Leader & Team Development | GTA
  • Home
  • About
  • Specialties
    • Change Management
    • Leadership Coaching
    • Team Effectiveness >
      • Employee Engagement
      • Workshops | Assessments
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

Wasted Potential - 7 Expert Lessons to Retain Your Top Talent

8/1/2018

1 Comment

 
Woman looking out office building window
According to Gallup State of the Global Workplace, 85% of employees worldwide are not engaged or are actively disengaged in their job.
 
“The low percentages of engaged employees represent a barrier to creating high performing cultures around the world. They imply a stunning amount of wasted potential.”
 
Wasted potential. How that phrase resonates with me!
 
Death by Administration
I'm sad to say, I was one of the walking ‘wasted potential’ not too many years ago. It was a dark and miserable time. My employer was doing a massive restructure, removing spans and levels of management and it was my job, as the HR lead, to implement it for my division.

Unfortunately the process they undertook was more of a spreadsheet exercise, versus strategic. So the work I loved and excelled at suddenly switched from senior level advisory work to a massive load of mundane administrative tasks Every. Single. Day. , and it went on for months.
 
This kind of work was my worst nightmare and even though it is hard to admit..I have never been very good at mind-numbing administrative work. It just wasn't the right work for me. What a complete waste!
 
Wasted potential.
 
People can’t thrive when they are doing the wrong work. It devalues them, misuses talents and creates unnecessary pressure.
 
During stress-filled change, leaders can fall asleep at the helm; too busy ducking for cover, they completely overlook the signs of utter disengagement around them.
 
Don’t waste your best resources like that; you will surely lose your highest potential people when you don’t pay attention.

Picture
Dots SOS: if you are looking for a coach to guide you through the frustration of being overlooked, or you're a leader whose team is disengaged please reach out! I offer a 30 minute free consultation to discuss options. 
Expert Lessons
A great way to stem the tide of employee disengagement is to tap into the abilities of EACH and every person on your team. Get people doing the right work utilizing their best skills, long before a change occurs.

According to Gallup's survey analytics it is your high potential talent that will take a walk if they are not engaged, long before the others. These top talent are the experts to learn from!
​
Here is what top talent say will help keep them: 
 
​Lesson 1
  • Know their career aspirations and full employment background. What do they love to do? What do they detest doing. Why?
Lesson 2
  • Know the strengths of each person. Never assume they want to or can do the work that everyone else does. Always match work to their strengths. It will save everyone time and pointless stress.
  • Caution: A ‘stretch assignment’ isn’t taking on a bunch of administration or more work; stretch is learning a new skill that will help them and YOU in the future!
Lesson 3
  • Know them as individuals. What environment makes them feel valued? Learn their communication and behavioural styles (use tools to discover) so you know where they struggle. Validate assumptions with the person directly, to be sure.
Lesson 4
  • Identify the right incentives for each person. Top talent rises when they connect with real meaning and purpose. Make connections for them. How will their work make a bigger impact, better connect to the customer, and build a better company. Give them the ability to influence HOW they are recognized for achievements.
  • Caution: Carrot and stick rewards do not work with high potentials. Offering a bonus to achieve an unattainable goal will not lead to greater engagement.
Lesson 5
  • Spot the Hi-Po’s (High Potential). Based on their demonstrated behaviour, and how they work with others, watch for those who have the making of a leader. They are the ones who seek ‘meaty’ work, influence others positively and demonstrate company values. Let them know you see their potential. Having them lead a process, a project, a team meeting or strategy planning session shows trust.
  • Caution: High Performance does not necessarily mean High Potential. Don’t confuse the two. Not everyone wants to, or is appropriate to, move up.
Lesson 6
  • Give them meaningful feedback. One of the greatest gifts you can give anyone is candid feedback. Provide regular feedback that is both constructive and supportive. Candid feedback may be tough to give but so powerful to build your best people’s skills and career. Seek their feedback. They want to help you too, as long as you are open to receive.
  • Caution: Feedback is not an ‘Atta Boy/Girl’ slap on the back. It is well thought out, providing a crisp accounting of what's working and where to make change, from a helpful perspective.
​
Lesson 7
  • Stay in touch. Your high potential employees need a different type of leader than the “newbies” or the “steady Eddy's”.
  • Don’t just look for status updates, check in on what is working well, where they have struggles, what help they need from you, what is getting in their way, ask them questions, actively listen…and then, most importantly, follow through!

Engagement Counts
The best leaders demonstrate they care about each and every team member by taking an interest. They pay attention, particularly during stressful times, leveraging potential vs wasting it. They make it a practice to develop potential, all the time. They allocate work in a way that plays to their people’s strength and they keep them connected to the bigger picture. 
 
When you demonstrate YOUR engagement, harnessing the potential of your best and brightest, you are guaranteed better results for highly engaged employees.
 
If you have a disengaged team (or team member) or are leading through stressful times and need support, I’m only an email away! I help leaders grow and develop by working with them through the toughest of times. I offer a 30-minute free consult.

I want to hear from you, tell me about your own experience in the reply section below.

Image: CC0 Creative Commons/Pixabay
1 Comment
Judy Mackenzie
7/4/2021 02:37:09 pm

Great article Elaine. It is especially relevant as employees start migrating back to the workplace. Wasting high potential person power hits both the top and bottom line of every budget.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Most Popular Posts:
    • When Work Sucks The Life Out Of You
    • Super Boss - What is your Super Power?
    • ​5 Stealthy Ways to Disarm Work Bullies

    Author

    Elaine Adamson is a leadership consultant with Dots Leadership Solutions Inc. A natural dot connector. Passionate about coaching team effectiveness and leadership development she shares over 25+ years of real-life tips and tricks that really work!

    Elaine Adamson Leadership Consultant, Team Effectiveness Guru
    ​​Elaine believes you can discover and leverage strengths to forge a strong team dynamic despite business challenges or organizational change.
    ​ 
    She posts some great articles on Linked In too!

    Click to Connect Today!


    Topics of Interest

    All
    Behaviour Issue
    Bullying
    Burnout
    Difficult People
    DiSC Assessment
    Disengagement
    Free Assessment
    Hiring
    How To Communicate
    Leadership Development
    Leading Change
    Manage Yourself
    Org Effectiveness
    People Issues
    Self Discover
    Strong Teams
    Team Building
    Tough Conversation
    Understand Type
    Work Life Balance

    Archives By Date

    January 2025
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    September 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016

    RSS Feed

Specialties

Change Management
​
Leadership Coaching
​Team Effectiveness

Company

Our Story
Blog
​Testimonials

Support

Contact Us
Privacy Policy

© COPYRIGHT Dots Leadership Solutions Inc. 2025
​.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Photos from Wonderlane, thedailyenglishshow, blinq
  • Home
  • About
  • Specialties
    • Change Management
    • Leadership Coaching
    • Team Effectiveness >
      • Employee Engagement
      • Workshops | Assessments
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Contact