What you sow, you will reap. You don’t plant a corn seed and get spinach! The same is true for leadership.

What you plant inside your people will grow into maturity.

I coached a young and inexperienced leader several years ago; she was younger than everyone on her team. She believed that no one would listen to her because of her age and lack of experience. That belief drove her behavior. She showed up to meetings and didn’t talk. She let people make their own schedules even though it didn’t benefit the team. She never said anything about the problem behaviors she saw.

I think you can imagine the results!

She slowly realized the seeds she planted in her team by looking at those results (i.e. her crop). She had to take a long look at herself, her beliefs, how she wanted to show up. As we worked with her, she began planting better seeds (words of encouragement, facilitating discussions, approaching problems).

The more she sowed good seed, the better crop she got, and...