Creating Opportunity

Opportunity is defined as a favorable or advantageous circumstance. Creating circumstance is often the leader’s job, but what does that mean? How can you, as a leader, create opportunity?

What makes this particularly challenging is that the process starts with capability, then moves to opportunity, and wraps up with motivation. Capability equals “Can they do it?” while opportunity equals “Do they get a chance to do it?” and motivation equals “Do they want to do it?”

Let’s start at the beginning. Chances are your team was hired because they can do it. You understand that an effective hiring process is key to deciding whether someone is capable of doing the work you need them to do. To determine whether your hiring process is efficacious, ask yourself the following:

1.  Do we clearly understand what we need? Are the roles clearly defined and do we have a great job  description?
2.   Are we able to articulate the culture of the organization?
3.   Have we implemented behavior-based interviewing into our hiring process?
4.   Do we have an established onboarding program?

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, you might not have a clear understanding into whether or not they can do it, which could necessitate reevaluating your organization’s hiring practices.

Asking “Do they get a chance to do it?” is where you really have to get actively involved in creating opportunity for your employees. There are several things to think about:

1.  How well do you delegate? Do you have guidelines in place?   
2.  Have you created open opportunities, outside of the performance management process, for  employees to share what projects they would like to tackle?
3.  Have you clarified the team’s goals and articulated where each team member fits and contributes to the success of the whole?

If you answered “no” to any of the above, you might not be providing regular “chances” for your employees, which means you probably should challenge yourself to develop some of your own foundational leader skills.

Finally, are they motivated? Do they want to do it? Motivation comes from within, so the most important thing you can do as a leader is to:

1.    Keep lines of communication open.
2.    Provide regular positive and improvement feedback.
3.    Offer consistent coaching opportunities.
4.    Challenge the employee to set clear goals.

How do you create opportunity for your team? What opportunity creations are you most proud of?