What Every Manager Should Know About How to Maximize the Two People Inside

Every one of us, in reality, has two people inside: The person we are today and the person we can become tomorrow and in the future.

We go to work every day, are never late or absent, earn a promotion; and receive occasional raises. We and our work are far above satisfactory. That makes us the person who is well liked by our employer, our family, and ourselves.

But there is also another person in us. It is the person who, when properly motivated and exposed to the encouraging information, can narrow the gap that exists between his habitual performance patterns and his maximum potential.

The development of people, whether directed by someone else or by us ourselves, is a never-ending process. To the productive and well-managed company, this is as important as its advertising.

The development of staff is a really enormous area for additional profit that will mutually affect the employer and his employees. The development of people does not, by any stretch of the imagination, involve exploitation or manipulation of human beings. They, themselves, benefit as much or more than does the employer.

By exposing them to the information that develops them as persons, we help them reach into their deep reservoirs of ability and bring more of it to the surface. Consequently, they have more spontaneous skills and abilities to bring to the table, whether that "table" is at work, at home, at church, or school.

To motivate human beings is not to force-feed them. They are at all times free to reject or ignore that to which they are exposed. But they don't; they come back for more.

We cannot motivate others; that's something can have to do by themselves. However, we can set the motivational climate and they'll respond, not because they have to, but because they want to.

Now, wouldn't you rather have a well-oiled, highly motivated individual functioning at his (or her) maximum potential on your team?

Remember: When you maximize your potential, everyone wins. When you don't, we all lose.

© Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in ezines, newsletters, and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required. Mail to: executiveandgroup-consulting@yahoo.com when you use this article.

Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW, Management Consultant and Trainer, conducts seminars, lectures, webinars, and writes articles on his theme: "... helping you maximize your potential." He offers management, marketing, and parenting resources at Maximizing Your Potential blog.

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Rep. Roger L. Eddy, right, votes to recommend the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the House during an Illinois House Impeachment Committee hearing Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Springfield, Ill. The committee voted unanimously to recommend impeachment putting the matter before the full house.  (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces almost certain impeachment by the Illinois House, a historic step that would trigger a trial to determine whether the Democratic governor should be tossed out of office.



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Pay Equity pioneer Lily Ledbetter addresses the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008 file photo. Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace. The House was to vote on the bills Friday Jan. 9, 2009, and they could reach Barack Obama's desk soon after he enters the White House.  One of the bills, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult to sue over past pay discrimination.  (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, FILE)AP - Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace.



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