the spring.

• Hire a coach – Individuals who are top performers in their area of expertise usually have a coach. A coach will help you frame up your preferred vision and accelerate your progress toward its completion. They will also hold you accountable for what you want to achieve.

• Ask someone you respect to be your mentor – You unquestionably have people around you that you respect and that you would like to learn from. Reach out and ask them to mentor you. You will be better off for it.

• Read great books – There are numerous fabulous leadership books published each year. People at the top of their profession are normally avid readers. They thirst for knowledge from others. If you are not an active reader a great way to get exposed to the highlights of one book per day is by subscribing to Readitfor.me. I joined this service about 4 weeks ago and have found it a great way to efficiently enhance my personal development and I encourage you to try it for yourself.

• Read leadership blogs – Another quick way to get daily development ideas is to subscribe to blogs that regularly contain information about servant leadership. Some of my favorites outside of Triune Leadership Services would include: Randy Conley, Ken Blanchard, Jesse Lyn Stoner, Chris Edmonds, Joseph Lalonde, Dan Rockwell, and Paul Sohn.

• Read the Bible – It only makes sense to go straight to the source. Spending time in daily study of the Scriptures will bring you closer to an understanding of how Jesus led as the master servant leader.

• Pray – Spending time in discussion with Jesus will insure that you enhance your personal development. Ask for His guidance, strength, and help and He will provide it. There is nothing He wants more than for you to become the servant leader that He created you to be. He is already working to make it a reality!

My challenge to you as you start 2017 is to pray for Jesus to walk alongside you as you continue to develop your personal skills as a servant leader. Admit that you can’t do it on your own, and that you would cherish His help on the journey. Give thanks for the changes that you see in your leadership and for the positive impact that you are having on others through His strength.

I also encourage you to share with us in the comments below, ways that help you with personal improvement. What resources have been invaluable for you in your journey?

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads to poverty. Proverbs 14:23