Talented employees need great managers how long that employee stays and how productive he is while he’s there is determined by his relationship with his immediate supervisor.’ -Buckingham and Coffman, First, Break All the Rules.

Unleashing talent therefore depends on the crucial consideration of how ’emotionally intelligent’ leaders in an organisation are.

In last week’s article, Curtis Manchoon looked at the importance of emotional intelligence, a critical factor in a leader’s ability to UNLEASH TALENT.

Are the leaders in your organisation tapping into your employees’ highest potential?

In an economy where competitive edge relies on the skills and knowledge of the workers inside your organisation, today’s leaders must know how to help individuals unleash their talents.

But within this radically new paradigm, traditional motivation methods are outdated and ineffective.

If workers are to make their highest and best contribution, they need leaders who understand what motivates them, what matters most to them, and what their strongest abilities are.

To unleash this new generation’s talent, leaders must have a new mind-set, skill-set, and tool-set.

Compared to previous generations, the knowledge-worker generation represents a fundamental shift in individual mind-sets and motivations.

Leaders who can tap into their employees’ most valuable talents and abilities will witness extraordinary results from happier, more engaged co-workers. Leaders who are able to implement critical skills are successful. Leaders must be able to implement these critical factors, and have the ability to:

1. Enable processes that enable team members to achieve goals.

2. Cultivate positive interactions among team members.

4. Conduct ’Voice,’ ’Performance,’ and ’Leadership’ conversations.

5. Write a personal contribution statement.

6. Teach team members to write a contribution statement.

There are three big mistakes that

leaders often make though:

mistake #1:

Advise before Understand - Before trying to tell others what to do, a leader must establish an understanding relationship.

The key to your influence with me is your understanding of me.

Unless you understand me and my unique situation and feelings, you won’t know how to advise or counsel me.

Unless you’re influenced by my uniqueness, I’m not going to be influenced by your advice.

CURE: Empathy - seek first to understand, then to be understood.

mistake #2:

Attempt to build/ rebuild relationships without changing conduct or attitude.

Often, leaders will try to build or rebuild a relationship without change in conduct or attitude. If a leader’s example is marked with inconsistency and insincerity, no amount of ’win friends’ technique will work.

As Emerson so aptly put it, ’Who you are, shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say.’

CURE: Show consistency and sincerity.

mistake #3:

Assume that good example and relationship are sufficient.

Leaders may assume that a good example and a good relationship are sufficient, that people don’t need to be taught explicitly.

Just as vision without love contains no motivation, so also love without vision contains no goals, no guidelines, no standards and no lifting power.

CURE: Teach and talk about vision, mission, roles, goals, guidelines, and standards.

FranklinCovey (NYSE:FC) is the global consulting and training leader in the areas of strategy execution, customer loyalty, sales performance, leadership and individual effectiveness. Clients include 90 percent of the Fortune 100, more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500, thousands of small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. FranklinCovey operates in 150 countries worldwide.

Leadership Consulting Group is the FranklinCovey’s exclusive licensee for the English-speaking Caribbean.

108 Independence Avenue, San Fernando, Trinidad.

Phone: 222-4524/222-7524 or E-mail: franklincovey@lcg.co.tt

for further information.