The power of Untapped Potential

Tap into the pool of talent at your fingertips

As a daughter to teachers I disappointed my parents greatly when I decided to travel rather than to go to university at 18. Travel might have been a synonym for “escape” at the time. I come from a loving family, but I knew that there must be more to life than repeat the pattern. Life needs to be created and recreated not copied. Being abroad gave me more oxygen. I stayed in the UK for 26 years. I travelled, I ran my own business and helped others run theirs.

Throughout 23 years of conversations with people from all walks of life, I kept coming across the huge resource of talents in people everywhere. A well of Untapped Potential that was so large it did people and organisations in modern times a disservice, wasting resources that could be otherwise deployed. Not only to make people more fulfilled, but also to re-think tomorrow. Could tapping into that well bring solutions that are more innovative and effective? No outside investment could compensate for drawing on human talent and try a different road that also gets to Rome.

People are so much more capable and so much better than they believe they are. People are held back by the prison of their self-limiting perception, or by other people’s superior judgement. They might reside in restrictive boxes that they are not clever, educated or inventive enough. They might feel the need to toe the line because their gender, skin colour, religion or sexual orientation has inadvertently predetermined the scene of possibilities. Other often used parameters but never proven are time, money, confidence or ability. The fear of change and disapproval governs people’s creativity.

As long as we are set to repeat what has gone on before, nothing will actually change. People will remain trapped, potential untapped and leaving that well of opportunities untouched. The weight of the known always having more pulling power than the fragile newness of the unexplored. But being based in the familiar drains one of all imagination and eventually nothing new is tried.

Awareness opens the door for transition. The inspiration for re-creating life can come from within. There is more to be harvested from the source, from internally, without the need for constant external input.

For organisations Untapped Potential provides a way to save money and direct resources into people management and engagement like never before. In a culture where people hop from job to job without knowing what exactly it is they are looking for, it is costly to organisations to see valuable members of teams leave prematurely, because they have no further development opportunities.

For governments and councils, it could prove worthwhile to operate from the premise that there is much more to be achieved, not by ticking boxes but by thinking creatively and collaborating effectively.

Untapped Potential can re-direct focus. The era of endless self-help, dependency on professionals or chemicals and the need to be fixed or pass a certain grade has past us by. The answers are within each person, within each team. Often though we have lost the sensitivity or the courage to act upon it.

Having acknowledged Untapped Potential, the answers won’t come flooding in. Especially, when you have denied yourself to think further or bigger for some time. It will take time to re-learn to listen to what makes you or your team tick. It will take time to give yourself permission to contribute what you are a natural genius in. Be curious and creative in your finding out.

Ultimately everyone wants to get better, grow. Don’t leave any stone unturned and do yourself or your organisation a disservice. You have no idea what you’re capable of until you go there.

Are you ready to reinvent, re-shape, innovate and transition your life, your career, your business?

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