When was the last time you helped your team surprise you?
A couple of years ago our youngest did her Duke of Edinburgh award.
The fact that she decided to do it totally blew me away.
She’s brilliant and has loads of hobbies but she’s not out doorsy… hates camping… and carrying a rucksac for miles…. Errr forget it.
But she heard about D of E and decided to have a go…
And that’s just it.
I hear all the time… “my team member isn’t interested in development. They just want to come to work and do their job and go home again.”
And while this is perfectly OK if I’m honest I never quite believe it… because I’ve seen people do surprising things all the time.
I’ve also seen people totally light up when someone pays an interest or exposes them to new things.
When we assume someone isn’t bothered there’s a real tendency to leave them to it. To tell ourselves that they’re ok and we look elsewhere for the talent, when its right there in front of us all along.
I’ve had this with my own team before and low and behold when you expose them to something new, you see someone completely different emerge.
So here’s the thing:
✔️Challenge your own thinking about your team
✔️Expose them to new things don’t delegate
✔️Get them involved
And you might just have someone right in front of you who will totally surprise you.