The Untapped Brilliance inside your Business

How to access the Untapped Brilliance inside your Business - insights every leaders needs to know. 

I am truly fascinated by this. If only it showed up as an item on the P&L, it would get the attention it deserves.

My assumption is that people offer up 30-50% of the potential, meaning 50-70% of the human potential that exists in business remains untapped, which amounts to a near criminal waste of brilliance.

What we can say is that most organisations are running on a fraction of the human potential they already pay for. And this is not because people lack talent, ambition or creativity, far from it, it’s because the environment around them never fully unlocks it.

Global research paints a consistent picture worthy of your consideration, research states that only 20–35% of employees are truly engaged or performing anywhere near their capability. That means 65–80% of human potential sits dormant in the system. A huge reservoir of ideas, insight, energy, innovation and problem solving that businesses pay for in salaries but rarely access.

Think about that for a moment. So if your people are giving 30–50% of what they’re capable of, as per my assumption, then 50–70% of brilliance is going unused. From my work, this is not because people don’t want to contribute – I think it’s a human need or desire to contribute - but its because leadership, managers, processes and culture often get in the way.

Gallup’s data shows the scale of the disconnect-

·        59% of managers believe they give regular recognition conversely only 35% of employees feel recognised.

·        50% of managers think they give high‑quality weekly/regular feedback and yet only 20% of employees agree.

The first numbers aren’t great, these shows an opportunity (training, coaching, developmental need?) in itself to grow leaders and managers.

The gaps between what managers think they do and what staff experience, really does matter.

Is it possible for some to thank you, and you not feel thanked. Or apologise to you and yet you don’t feel they mean it? These gaps exists because we are human, and it’s a valuable space for leaders to understand and close.

Recognition tends to fuel our confidence and elevate our effort. Feedback fuels growth, learning and alignment. So when they’re missing, then the personal and team performance is likely to stall, ideas tend to stay hidden and people subtly withdraw the best parts of themselves, perhaps for protection or punishment. ‘I’m punishing you because you (manager) don’t listen to me’, and they do that by withholding some of their brilliance.

The cost can be considerable. Globally, disengagement contributes to hundreds of billions in lost productivity every year, which I expect you have heard so often, you no longer listen. But the real loss is human and that’s in the creativity never expressed, the solutions never shared and the potential that may never be realised.

And here’s the opportunity…. Leaders can change this quickly, meaningfully and with huge impact, for the business, for people and for themselves (career) as leader..

When leaders show up with more interest, curiosity, presence and genuine appreciation, then this enables almost everything and everyone, to shift. Some things will shift a lot, some a little. People think more creatively and boldly, and are more likely to share those bold ideas and opportunities. Teams often collaborate more openly, more easily or freely due to reduced friction, barriers and egos. And clients (remember them?) might report that they feel the difference, perhaps you become easier to work with, or they notice less conflict or perhaps problems are fewer and when they do arise, they get solved a bit quicker.

All this adds up in your favour through better performance and engagement, reduced costs fall, and leaders – that’s you - themselves grow in reputation, influence and career opportunity.

Better leadership behaviours doesn’t just unlock and free up people and potential,  better leadership unlocks profit, performance, innovation, culture, customer experience …. and the leader’s own potential too.

Unquestionably there is huge competitive advantage available to any organisation today that can access the wealth of untapped brilliance already sitting inside the business.

The leaders who learn to access it will build better businesses, for good.