If there is someone nearby as you read this look in their eyes. Look closely and you will see great potential inside this person regardless of how "successful" or accomplished they are. If you are alone, get up, find a mirror, and look in your own eyes. There is great potential there too!
If you don't believe this premise - that great potential is inside each of us - there is no reason to continue reading. Why? Because this article will give you concrete steps to help you recognize and find that potential in yourself and others.
If you don't believe it is there, it will be pretty hard to find it.
(Ok, I'm glad you are still reading!)
Identifying Our Own Potential
I know you may be reading this thinking about how you can coach, mentor and lead others ? and you really are more interested in focusing on others. This is admirable and we'll get there in a few minutes, however in order to help others most effectively, we need to know how it works ourselves, and by working on ourselves we are in an even better position to help others.
1. Be introspective. Spend time alone with your thoughts. Consider these questions and use them as a starting point. You are trying to open your mind and find your strengths, passions and goals. By thinking about these things and making some notes in a journal you will be opening your mind to your own potential.
? What are the things you most enjoy doing and why?
? When do you feel most satisfied and productive?
? Think about your childhood dreams ? what were they?
? What are your goals and dreams now ? not those others have put on you ? but yours?
? What have you always wanted to try?
2. Look for patterns. While you will find clues in the specifics you have thought about and written down, take a higher level look. What kinds of trends and patterns do you see? The goal is to find specific skills, aptitudes, and situations that you can develop and nurture. Write down your observations.
3. Ask others. Ask others for their input. Who you pick to help you can be critical to your success here. Ask people who will be supportive and care enough about you and your success to provide some insight and ideas to you. You might consider a family member, a peer, a mentor, your boss; it could be anyone. Just make sure they have enough experience and exposure to you to offer a balanced and informed opinion. Rather than sharing what you've come up with, ask them from a clean slate. Use the following questions as a way to start the conversation ? the discussion will flow naturally from there. Make sure that you take notes on all of the insights they share.
? What do you see as my biggest strengths?
? What kinds of things do you think I could excel at, even if you haven't seen me do them?
? In what situations have you seen me shine?
? What do you see as my biggest area of potential?
4. Look again. Review all of your notes again ? Now you can look at both your thoughts and the ideas and insights you received from others. Look for more trends. Perhaps some things pop out at you and there is agreement. Or, perhaps others have identified things you never thought of (which is one of the reasons you ask them in the first place!) Make more notes of your observations and ideas.
5. Potential identified! Congratulations! After going through this exercise you will likely have identified more things and ideas than you can take advantage of right away.
Identifying Potential in Others
The process for helping others is the same, except the order of the steps might change a little and your role is different. If you have completed the steps above and now want to help others, you have to start with sales.
Think about it. You completed the exercise because you looked in the mirror, and said, in effect, "I have potential, and I'm worth the effort to find it." Now you are looking at someone who may have never had that internal conversation with themselves.
At the start of this article I said, if you don't believe you will find something (in our case potential) you won't likely go searching for it. So, the first thing you have to do to help others identify their potential is help them believe it is there. Let's look at the steps now:
1. Help them see. First you need to motivate them to want find their potential. You might see it, but if they don't you have some work to do! People may be cynical or have a poor self image, so you might have to start slow. Encourage them and convince them to try the exercise with you. If you can get them just beyond skeptical, you can help them be successful.
2. Share your reasons. Perhaps you are a supervisor, manager, parent or in some other position of "power" over the people you are trying to help. If so it is especially important to let the person know that your intentions are pure. You just want to help them reach their potential. Help them see that this is all about them (not about the bottom line, or them getting A's so you can be proud, etc.). Making this clear may remove other barriers in the way of success with this process.
3. Share some of your thoughts. You've influenced them, and gotten them on board. Now you may need to "prime the pump". Share with them a couple of things that you see in them ? things that you see as being areas of great potential. This isn't the time to give them everything, just enough to engage them and encourage them to follow the process.
4. Get them involved. Now share the process with them. Give them a list of the steps you used to identify your own potential (Go ahead ? cut and paste the steps above and give it to them.) Encourage them to start with introspection and advise them to take notes.
5. Coach them through. Encourage them to stay with the process. They will likely ask you to be one of the people to share with them ? after all you influenced and encouraged them to do this to start with! Whether they ask you or not, continue to encourage them and help them in any way you can.
