John Maxwell Reflection

This blog post is outlining some of the key points I took away from Developing the Leaders Around You. Developing the Leaders Around You is a four-part lesson taught by John C. Maxwell about expanding your leadership and the leadership of those around you. 

The first lesson I learned from the workshop is that I must work on myself more and before I work on others. To be an effective teacher and leader, I need to learn before I start to teach others. I must have a solid foundational understanding of the basic concepts of leadership. To do this, I can talk to better leaders than myself to learn from them. They can pass on lessons that they learned. To further work on myself, I can take on leadership positions to gain first-hand experience. This way I can have a better understanding to share with others. This applies to TALONS because the grade tens are expected to teach the grade nines. The responsibility of the grade ten is to teach the grade nine how to plan trips, allowing them to do it again next year. A specific example of how I can apply this lesson into TALONS is leading leadership project I have experience with. Having previous experience provides me with a foundation from which I can lead the grade nines. The leadership project I have the most experience with is the bottle drive. From my previous experience, I can share the some of the challenges we faced and some of the skills we needed to succeed. This will give the grade nines support and knowledge to lead the event next year. 

The second major lesson I learned from the workshop is that people do what people see. This means people respond more to what they see than hear. To quote John C. Maxwell, “A pint of example is equal to a gallon of advice (16. Maxwell, 2014)”. This quote explains that the value of example is greater than that of suggestion. People recall what they see much more than what they hear. This means that leading by example is more effective than leading through instructions. I can become better at leading by example by modeling what I teach. This has two effects. First it leads by influence, instead of by direction. Secondly it builds trust with my team. I can apply this to TALONS by leading by example instead of through instruction. To lead by example, I can be an active and engaged group member. This means actively listening to others, being engaged during group discussions, and communicating in a positive and encouraging way. I can apply this to the bottle drive when proofreading other people’s documents. I can read over the document and give positive and constructive feedback on the document. The example I set will create a supportive and positive environment, which will allow us to learn and work more effectively. 

The third and most important thing I learned from the workshop is that a team’s potential is directly related to its personnel potential. This means that the growth potential of a group is closely related to the potential of its members. The law of explosive growth states that “to add growth, lead followers… to multiply, lead leaders”. This means that a group of leaders is multiple times better than a group of followers. A group of leaders is able to do something that makes a difference. I can make the most of this principle by working with other leaders. By working with other leaders, I allow myself to grow as a leader while also growing others as leaders. Learning skills to grow other leaders is a crucial step towards becoming a reproducer; a leader who is able to make other leaders. I can apply this to TALONS by working with my peers to grow as leaders. This applies to planning the leadership events because we will be working in teams to plan community events. I can become better at developing leaders by showing the grade nines how to plan an event. I can also learn from my peers to become a better leader. To do this, I will lead a group discussion. During the discussion, I will practice what I have learned from this workshop. Afterwards, I can ask for constructive feedback. This will allow me to gain experience with the lessons I learned from this workshop as well as feedback on how to apply the lessons I learned. 

To end off, I leave you with this question:

Does the true strength of a leader come from one’s skills or one’s teammates?

  References:  

Maxwell, J. C. (2014). Developing the leaders around you: How to help others reach their full potential. Thomas Nelson. 

Maxwell, J. C. (n.d.). John Maxwell. Retrieved November 26, 2021, from http://www.johnmaxwell.com/. 

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