Is your team working to its full potential?

- Do you have employees who appear to be aiming for average or simply done? Or are they always looking for a new, better, more efficient or cheaper way to do things? How you answer this question can be telling. Of course there are those employees who are there for the job, I get that. They will do the tasks asked of them and are not looking for a new challenge or even a career. They just want to keep their jobs and collect their paychecks. That's fine, we need those people. But they can't be all of the people in our organization. Conversely, other employees are taking a different approach. They're thinking about their career, not just their current job. They're looking ahead at their future. You probably know whom I'm referring to. I'm talking about those who are insatiably curious, trying new things out, observing others, asking questions, and wondering, "What would happen if?" They're always looking to improve a product or process, they're never satisfied with the status quo, and often tinkering with how things are done in order to improve them. This curious group of tickerers, doers and thinkers seem to be hanging out with other similarly ambitious people, they routinely sit around together and share ideas, they gravitate toward people who are equally innovative, and are always coming up with new ideas, processes, or programs. In fact, research shows they're up to 400% more productive than the average employee. These are employees who continuously need to be challenged and you are the person to help them do that. Feed that need for them and you will always have team members with an insatiable hunger to aim for more. With appropriate challenges, such as stretch assignments that they can develop, scaffolding so that they don't fail, will help you develop these team members who are on the cusp of learning and doing more. But be careful not to reward good work with more work. When your team members complete an assignment, follow up and ask them what they liked, what they felt they were missing, and what they wished they knew before. Ask them if they enjoyed the challenge or felt like they were drowning. Try to get specifics from them in the conversation, as that can be used to help develop them in the future. Nothing fuels an employee more, or gets them to stay longer with a company, than knowing their organization promotes from within. If you play your cards right, you can become a company that develops its employees to the point that before they get bored in their current role they're offered a new job, a new challenge. When internal mobility is a recurring theme within the organization, employees take notice and want to stay and grow. Just imagine, you can help them reach their full potential.