6. Congratulate them! When they have identified some areas of potential, make sure you congratulate them. Let them know how excited you are for them, and let them know that you will do all you can to help them develop those potential skills and aptitudes.
The first step towards releasing potential is to identify, name and recognize that potential. There is more to be done, but you can't do any of that until the potential is identified. That leaves you plenty to do right now anyway, right?
©2004, All Rights Reserved, Kevin Eikenberry. Kevin publishes Unleash Your Potential, a free weekly ezine designed to provide ideas, tools, techniques and inspiration to enhance your professional skills. Go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/current.a sp to read the current issue and subscribe. Kevin is also President of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. You may contact Kevin at toll free 888.LEARNER.
A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More
IntroductionThe aim of this document is to provide advice and... Read More
You do your best to make sure your organization is... Read More
The time will come when you'll need to interview someone... Read More
Old style management doesn't encourage personal mind control, employees aren't... Read More
When you're starting a business, you might wish for a... Read More
Women have made tremendous contributions to society at every level;... Read More
Recent studies have shown that industrial supervisors are working at... Read More
Second thought! Just in case. YOU or someone you personally... Read More
Each year, businesses write-off six percent of revenue to waste,... Read More
In September 2004, President Bush signed the $146 billion tax... Read More
Building a 'bridge of understanding' between parties is... Read More
Every business has problems. That is why the average life... Read More
Direct reports-people who need direction and leadership-rely on their leaders... Read More
How do you as a manager, supervisor or team leader... Read More
At this time of tight budgets, the mantra of business... Read More
Managers often ask, usually with exasperation, "How can I keep... Read More
Current Situation:As of this writing, the MCI Board of Governors... Read More
Standardizing Quality SystemsThe ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, was... Read More
Inventory management may seem complicated to some, but if one... Read More
Positive versus Negative WorkplacesWe have all worked in places where... Read More
Modern business faces complex problems; management often calls upon highly-specialized... Read More
It is a common business axiom ? change or die.... Read More
Most people think real change in an organization occurs as... Read More
In my book Talking Points: 25 Tips for Clear, Credible... Read More
How many times have you wondered why you are unable... Read More
"Jack" (not his real name) is a vice president of... Read More
Kinds of Workplace ConflictsLet's start by identifying where conflicts happen.... Read More
The role of a manager is evolving in response to... Read More
The workplace has traditionally been a dangerous place. Very early... Read More
Does this sound familiar? You were hired for the new... Read More
"The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss... Read More
"? [get] the right people on the bus, the right... Read More
Whether you are a consultant, coach, business owner, doctor, professional,... Read More
If you are like most business people, voice mail has... Read More
Everyone wants to describe themselves as a leader. Everyday, new... Read More
One Bad Apple I know what... Read More
In today's competitive world shorter product life cycles, customers rapid... Read More
Managing for Best PerformanceIn it's simplest form, performance management is... Read More
Unfortunately, there are managers who define public relations by its... Read More
This article relates to the Human Resource Functions competency, commonly... Read More
Why risk the embarassment when with a little basic PR... Read More
Make Sure You Understand Your Motivation for SellingAre you thinking... Read More
Outsourcing is when you hire outside professionals or services to... Read More
Surveys of executives reveal that many companies fall short of... Read More
A Nightmare That Really HappenedOver 10 years ago, when I... Read More
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More
It's very easy for a business owner or manager to... Read More
For you to get where you want to go, there... Read More
I have been very fortunate to travel to several countries... Read More
Picture yourself standing on the bank of a river watching... Read More
'I heard it on the grapevine' the old song goes.... Read More
My client had faced the same challenge, which was frustrating... Read More
You Can't Do It All - Learning To DelegateThere is... Read More
Everyone involved in running a business from the smallest start-up... Read More
I found it important to clarify for employees what "deal-breaker"... Read More
Accounting is one area which every company has to maintain... Read More
You can use this step-by-step method to hire applicants who... Read More
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More
Statistics consistently reinforce that the biggest challenge in today's contact... Read More
What is the Process Approach to Quality?The ISO 9001 2000... Read More
Excess capacity in an automobile plant at Ford, Chrysler, Toyota,... Read More
The senior flight attendant on the WestJet flight was starting... Read More
When you first take over a department, expectations are usually... Read More
We all complain about meetings which are a waste of... Read More
Tips for Getting the Most From Your Conference Investment All... Read More
Business Management |