The longer you lead, the more intentional you have to be about your personal growth. It’s easy to slip into a mindset that uses expertise as a license to slow your appetite for growth. But the truth is, the longer you lead, the more difficult growth becomes.

I recently heard author and pastor Matt Keller compare the first 90% of growth to the next 1% of growth. Keller notes that all of the energy, effort, and resources it takes to grow your leadership from zero to 90% is the same amount of energy, effort, and resources it takes to grow your leadership from 90% to 91%. Maybe that’s why it takes 10,000 hours of practice before you are considered a true expert – somebody at the top of your game – in your specific field or industry.

One of the keys to closing this leadership gap is to broaden your growth environment to include mentors and coaches. It’s one of the prices tags of growth. It’s so easy to hang around the same people, go to the same conferences, read the same authors, and listen to the same podcasts. After a while, everything looks and sounds the same. It can quickly lead to the leadership disease of mindless mingling.

Last year I found myself reaching this place of “sameness.” I needed to expand my leadership and get around a more robust growth environment. So I took a leap and signed up for a coaching program with a small group of pastors from around the country. Each month I flew to Atlanta for a couple of days to engage in leadership discussions and coaching. We talked about everything from spiritual growth, to effective leadership, to organizational development.

To further expand my growth environment, I contacted a friend in Atlanta who leads a ministry to young leaders. He connected me with a high capacity executive pastor who was willing to meet with me for a ninety-minute mentoring session. Then, this leader introduced me to another pastor who started coaching me once per month…and still coaches me today.

These leaders have provided great insight, made strategic deposits in my leadership journey, and helped me navigate challenging terrain in my leadership journey. Their wisdom has been invaluable.

But where did it all start? It began when I intentionally sought out leaders to help me grow, stretch, and improve. Through this process I was reminded of an essential key to continued growth:

The width of my environment
determines the depth of my development.

As I widened my environment to include leaders who were at an entirely different level, my personal growth and development began to deepen. If the width of my environment is narrow – if I always hang around the same people, go to the same conferences, listen to the same teachers, and read the same books – then the depth of my development will also be shallow. But when I broaden my environment to include people and resources that stretch me and challenge me, then my personal growth and development grows much deeper. Again, the width of my environment determines the depth of my development.

Several years ago leadership expert John Maxwell penned what he called, “My Growth Environment.” He said, in a growth environment…

Others are Ahead of me.
I am continually Challenged.
My focus is Forward.
The atmosphere is Affirming.
I am often out of my Comfort Zone.
I wake up Excited.
Failure is not my Enemy.
Others are Growing.
People desire Change.
Growth is Modeled and Expected.

So let me ask you a question: What’s your environment like? Do you need to place yourself in an environment where you’ll be stretched? Are you always the smartest person in the room? Do you need to intentionally pursue an environment that forces you outside of your comfort zone?