How business leaders can expand employees’ unrealised potential

John C. Maxwell’s fourth Level of Leadership focuses on people’s development. This is a crucial point that separates leaders from bosses.

An excellent leader holds his status of leader by taking this step to enhance their team members. While the first three steps of Maxwell’s model focus on bringing people’s efforts towards increasing an organisation’s productivity, better productivity cannot be enhanced if the leader does not help advance the employee. Returning to the employee with resources and allowances for development allows people to acquire new competencies and ultimately offer a higher quality of work.

“Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first.”- Angela Ahrendts, Senior Vice President, Apple

A wise business leader understands that an employee brings with them much more than just their labour; they bring their thoughts, perceptions, strengths, and talents. Bringing out the best qualities in an employee leads to many advantages that enhance the quality of their work, including being more resourceful, creative problem-solving and overall being more productive in their role.

“Take care of your people, and they’ll take care of your business” – Richard Branson

People are typically very eager to talk about their passions or talents and can use these to find real-world applications, as this is not considered work in their psychology – therefore, they are more likely to approach the task with the same enthusiasm of play. Additionally, when work has an element of play, it is approached with an open-minded curiosity that allows for fresh ideas to be considered.

Businesses and organisations all desire their employees to enhance their skills to become more knowledgeable, become more competent and use what they learned on the job. However, a wise business leader understands that they can take a monumental step further than this when they can combine an employee’s role with their interests or passions, as well as options for their higher learning that empower them with the chance to develop their career.

“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Mark Twain

What is the team attitude? It is straightforward to picture the ideal team collectively winning, succeeding and achieving a common goal as a coordinated effort. This is, after all, the purpose of forming a team; to share the burden. However, it is the difficulties and challenges that really bring out the best or the worst qualities in the collective effort and highlight if all the team members fit or still fit together.

Tough times or stressful situations can dissolve a loosely fitted team with improper communication. Under the guidance of an experienced leader, a real team knows how to close ranks during the challenges to ensure that they support one another and that all are progressing towards a common goal.

While the team attitude has always been a helpful trait that hiring managers look for, it has recently become a critical point to decide a candidate’s recruitment regardless of their qualifications. Many organisations are understanding and experiencing the benefits of bringing on employees with the right team attitude that matches their company culture.

The long-term benefits here are that this reduces the potential for disagreements or the development of time-consuming office politics. Highlighting these incidents typically brings to mind scenarios that are usually resolved relatively quickly. However, the impact they have on creative workflow and the ease of communication over time can accumulate over time to reveal a costly problem that could easily be avoided.