Do you want to harness the greatest power in your organization? To truly benefit those you lead, you must learn the art of maximizing staff potential. By empowering teams through involvement, you create a culture where every individual contributes to the overall mission.
The most valuable assets of your church, business, or nonprofit never appear on a balance sheet. They are the individuals who show up every day to execute the vision.
The truth is that any organization is only as good as the people within it. Even the greatest idea will fail with the wrong team; conversely, the right people can take an average idea and achieve tremendous results through collaboration and dedication.
The key to success is to learn how to get the best ideas out of the people within the organization. It’s often been called Human Capital. But learning to glean from this valuable resource takes experience and intentionality.
Are you relying on the knowledge, insight and experience of everyone on your team to make the organization better? Do you understand and appreciate the human capital your team brings to the table?
5 ways to benefit with people you lead:
Dream together
Have assigned times periodically where everyone on the team gets to give input into the organization’s future. It’s important to provide ways for even the most introverted on the team to share thoughts. Information shouldn’t be defined to a “chain of command”. Everyone has something they know better than the leader knows.
Allow mistakes
Create an environment where team members are willing to take risks without fear of repercussion if things go wrong. This atmosphere will often be created with the leader’s instant reactions to mistakes made, but will be reinforced by how the organization learns from failure. When people feel free to explore they will enjoy doing so.
I once read 12 things discovered by making a mistake.
- The slinky
- Penicillin
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Potato chips
- The pacemaker
- Silly Putty
- Microwave ovens
- Fireworks
- Corn flakes
- Ink jet printers
- Post it notes
- X-rays
Now where would the world be without Silly Putty – right? Seriously, God has given us creative minds. What is your team trying, which could prove to be a mistake – but it could be genius?
Ask questions
The best leaders ask the best questions. Genuinely seek help from those around you. Recognize the fact others may know more than you know about a particular subject. I like to follow others on the team when they are the expert in a subject. And sometimes I ask questions – not as much for the answer – but to get their minds churning. It’s proven to be gold at times.
Don’t pre-define solutions
If you want help solving a problem or planning for the future, start with a clean slate, without having a pre-determined outcome when addressing an issue. If the leader always has the answer, team members are less likely to share their input. They’ll simply wait – holding out the best solutions at times – knowing the leader will trump them anyway.
Be open to change
New ideas never come in an attitude of control or when the goal is always protecting tradition. The leader must genuinely desire new ways of doing things – and must lead others to the same mindset. Everyone on the team knows if the leader is really considering other people’s opinions. If team member’s suggestions are never implemented, they eventually will stop sharing them.
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This article originally appeared on RonEdmondson.com and is reposted here by permission.