In an interview recently I was asked the actions and habits of exceptional leaders. One question in particular sparked my passion. The question was, what strategies leaders can use to recognize and nurture talent within their team. This question made me smile because it assumes there is a complexity to unlocking employee potential. There is not. In fact, you can peanut butter one strategy across the board and still nurture each team member’s specific needs and highlight their unique skills and talents. Keep reading or click here to head to YouTube to see the potential unlocked.
To add even more sweetness to that, you can use this same strategy for everyone and leave each member of the team feeling individually heard, supported, and valued. Now, you could wait for the interview to be released and get a quick hit of the steps. Or, you could stay right here and get the full review hand delivered just to you. Added bonus, if you don’t have a leader who is trying to unlock your potential, stick around to the end for how to implement this for yourself. If you’re still here in the intro already shrinking back sure you don’t have potential, I have something for you. Snag this guide. It’s totally free and will translate work you’re doing today into skills needed to lead yourself and others. Understanding the translation will build your confidence, give you pride in your current efforts, and give you a new perspective on what you’re capable of. Grab the guide here.
Why unlock employee potential?
Leading people has long fallen under the soft-skills label. In more recent years, studies are showing just how critical the aspects of leadership are. That means things like developing your staff used to sound like a nice to have that would set your organization a part as elite, have changed. Now, personalized development plans are table stakes to attract the best employees and get the most from the talented people you hire. It takes time to create those development plans though. Trying to fill those plans with classes, mentoring, and opportunities can feel like a second job. Managers and supervisors just don’t follow through.That is why we see the mismatch between what a company promotes as development in the careers page of their website, and what prospective employees are reading on Glassdoor.
It’s that lack of follow through that creates the biggest gap. Now you have employees who feel undervalued. They see their great talents and skills going to waste. Worst of all, there is now a documented plan that points them to success that highlights that the development just isn’t happening. This highlighted mismatch is part of the 70% weight that Gallup found supervisors having on their employees, that led those very employees disengaging and quitting on their work. Well, today I’m going to give you the simple 4 step guide to develop every employee into the best version of themselves. It will have them using those great talents on a consistent basis and have the right leaders hearing about all the great work they’re doing.
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Unlock that potential
1. Evaluate what your team members do well.
If you’ve been micro managing, or helping, too much you likely need to take a step back for this to work. You will need to get out of the weeds of the day to day work yourself and let your team shine. Give them the opportunity to present their efforts and results in team meetings and one on ones. Listen for what lights them up, what they excel at, and what creates energy in them. Empower them to take ownership of what they are working for and show it to you. You might find that Jim is meticulous at data entry and Susan can transform data into a story. Information you would never know if you had a hand in the work yourself.
2. Acknowledge their skills back to them.
People have a tendencies to see the worst in themselves. So tell them what they did well. This allows you to connect with them, show respect for their strengths, and draw the through line to what the company values. That last part is really important. You can tie what lights them up to what makes the company successful. When you do this you show them how they are contributing to the organization. This not only reflects back to them the pride you want them to have in their work, but it also more deeply connects them to the company mission, vision, and values.
3. Give them more of it.
Whatever pitches they are knocking out of the park, keep throwing them. Every time they swing, whether it’s a homer or a complete miss, give them the feedback around what you see them as capable of and how it benefits them, and the organization. For example, you see Susan’s storytelling gives the numbers life. She takes black and white data and helps Sales Reps see how teaching customers how to use their new webcam increases bundled sales and referrals. Then you give her more opportunities to tell stories. Have her create the slide deck for the next department meeting. Next month, have her present on her findings on another topic. You are sharpening her skills to a fine point and getting more opportunities to drive home how her skills tie back to company performance.
4. Now, open doors.
The final step is to articulate the success and skills out to other leaders in the organization that can open more doors for those talented individuals. In keeping with my baseball analogy, it’s coaching your high school pitcher to the best possible extent you can and then calling the scouts. Great leaders don’t hoard the best talent, they share it. That coach creates opportunities to potentially get the pitcher from his hometown field to a division one stadium. You can help Jim get from data entry to data analyst and help Susan move from analyst to leading process development for all of Sales. Everyone’s stadium looks different and an exceptional leader has the influence and capabilities to get them a shot at it.
This is the number one area where good leaders fail to be great. A good leader can develop their team member’s skills, and then they’ll try to keep them exactly where they are. That leader is just trying to build their own super team. A great leader though, an exceptional one that people walk into the fire for, all but has to push their talented team members out of the nest. They get those skilled individuals on bigger stages with more exposure and advocate for them to step into that next role, even if it means the leader starting training from scratch.
Help! I’m the employee with potential
Are you reading this thinking, well, there’s no hope for me, my boss would never do this. First let me say that most managers, supervisors to C-suite, are doing their best. Many don’t recognize that a process like this actually saves them time rather than being just another thing to do. Whether they do or don’t provide you with this level of development doesn’t have to mean that you miss out. You can follow the same strategy to develop your own skills and bring them to bigger stages. You’ll just have to get a little creative. I’ll give you 3 options to consider:
- Create a mental board of directors. Think of 2-3 people, either internal to your organization or a combination of internal and external. Consider what they would give feedback on or how they would suggest you move forward. Be courageous in opening your own doors. Look for opportunities to step on bigger stages. If you find yourself underestimating what you’re capable of, snag this free guide to help you translate what your doing to what you’re skilled in.
- Share this post with your work bestie. Make a plan to be each other’s accountability, hype squad, givers of honest feedback. Commit to lunch or coffee monthly where you discuss where you’re each at in the above strategy. Say each other’s names in meetings and create opportunities for one another. Don’t underestimate the influence you have to impact another person’s career.
- Your boss isn’t the only leader you know. I cannot recommend enough that you have a mentor. This mentor can easily slide into the leader role in the strategy. If you have one, they potentially already do. Bring them up to speed on what you’re working on and where you see your skills currently. They can help you build on them and are typically fantastic at opening doors for you.
How do I know if I’m doing it right?
To get a snapshot of how well you develop people consider this. How often you’re taking each step in this strategy? If you’re not, or if you’re inconsistent, reflect on why. I’ll give you the over simplified truth of what I’ve seen.
- An ineffective “manager” will avoid this because they are threatened by success.
- A mid-range leader will do pieces of this sporadically for their top talent.
- An exceptional leader knows that commitment to consistently following this process not only propels your top talent to new opportunities, but inspires your good employees to take even more pride and accountability in their work.
Keep in mind that these questions, to gauge if you’re developing potential well, apply if you’re developing your team, or yourself. So take a good hard look at this. Are you avoiding? Are you trying but not committing? Or are you consistently going through this cycle to develop your talent and get them (and yourself) to the spot that best utilizes those skills?