Is there anyone out there who hasn't watched the video of Susan Boyle's performance last week on Britain's Got Talent? 20 million so far, I understand. But if you haven't, or if you, like me, want to watch it again, then watch it here before you read any further.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR_N9iljeMk                             

What hidden talent! What untapped potential until now! A dream she's had since the age of 12! Now her talent is no longer hidden. The whole world knows about it. If the discovery of that talent inspires others to risk putting their potential out there so that it can be tapped and valued, then that's an added contribution she has made to this world.

I began to wonder how many Susan Boyles there are in our organisations. She had a dream. She always wanted to be a professional singer like Elaine Page. She wanted to sing before a large audience. As she shared her dream the large audience and the judges sniggered because they obviously believed that this 47 year old woman from a little village in Scotland who didn't look the part was naive and even, dare I say it, a joke! Why hadn't it worked out for her before this, the judge asked. Because she had never been given the chance before, she explained. She had her chance and before she had finished singing the first line of "I dreamed the dream", the audience were gasping, clapping and rising to its feet. Her hidden talent began to move the world!

I have no doubt there is much hidden talent in our organisations. It's hidden because of age - too old or too young. It's hidden because of gender. Or maybe it's hidden because he or she doesn't look the part - not the right shape, or the right height, or not the right dress sense, or has big eye-brows or a double chin. Sometimes it's hidden behind a disability. Do we, as leaders and managers in our organisations, give these people a chance to show their talent? Do we encourage them to take the risk and have a go? Or are we part of the crowd that looks at the outside and either explicitly or implicitly discards them? If ever the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" needed to be proven, Susan Boyle did that.

Here's a challenge for this week. If you are a leader or a manager, take time this week to "review" your people - your direct reports. Rule up a sheet of paper and put their names down the side and across the top 3 headings - Strengths, Untapped Potential, Possibilities for Development. That last heading is where you look at ways (opportunities) you can give your people to explore their untapped potential.

And if you are one of those people in the organisation who believes you have untapped potential that is not being given a chance, read on for what you can do about it.

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Be Proactive                 

How To Get Your Organisation To Recognise Your Hidden Talent and Untapped Potential 

Are you one of those people who feel you are only working at a small percentage of your capability?

Do you feel you are not being given opportunities in your organisation to develop your talents or demonstrate your potential?

Are you feeling unchallenged in your present job because you know you have far more potential but there does not appear to be any scope to tap it in your present position?

Is there something you’ve always wanted to do in your work but never been given the chance, for example, having the responsibility of carrying a project through from beginning to end?

Or are you just feeling you want more out of your work, but are not sure what that “more” could be?

If you are any one of these people, know that you are one of many people in many organisations who feel the same. 

What can you do about it?

• Be pro-active. That means take action and do something about it. Don’t just sit around becoming jaded, disillusioned, disengaged and progressively more negative. This is about developing your leadership potential. It is also about you taking ownership of your career and professional development.

• If you need support, guidance, motivation or inspiration to take this step, get a coach to help you plan your strategy and approach. Alternatively, use a mentor to help you explore how you can achieve advancement in the organisation. This mentor would be someone who has been where you want to go, who has the qualities you want to have and who will share his/her experience and support and guide you so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  A mentor can be someone senior in the organisation or someone outside the organisation.
  

• You need to sit down with your manager and talk about your career aspirations and what you want from, and can give to, the organisation. Before you do that, however, do some work on and with yourself. Understand not just what you want for your career but also understand yourself and what it is in you that may prevent you achieving that. Be prepared to explore your weaknesses and what challenges you, as well as expounding your strengths. It is just as important to have a plan for how you are going to grow yourself personally, as it is to have a career plan to grow yourself professionally. In fact it is difficult to separate the personal and the professional. Soft skills are now as important as technical skills. Your coach or mentor can be a very good resource in helping you do that.

• Part of this reflection is developing some self-awareness. How might my manager be seeing me? How do I come across to others?  What is my work or leadership or management style? Does the way I work and interact in the organisation lead people to believe I have talent and potential?  Would it lead my manager to offer me opportunities over and beyond my present work? Check this out with other people you trust will give you an honest opinion.
  

• Don’t just focus all your attention on yourself and what you want. Get inside the head – and shoes – of your manager and your organisation. Get to “know” your manager. Watch and listen to him/her – not just to words and actions, but to what lies underneath. What are his/her values, aspirations and motivations? What’s important to him/her? What makes him/her tick? What is he/she most passionate about? What keeps him/her awake at night? What challenges him/her most? Ask and answer the same questions about your organisation. In Stephen Covey’s famous book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, his 5th habit  is: Seek First to Understand and then To Be Understood. If you can do this, you will be much better able to align your goals and aspirations with those of your manager and your organisation. You will be more realistic about what your organisation can offer you in terms of developing your talent and potential. Your potential for influence will be far greater.

