“You need to believe in and be able to see possibility in your team before they can see it in themselves. Trust me; if you believe in others before they have proven themselves, they will rise to the expectation.”
The Colonel was a firm believer in stretching his daughters beyond what we believed were our limits, whether it was using the lawnmower when I was six or changing a tire at twelve. He always challenged us to go further and do more than we believed we could. I won’t say we always appreciated his extreme faith in us (and we may have called him a sadist more than once!), but we always managed to go beyond our own expectations.
As a leader, it is your responsibility to breathe belief into your team – challenging them to stretch their own expectations of themselves – without any fear of disappointing you if they fall short.
If you never believe in someone before they show you what they are capable of, they will never stretch beyond what they think is possible. In fact, if someone has even the slightest fear of disappointing you, they will stay in their comfort zone so they know they can’t fail.
Believe in others first, and then watch them rise to the expectation.
Read Lauren’s Whitepaper on The Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership.