What lies beneath?

For readers based in the UK, you will no doubt have been enjoying the recent feel of spring: the sunshine, birdsong, spring flowers, brighter, longer days and the feeling of hope that comes with the change of season after what has felt like a long winter of darkness and dampness!

As someone who's made Wales home, I am a big fan of the daffodil and each year I marvel at how such vibrant colour and cheerfulness can come from such a plain and ordinary-looking bulb which lays dormant and hidden in the soil for most of the year. It's a great reminder that huge potential is stored in seemingly unremarkable bodies, and with the right conditions, that potential can blossom, bloom and change the landscape.

One of our core beliefs at the heart of our Moringa Leadership Framework is that all people have capacity. Every single person has skills, knowledge, gifts and abilities which need to be discovered and developed so that they can make their unique contribution to the world. As leaders, our role is to believe that, whilst we may see the equivalent of an ordinary-looking daffodil bulb, each person has huge potential and by providing the right conditions, those things which lay hidden and undiscovered can emerge, grow and bloom.

I remember a young graduate I hired to work directly with children in a programme for vulnerable girls in Uganda. It was a role she thought she wanted and was suited to, but it was emotionally and physically demanding. After a while she was struggling to do the work and her motivation was low. We didn't want to lose her as she was a great team member but that role was no longer going to work for her. She began to show interest in some of the marketing and fundraising I was doing, so I gave her some basic training and a couple of pieces of work to see how she got on. Well, that was the beginning of a discovery for both of us: she loved being office-based, had some great computer and design skills, was a self-starter in learning more and ended up being very happy and effective as our new fundraising officer. 

Only this week I was talking with someone who was reflecting on how one initial opportunity took him to a place of leadership which he had never dreamed of. A quiet and conscientious person, he had been happy taking up roles in the background and did not see himself as a leader as such. Having been asked (and saying yes) to stepping in to do a "team talk" one day it was evident that this was something he could do well and he even enjoyed. Roll on 2 years and he is in a significant leadership role, regularly leading from the front and communicating to large groups of people. 

Whether you are looking at yourself or others, don't assume that what you see is all there is. It's very likely there is more potential and possibility to discover. Sometimes we have to say yes to opportunities which may feel uncomfortable in order to discover what we are capable of. Sometimes we have to choose an attitude which says "I can continue to grow and learn". At all times as leaders, we need to believe in the potential of those we lead and do all we can to help them grow and develop.

- Ruth Visick-Evans

Reflection Questions

1. Who have you come across that you've helped discover hidden potential and developed their role around that?

2.  In your role of leading others, what can you do to provide the right conditions for discovering and developing people's potential?

3. In what ways have you grown in your leadership over the years? Are there things you are doing now which you once never thought possible?

4. When you look at yourself now, do you still believe there is greater potential? What do you think / hope that could be? What could you do to press into that?