Good morning, Leaders!  It’s Friday!

Over the past week, Carole and I were blessed to travel to California to experience our young, talented and well adjusted grandson sing, swim, ride bike, play soccer and eat ice cream…all (mostly) unassisted. He’s 5.

Flying back and heading into a challenging week at work, it hit me. My aspirations for each and every team member I’ve ever been associated with fell into the same category as Dylan. I only wanted to see them reach their full potential. My job was to articulate the vast world of possibilities, get them to open their eyes to what they were good at and share some of my aspirations for them until …
they became their aspirations.

This has taken on many forms in many settings over the years:
•Hiring interns
•Hiring new grads
•Hiring experienced staff
•Partnering with vendors, consultants and industry experts
•Entering into an established work place requiring … adjustments
•Releasing talent to be more successful elsewhere

Cradle to grave, a leader never stops trying to cultivate talent.

How do you nurture aspirations in your team members?

•Do you build an environment where they can thrive?
•Do you set goals where they know when they’re winning and when they’re not?
•Do you give them all of the right equipment?
•Do they have consistent support?
•Do you monitor and nurture their confidence levels?
•Do you paint a picture, that tells a story, like charting a course through a potential career path?

It could start like this:
Hi!
I’ve been watching you and I think you have genuine talent.
If you’d like to continue to improve, I’d like to work with you.
I see (here comes the leadership Vision component) you playing at a much higher level with the right coaching, equipment, training, opportunities, exposure and Team.
We will focus on [fill in the critical details here] as we navigate the challenges and opportunities made available through a mutually agreed upon journey.
Are you ready to become the best version of you?

Have a blessed weekend!