I am reading Adam Grant’s book Give and Take this week. Grant quotes research where leaders of soldiers, CPA’s, students and engineers were given detailed personnel assessments on everyone on their team. The data identified the few that had the highest potential. A year later these high potential employees and students were outpacing and outperforming their peers by significant margins.
Here is the catch. The “high performers” were selected at random from their groups. Yet because their leaders believed that these members were “gifted” their investment in them was different and in every situation these employees’ development was greatly accelerated. Wow! Just think about the implications of this truth.
When you look at your team today, assume you are looking at high performers and make a commitment to unlock their full potential. The leader’s belief and investment are the key determiners of their future performance. Powerfully engaged employees are your biggest lever. Now you know how to make that lever even stronger.