You have huge potential. We all do. Yet we typically work to about 50% of it – that’s a lot of wasted potential! Why? Because we like being comfortable. We stick with what we know. We get busy and in the process, we don’t tune in to change that will accelerate our growth and potential.
Think of people you know who seem to step into new opportunity and challenge with such ease while others struggle getting out of their comfort zone, even though they want things to be different. Where do you sit on that spectrum right now in your role?
Are you flexing your courage muscles enough?
Some people are naturally better at developing their potential. What separates people who follow change they want and realise their potential vs wishing, hoping and wanting things to change is courage. Courage to think differently. Courage to do things differently. Courage to step into something new.
How to tap into your potential
“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!” — Richard Branson
McKinsey Research has consistently shown that one of the key non-financial motivators for high performance is ‘creating opportunities’ for performance and career growth.
We’re motivated by challenge and making meaningful progress, and we tap into that through opportunity.
Focus your attention in the right place
Your incremental performance lies in three interconnected areas of opportunity: improving you and your skills; improving your ideas and knowledge base through relationships; and driving projects that create positive change.
1) Improve yourself: your productivity, your leadership skills or other competencies.
What are you doing to improve you? For what purpose? Against what benchmarks?
2) Improve the quality of your relationships, connections and networks
Are your relationships where they need to be? What ideas and knowledge could you be tapping into? Where are your biggest opportunities to build and leverage relationships?
3) Improve your bottom line results
What are you focusing on? If you think about the 80% of your role that is the engine that drives 80%+ of your results. Then for your engine, you need to determine whether to:
Rev it up – improve core; or
Turbo fuel it – optimise core; or
Build the next engine – innovate core.
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston S. Churchill
Bringing it all together
Your incremental performance means choosing to learn: about you, others, and new opportunities – all of which take you outside of your comfort zone, because that’s where your growth and development lies. Where are your biggest opportunities for incremental performance? I’d love to know.