• When you have done all that preparation, you are ready to talk with your manager and let him/her know that you want to advance in the organisation and that if opportunities arise you want to be considered for them. Let your manager know that you believe you are ready for more challenge and responsibility. Talk with him/her about your strengths, but also where you are most challenged. Ask for opportunities where you can address those challenges and become a more effective part of the organisational team. Most importantly, listen and engage him/her. Be “present” with him/her.

• Ghandi once said: “Be the change you want to see in your world.” This applies here. If you want your manager to change and to begin to recognise your talent and potential, don’t wait for him/her to change and notice. You be the change so that he/she can’t help but notice. Show your talent and potential in the organisation in as many ways as possible.
  

• Seize opportunities and take initiatives that will demonstrate your talent and potential, even while there may be no extra salary for them, or no extra time in work hours to do them. These can also be great learning experiences.
  

• Volunteer to work on a project, outside your normal work role, where you know your talent and potential will be able to be demonstrated. Working after hours on a work project that you quite consciously are doing for this reason is not much different than studying after hours for a new qualification. It is quite different to having to work after hours to keep up with a heavy workload. 
  

• Ask if you can shadow someone in a particular role or project in your area of interest or development and learn what they do and how they do it.
  

• When you see your manager struggling for time to complete something that you know you could do, offer to do it for him/her.

• If there is a process that needs to be done on a regular basis but is always running to deadlines or done in an ad hoc manner, and is usually delegated to you by your manager, show initiative and devise a scheme to streamline the process and present it to him/her for consideration.
  

• In learning more about your manager and your organisation, anticipate needs and gaps in services, and seek to do training and development to be able to meet those needs and fill those gaps. The organisation may even support you in doing that by paying fees or approving study leave.
  

• Develop your internal networks. Be engaged in the organisation at as many levels as possible. Be socially engaged as well as professionally engaged. Attend functions where you are going to meet the people who can influence your career and development within the organization. BUT, also don’t ignore your relationships with the grass root people in the organisation. People who have very good people and interpersonal skills, who can engage with the janitor, the cleaner and the receptionist just as easily as they can with board members, the CEO and executive staff, are highly sought after as leaders today. This will ensure you are the first person the CEO thinks of when all kinds of opportunities arise.

• Develop your external networks. Join your professional association or industry group. Join a subcommittee and make a real contribution. Become involved and demonstrate your competency and experience there. If your organisation doesn’t recognise your talent and potential then you can guarantee someone else in your industry or professional group will and you’ll be “head-hunted”.

One Last Thought from Left of Field

Sometimes people end up having to leave an organisation because, in spite of everything they might do, their talent and potential was not recognised by their manager and there had been no room for their growth and development there.

If you find yourself in this position, yet really would like to work for that organisation, then don’t cut all ties when you move on. Stay in touch with someone there in a key position, ideally the person who was most supportive of you there. Somewhere along the line an opportunity may arise for you to return. That manager may move on. You may even be invited to return.

In fact, many big companies now have Alumni programs. Once it was only schools and universities who had these. Now big companies, like law firm Clayton Utz and town planner Urbis JHD, also have alumni programs. They have recognised the importance of maintaining contact with former employees, knowing that at some point they could rejoin their firms as valuable assets.

Dream the Dream, Not Just the Career Plan

"For the most part, it is not our work that engages us, not the money and things that our work brings into our lives....it is our dreams. Highly engaged employees have a dream and they are working toward that dream" - Matthew Kelly

Another word for "Dream" is "Vision". We achieve little if we don't have a dream or a vision. There is little sense setting goals either if they are not underpinned by a dream or a vision that inspires and motivates. That is the main reason why we fail to achieve our goals - but they are not dynamically connected to our dream and vision for our lives. I wrote an article on this back in my February 2007 newsletter called "Making New Year Resolutions Work - Visions First, Goals Second". You can read it here.

Matthew Kelly's article "The Turnover Dilemma: Keeping Employees by Fulfilling Dreams" is well worth reading. He finishes by saying:

"In a land where there are no men and women of vision and leadership, in a land where there are no poets and musicians, in a land where there are no dreamers - the people of that land will most certainly perish. But you and I, we are the men and women of vision and leadershipo, we are the poets and musicians, and we are the dreamers of dreams. Martin Luther King Jr didn't stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and say to the thronging crowds: 'I have a strategic plan....'. No, he announced to the world: 'I have a dream....'  "

Read the whole article here. 

Copyright © People Empowered-Maree Harris 2009
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