78: Defeating the Four Enemies of Growth, Part 2

Thank you for joining the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast!

In Part 1 of “Defeating the Four Enemies of Growth” we learned that growth is never automatic or
guaranteed. Organizations don’t naturally drift toward growth. They drift toward complacency, complexity,
and decline.

The Four Enemies of Growth:

1. The first enemy of growth is unnecessary complexity. Organizational simplicity is the antidote for
complexity. Go to Part 1 to catch up on how to defeat that enemy.

2. Unscalable Processes. Picture a three-legged stool. For the stool to grow taller, each of the three
legs needs to grow equally or the stool won’t be steady. If one or more elements that drive growth in
your organization can’t scale to match your growth, the growth will stall out.

To be clear: growing is different than scaling. Growing increases revenue or results at a consistent
pace. Scaling increases revenue or results at an exponential rate.

To defeat the enemy of unscalable processes, create a defined, reproducible path to growth—a
definable growth flow. A definable growth flow identifies the specific drivers that contribute to the
growth of your unique team or organization. You may accidentally grow, but you’re never going to
scale without identifying your definable growth drivers. If you can’t define it, you can’t accomplish it.

“If you can’t define it, you can’t accomplish it.” —Craig Groeschel

For example, at Life.Church, the definable growth drivers are:

1. A place to meet
2. Funds to pay for costs
3. Pastors and leaders
4. Church attenders
5. Support systems

Your core growth drivers will often revolve around the people, processes, and economic engine of
your organization. Growth drivers must be active and maturing at the same pace; if any one lags
behind you won’t be able to scale.

3. Unhealthy Mindsets. Unhealthy mindsets create unhealthy organizations. A few examples of

unhealthy mindsets are complacency, pride, risk-aversion, stagnancy, misinformation and misjudging
of reality, competition, disinterest, distraction, apathy, greed, and on and on.

To defeat unhealthy mindsets, cultivate a growth mindset.

 Two books that talk about this subject are The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the
Predictable Crises of Growth by Chris Zook and James Allen and Mindset: The New Psychology of
Success by Carol Dweck.

What do we know about mindset? Mindset determines direction. Dweck outlines two kinds of
mindsets: a fixed mindset that is unwilling to more or change and a growth mindset that is flexible
and adaptable. A growth mindset says, “I can get better” or “I am not good at this…yet.”

“If you want to change your organization, change how people think.”
—Craig Groeschel

Just as individuals have self-esteem—low or healthy—organizations also have an identity called

organizational esteem. It’s how we see ourselves as a team or company. If you want to change your
organization, change how people think.

“You never become great by playing it safe.” —Craig Groeschel

Based on the work of Zook and Allen, there are five mindsets of leaders and teams with healthy,
successful esteem:
1. A bias for action
2. Bold leadership
3. Defiant stubbornness
4. Leaders who think like owners
5. Obsessive focus

“Growth and comfort never coexist.” —Craig Groeschel

4. Underdeveloped Leaders. Underdeveloped or incapable leaders will eventually hold your team or
group back from growth, or they’ll be outpaced by the growth around them and be left behind.

The potential of your organization rests on the strength of its leaders. For more on developing
leaders, listen to episode #24 “How to Develop Leaders.”

Look around at your team. Are you giving them adequate, important, and necessary feedback? Are
you giving them permission to fail? Growth always involves the risk of failure, so we need to give our
teams room to fail.

Remember, people grow best “in the game.” Don’t create a separate “growth track” or “growth
course” for some leaders; your whole organization should be on a “growth track.” Growing leaders is
not a program. It’s part of our culture.

The strategy for defeating the enemy of underdeveloped leaders: don’t just see people as the means
to get something done. See getting things done as a tool for developing people. As Andy Stanley
says, two of the greatest words you can say to people are “you decide.”

And what happens if people fail? It’s okay. We’re not seeking perfection; we’re seeking growth.
 The Developmental Dip. Any time you trust people as they’re developing, you’ll likely see a short-
term dip in quality. Perhaps you could have done a certain task in one hour, and it takes the new
leader two hours. That’s the dip. It’s expected and it’s worth it as you’re allowing leaders to grow.

If you only focus on one thing, focus on making your leaders great. Great leaders grow great
organizations.

“Leadership is leadership wherever you are.” —Craig Groeschel

ACTIVITY—Define Your Growth Flow

Identify the growth drivers unique to your industry and organization. What are the specific things
that propel you forward? Most organizations have somewhere between three and seven core growth
drivers. More than seven, and you may be overcomplicating the assignment.
Your core growth drivers will often revolve around the people, processes, and economic engine of
your organization. Look at these areas and determine if they’re all growing and maturing at the same
rate. If any are lagging behind or have grown dormant or stale, create a plan to invigorate that area
so that all the growth drivers are working in unison.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What mindset needs to change organizationally? What will you do to drive a growth mindset?
2. On a scale of 1-10, how strong is your leadership development culture?
If it’s lower than a 9, what are you going to do about it?
PODCAST RESOURCES
• More from Craig: www.craiggroeschel.com
• Download Leader Guides: www.life.church/leadershippodcast
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: www.go2.lc/cglpitunes
• Free Church Resources & Tools: www.life.church/churches
• Suggested Resources:
o The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth by Chris Zook
and James Allen
o Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck.
o The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast: https://go2.lc/ASLP
• Related episodes of the Leadership Podcast:
“How to Develop Leaders:” https://go2.lc/howtodevelopleaders
CONNECT WITH CRAIG
• Ask questions: www.craiggroeschel.com/connect
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/craiggroeschel
• Twitter: @craiggroeschel
• Instagram: @craiggroeschel

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