To grow your business, you need to be intentional about growing your people. To grow your people, you need to focus on learning how to “Unlock Human Potential.” The difference between performance and potential is this:

1. Performance = the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
2. Potential = having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.

There are six access points to “Unlocking Human Potential” that a leader must listen for:

1. Curiosity – the ability to forward action by challenging assumptions through inquiry and wonder
2. Perseverance – the ability to stay in action despite setbacks
3. Initiative – the ability to create action without being asked or told
4. Courage – the ability to take action when you are in a state of fear
5. Engagement – the ability to be in action through commitment vs compliance
6. Passion – the ability to generate action by enrolling others into what is most important

Example:

In a recent Town Hall meeting where you as the CEO challenged all staff to be in Possibility Thinking to find ways to move the organization forward in either of two ways:

1. Reduce costs out of the business
2. Generate new value to support growth in the business

On the following Monday, you get a knock on your office door at 7 am by a member of your Engineering Team. She says to you, “Do you have 10 minutes sometime this week, I would like to share two ideas that I have been working on to create new value that I believe will move product x forward and from my calculations grow our market share by a minimum of 20% over the next 2 years with product x.” 

What potential is this person expressing?

Challenge:

Listen for potential in others and then foster the person’s potential by empowering the person to expand their hidden talent.  Challenge them to turn their potential into a new possibility that creates value for the organization.

This blog was written by Eric Crowell and Scott Clark with significant contributions from Tony Zampella (Bhavana Learning Group) and Rob McNamara (Leadership Teacher).