The Potential in Spotting Potential

By Michelle Malay Carter on September 30, 2007 

Mosaic Tiles with PotentialChip Conley, a Fast Company blogger, started my neurons firing with the following sentence:? “I?ve always believed a great leader knows how to tap into potential and actualize it into reality.?

Yes, I agree. ?Isn?t that what great investors do too?? Whether it be real estate, stock market, or venture capital.? I suppose if it were easy, we?d all be doing it.? Within organizations, I think most executives, managers, and HR alike are well-intentioned but clueless.

In order to spot potential, you must know:

1.? where to look
2.? what potential looks like.

Spotting Potential in People
As far as people are concerned, do we look for potential?? No, we hire for ACHIEVEMENT, and we promote for ACHIEVEMENT, not potential.? Why?? Because of ignorance, because its a no-brainer, and it’s safe, but is it risk free?? As long as we do this, organizations will lament the fact that they can?t find talent while 20% of their current employees are capable of doing higher level work.? For more on this, read my article, But I Really Like Her.?

Spotting Potential in Systems
Your employees and your customers experience your organizaton at the hands of your systems.? I dare say most organizational systems drive behavior and create experiences that are in NO WAY connected to the thoughtfully-crafted, benevolent corporate values statement posted in the employee lunchroom.

In a corporate values study conducted by Booz Allen, it was found that most executives thought corporate values were important but had no best practices for embedding values into operations.? ?For more on this, keep reading my blog in the days to come.

The worst system offenders are organization?s people systems.? They are like 1,000 bits of mosaic tile thrown on the floor.? Simply a mess, but yet a mess with the potential to be assembled into a masterpiece.?

If only someone with a vision for a total-system approach to managerial leadership, talent management and organizational design were to come along.? Well, he did, his name was Elliott Jaques, but few very see the potential in his ideas.

The same can be said for hiring consultants.? No one gets fired for hiring McKinsey or IBM. ?It may be safe, but it?s not risk free to hire for achievement while ignoring potential.

Filed Under Corporate Values, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization

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