Three Ways to Polish a Diamond Employee In The Rough

January 3, 2014 by

leadership-polish-employees-coaching-todd-nielsenAs the leader of your team, it is your job to encourage and enrich as much potential as possible in each employee that you oversee.  Real leaders not only see the potential in the obvious places, but in those “diamond in the rough” employees too.  Read on to discover three ways in which you can pull out the best of qualities and polish talent until it shines.

Have a Conversation

The first step in getting the most out of a promising employee is explaining to them your eye for their potential.  People need to be able to trust in you if you want to successfully coach them to a higher level of success, so be willing to lay your cards out on the table and explain to them why you are taking the time to enhance their efforts.

In an effort to get your employee to open up, be vocal about the qualities that you already admire in them before you narrow in on areas that could use improvement.  Try to get your employee in on the conversation as much as possible by asking them to share their input and personal perspective.

Brainstorm and Bond

Once you figure out areas that you think an employee could excel in- its time to brainstorm possible pathways.  Encourage your employee to exercise an air of transparency, feeling free to discuss questions, comments and concerns.  Give your employee a tangible goal with benchmarks to meet along the way, also, establish a deadline for them to reach this goal.

In addition to taking the time to coach your employee, take the time to get to know them as well.  If you can bond with the person beyond the job title, you have a better chance of connecting with them- increasing both compliance and loyalty.  What are their interests?  What is their family life like?  Don’t get too personal but don’t remain stagnant; if you want your employee to grow within your team it would not hurt to build a connection that can be used as a platform for growth.

Communicate and Collaborate

Day in and day out your employees will be working toward the established goal that will condition their greater level of potential.  Your presence will be crucial in fueling their fire.  Communicate with something as simple as a daily check-in.  Knowing that you are still watching will keep them accountable, knowing that you care will keep them committed to the goal and tasks at hand.

Should you see your employee improving within their own talents, be sure to let them know.  More important, continue coaching them to keep the improvements going.  Take the time to show your employee places in which their potential could take them within your company.

As time goes on you might consider plotting out a plan of growth for them within.  Regardless of your approach, always encourage your employee to keep learning and improving within their efforts.  At the end of each day, you will have a better employee to show for it.

How do you bring out the potential in employees?

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Molding Future Leaders: 4 Tips for Mentoring Young Professionals

February 11, 2013 by

Leadership-Mentoring-Young-Leaders Here on ToddNielsen.com, we often discuss how we can develop leadership qualities within ourselves and within organizations. Established leaders, also have an obligation to pass the baton and help develop leadership in others. This, more than anything, is the hallmark of good leadership. Just as John Quincy Adams once noted, “If your actions inspire others to learn more, dream more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” If you have young people in either your professional or personal life, lift them up and in so doing, inspire an entire generation of future leaders. Here’s how:

1. Impress upon your young charges the importance of constantly learning.

Perhaps the most important key to future success and personal fulfillment is developing a desire to constantly learn new things. If you are an employer and you supervise young people, give them tasks that require learning and applying new skills. Encourage them to learn outside of work, to learn for its own sake and enjoyment.

2. Put them in situations in which they have to make serious decisions.

Good decision-making skills are another important element in leadership. Of course, you can talk all day about the qualities inherent in strong leaders, but it’s important to put young people to the test so they can actually begin practicing leadership skills. If the young people in question are your employees, put them in a situation in which they make serious business decisions. Guide them through the process of decision-making, and show them how each decision requires compromise and give-and-take.

3. Emphasize loyalty and humility over personal gain.

If there’s one thing that many leaders in the financial industry learned, it’s that greed trumps responsibility to your clients and the common good. We often talk about ethics in leadership, but we all too often only pay it lip service. Talk to your young future leaders about the importance of loyalty and service. Financial greed never pays off, doing the right thing does.

4. Be the best example you can be. Actions speak louder than words.

Being a good example is the most effective way to mentor young professionals. That means always being aware that you are being watched by young people who look up to you. Never take shortcuts, own up to your mistakes and otherwise be the person you want others to see you as.

Inspiring leadership in younger people is by no means easy. But as a current leader, you must develop a vision for long-haul sustainability for your current enterprise and society as a whole. This can only be done by investing in young people. Soon enough, they’ll be running the world.

“Being a good example is the most effective way to mentor young professionals.” Tweet this!

Have you led young professionals? What tips do you have? Please share your thoughts and comments below.

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How A Group Of Frogs Became A Story About Developing Leaders

February 11, 2011 by

Steph Robey put this video together based on a classic story of frogs traveling through the woods.  The video talks about developing leaders.  While this was made for home based businesses it still has two important lessons that apply to all leaders.

  1. Words Have the Power of Life & Death
  2. It Takes the Power of a Leader to Speak Life

It is a great little video that I know you will enjoy.  Those two lessons carry a lot of meaning.  Please comment and share your thoughts.

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