Growth Project reflections
I wasn't looking for leadership training. I was looking for better questions.
It wasn't about titles or status. It wasn't even really about leadership.
What appealed to me about The Growth Project was the chance to spend time with people who were curious. People who wanted to learn, question things and think differently about the organisations they worked in.
The first time I applied, I didn't get in. The feedback was fair, and if I'm honest, they were probably right. At the time, AMBA was still finding its feet nationally and I was still very much focused on keeping things moving rather than stepping back to think about where we were actually going. Over the following year we did a lot of work inside AMBA. Governance, systems, leadership structures, clarifying roles. None of it was particularly glamorous, but it mattered. When applications opened again, I applied a second time.
This time we got in.
The Growth Project isn't really something you "complete." It's more a series of conversations that slowly work their way under your skin. You leave one session thinking you've understood the question, only to find yourself still turning it over weeks later.
One of the earliest conversations was about purpose. Not organisational purpose; personal purpose. Why do you do this work? Why do you keep showing up? Why does this matter enough to give up evenings, weekends and family time?
At first I thought I already knew the answer. AMBA exists to support multiple birth families. Simple.
But the more I sat with it, the more I realised that support was only part of the story. We advocate. We educate. We make visible the things people often don't see about raising multiples. We create connections between families who might otherwise feel completely alone. Being clearer about that changed how I thought about my role. It gave me more confidence in the decisions we were making and, perhaps more importantly, the decisions we weren't making.
The other thing that surprised me was the mix of people in the room. There were business leaders, charity leaders, people from large organisations and people from very small ones. On paper we probably didn't have much in common. But after a while the distinctions started to disappear. The people from business talked about structure, strategy and decision-making. The not-for-profit people talked about community, purpose and people. Everyone was trying to solve the same problems: how to lead well, how to make decisions, how to bring others with you. Some of the most useful conversations happened when those perspectives collided a little.
At the time, I was leading a national volunteer organisation. Anyone who has worked in that environment knows how complicated it can be. Everyone is busy, has competing priorities and nobody has enough time. You cannot simply tell people what to do. The program helped me realise that leadership in volunteer organisations looks different. You spend far less time directing people and far more time helping people contribute in ways that work for them. Progress is slower and sometimes messier. But it can also be incredibly rewarding.
It also reminded me how little space leaders often give themselves to think. Most of us move straight to solving the problem in front of us. Another meeting. Another decision. Another task that needs doing. Reflection can feel indulgent. The Growth Project forced some of that space. Looking back now, I think that's probably what I took away more than anything else. Not a framework or a model, although there were plenty of those. It was the opportunity to stop long enough to ask whether the work, the organisation and my own leadership were aligned.
Growth, as it turns out, isn't always about getting bigger. Occasionally it's becoming clearer. Clearer about why you're doing the work, about what matters, and about the things that deserve your energy and the things that don't.
The experience certainly influenced AMBA. We became more deliberate about developing volunteers, building partnerships and talking about our purpose. But the biggest change was probably personal. I've never been particularly interested in leadership as status or authority. The people I've admired most have usually been the ones helping others succeed, often quietly and without much recognition. The Growth Project didn't change that view. If anything, it reinforced it.
Leadership isn't about being the person with the answers. It's about staying curious, asking better questions and creating enough space for other people to contribute.
And perhaps that's what growth really looks like.
Falcon Cohort
- Created on .