In addition to the existential question he poses, Hamlet’s deliberation, “To be or not to be,” marks, for me, one of the most profound challenges of management. My manager and mentor “raised” me to believe that one of the responsibilities a manager has is to facilitate his/her subordinates’ reaching of their potential.
This is easier said than done.
Potential is one of life’s least black and white areas (I am avoiding the word “gray” because potential, like hope, is made of brighter colors, like yellow, blue, pink and green). Everything in life has potential- the bud can blossom into glorious flower in the right surroundings. Similarly people and relationships can bloom but while a flower has a pre-determined ceiling and lifespan, people and relationships do not.
People, like relationships, can be cultivated, nurtured and grow to great heights, provided they are willing, and the manager is also so inclined. One of the most known passages in the Twelfth Night is “Some are born great… Some achieve greatness… And some have greatness thrust upon them.” As a manager, I subscribe to this approach; part of my purpose is to identify individuals who have potential and then to determine if s/he is interested in achieving it. There are many managers who believe otherwise; some view their subordinates as threats, some view employees as existing primarily to make their manager look good and some simply not know how to mentor others. Ideally, both manager and employee are fully engaged towards enabling career progression.
In the pursuit of greatness, there are several factors to be considered.
It hurts! By definition, growing means we are trying new things and inevitably, making mistakes. Growing means we are exposing ourselves to unknowns, forced to trust someone else to guide and support us. How we choose to handle our mistakes and our openness to this type of relationship is key to our success and the rewards we reap. There are many individuals who are not interested in exploring their own potential- for them, a job is just a way to put bread on the table and others for whom complacency (read: mediocrity) with their output at the workplace is the chosen path. For still others, it Is not necessarily a choice but rather an understanding of one’s limitations.
Ultimately, understanding limitation is what makes this topic the quintessential managerial challenge: how much potential do we each have?
One of the things that makes being human both enjoyable and frustrating is that once we’ve achieved a particular goal, we seek to go beyond. For example, once a certain level of closeness is attained, we push our relationships to increased intimacy often without intention.
Accordingly we must ask if we are able to understand and accept when potential has been fulfilled. The fatal flaw of the mentor to whom I have dedicated this article is that he believed everyone’s potential was never-ending so no matter how much was achieved, he thought more could be done and never stopped pushing. Rarely is this true. As humans, we have limits. Good managers should see when the shoe fits, i.e. when an individual is in the right role and contently revel in their productivity. For the sake of our mental health, it is imperative that we realize our successes and are able to be content with them.
For those on the path of career progression, timing is also a factor that the manager must include in the plan. For example, an employee can be ripe with potential but then have a personal circumstance which prohibits pursuing it at certain times i.e. birth of a new baby, moving houses et al. Accordingly, a manager must be patient and thoughtfully consider ongoing events when pushing. Good managers need to find the balance between pushing and pausing.
I’d like to believe as my mentor did- that we all have infinite potential and are capable of great things. There’s something to his philosophy and so, while I continue to seek out the right balance, I will also continue encouraging everyone to reach for the moon because, as saying goes, “even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
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