Potentialists   

My son teases me incessantly about creating words.  When I can’t find a word that says what I want, I often make one up.  Leaders are alchemists of vision and potential — i.e. ‘potentialists’. There are leaders at every level in an organization.  They are also chess players and understand that all the pieces, or their people, move differently. Each individual leaves an impact all their own.   

Have you looked at the roles of each person in your organization, not only from the perspective of what job they were hired for, but from the perspective of their personality styles, energy levels and speed within which they can contextualize things? One of the keys of creating a strong, cohesive team is to recognize individual talents and strengths, to task to them and to harness individual uniqueness into a common focus to get results.   

Reflection: 

Are you where you need to be to achieve your level of excellence and realize your potential?  If not, have you had a conversation with the powers that be to increase your learning and growing curve? And if you’re in a position of leadership, have you done the same with your staff?  It’s up to you to ask for that conversation no matter which side of the desk you sit on.   

What if you could transform your organization by the very next act you undertake?  What might that act be?  Are you where you need to be to make that transformation?    

Everything we do has a ripple effect, an impact on others and in turn back on us.  What if one or more of those acts were transformational beyond our wildest dreams?   

What We Can Do: 

Coaches are potentialists. We bring out the best in our clients based on their talents and strengths.  We listen.  We partner.  We support, catalyze and applaud. We also challenge, do not judge and accept.   

Awesome isn’t it?   

And through all that we help grow people into their highest potential.  Those who act as leaders do much of the same.  Perhaps in a different way and not always intentionally, but they do whether they’re the lowest person on the totem pole or the highest.  That kind of leader is not defined by level of responsibility; that kind of leader is defined by attitude, impact and presence.  Are you that kind of leader?   

So What Are You Going To Do?   

Who haven’t you paid attention to recently who you could grow in some capacity?  It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone at work.  It can be one of your kids, a relative, friend, anyone in your life who might be wandering through life instead of defining it.  Paying attention alone gives a whole new level of energy to those around you.  It’s valuing them as human beings.  That is the first step in helping others realize their potential and that’s recognizing them and their individual and personal impact.   

OK So I’m a Closet Geek (and am proud of it!)   

I am always looking for technology to enhance and facilitate my work, not replace what I do.  Using Google Docs goes a long way in helping me work with international colleagues, collaborate and create material, documents, presentations and whatever it is we’re playing with at the time.  I invite them in as collaborators and we both write, edit and create, having a common parking spot that’s web based so we can go to it whenever we want, wherever we are.   

Last But Not Least:     

Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for a future newsletter or blog post. Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com     

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:  http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm   

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With deepest respect,
 
Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com
ISSN 1913-6307