Unlocking employee potential is easier than you might think.
When we run team alignment days to help clients with their business strategy, we coach the team through some principles that form the foundation for great teamwork. One particular exercise we run is a survival scenario, which has a byproduct of unlocking employee potential you may not even know about. We break the team into small groups of 3 or 4 and set the exercise up in a way that shows tangible improvements from working as a team vs working as individuals. Or at least that is the desired outcome. Occasionally it works out the opposite!
During the debrief of a recent team alignment day, I asked a particular group for their score. There are several scores that contribute to the overall outcome but one that is always interesting is how many people on your team had a better individual score vs team score. (i.e. who on your team would have been better on their own vs being with the team.) And as occasionally happens, one girl had an individual score that was significantly better than the team score.
I then asked the question, “why do you think your score was so much better?” Her response … “well a couple of years ago I actually did sail across the Atlantic and learned a lot about navigation, survival and sailing”. My next question … “did you happen to mention that to your team?” …. her response “No, I didn’t”
This happens in life and business all the time. We are often working with people who we know very little about. And if you think about all the experience, skills and knowledge that is probably lying there dormant … let’s tap into it.
Another case of unlocking employee potential appeared recently with one of our business coaching clients who has an employee that just finished an economics degree, majoring in accounting. As of right now, they are doing next to no analysis on their financials. Doing so will enable them to make much better decisions, so we’ve quickly moved her more into that role. Untapped resources.
The Potential for You
The lesson is – “who is on your team? and how well do you know them?” What skills, knowledge or natural interests do they have that you can tap into and leverage? The kicker is, people love utilizing their skills and contributing at the highest level. Particularly at what they are good at.
See what you can find out within your own team 🙂
