Imagine you’ve recently hired a new employee who is smart, has talent, is driven to succeed and wants to grow professionally. In fact, when asked where this person sees himself or herself in five years, the answer is “doing your job”. How do you react? Is this an opportunity or a threat? Truly great leaders see opportunity!
One of the greatest leaders I ever had the privilege of following had a phrase … “first rate people hire first rate people … second rate people hire third rate people.” He knew that great leaders look for the very best people, seeing them not as a threat to their own security, but rather as an opportunity to build a legacy. To build this legacy, he followed these steps …
• Look for talent – each person has a variety of talents, tools that they can use to attain a desired outcome. This great leader looked at the tools that the person had. These needed to be tools the person actually had, not the ones that the leader wished the person had.
• Assess drive and determination – talent without the drive and determination to put those talents to work is useless. Desire makes all the difference in the world when the going gets tough. This great leader looked for individuals who had reasons for pursuing a goal; reasons that drove them to put forth the effort needed to overcome whatever obstacle might stand in their way.
• Determine willingness to work – when a person has enough reasons for wanting to attain the goal, they will have the willingness to work. This great leader recognized that the reasons must be important to the follower, not important to the leader. For this reason, he asked about the person’s motivators and then listened to the answers and listened for the passion that would help the person summon the willingness to work for the goal. When the going got tough, because he had truly listened, this leader was able to help the follower remember the reasons why reaching the goal was important enough to keep working for.
• Identify strengths – just as everyone brings talents to the table, they have things that they are really good at. These strengths form the foundation upon which all endeavors should be built. This great leader knew that people will happily do what they do well. So, he never attempted to force the “square peg into the round hole”. He encouraged his followers to do what they were good at … early and often!
• Find areas for growth – while every individual has strengths, things that they are good at, each person also has areas in which they can grow and improve. This great leader was able and willing to help people recognize skills that needed cultivation and did so in ways that never made the individual feel inadequate. Rather, he helped them recognize how good they were and how much better they could be by taking the time to cultivate a skill and master it.
• Build on strengths and provide tools for growth – this was the final phase. Having identified both the strengths and the opportunities for professional growth, he made certain that the person had the necessary tools; training, education, mentoring, or any other tool needed to facilitate that person’s growth and success.
As you look back, can you identify the people you helped along the way? As you look forward, can you foresee the number of people who will attribute their success to the help they received from you? While only you know the answer to the first question, you hold in your hands the opportunity to answer the second by the actions you take today and in the days, months, and years to come. If you wish to be known today and remembered in the future as a truly great leader, you must measure your personal success against a very special standard; the people that you help to grow and achieve their goals.