Practice Plan’s Creative Director, Les Jones, encourages practices to tap into the latent potential of less experienced members of their team.
A few weeks ago I watched the Carabao Cup Final between Chelsea and Liverpool.
Liverpool, for once, were the underdogs because their team had been ravaged by injuries. Many of their biggest stars were side-lined and watching from the stands. Liverpool were forced to turn to their young academy players to make up their substitutes bench.
Chelsea, on the other hand, had spent almost £500m on new players during the summer and their team was full of big names with big price tags. It had all the makings of an easy win for Chelsea.
It was a great game with many chances at either end but incredibly, it ended at 0-0 after 90 minutes. However, in the first half Liverpool also lost another of their more experienced players to injury.
As the game went into extra time and fatigue set in, Liverpool’s manager, Jurgen Klopp, was forced to introduce his young academy players to the game. The stage was surely set for Chelsea’s big money buys to show their worth and finish Liverpool off with ease.
Unexpected result
However, something extraordinary happened. Firstly, Chelsea’s big money players shrank into their shells and seemed to be playing for penalties. While on the other hand, Liverpool’s youngsters were fearless and brave. They stepped up to the big occasion, taking the game to Chelsea. And, with just two minutes of extra time left, Liverpool scored a winning goal. A fairytale ending for the youngsters.
Afterwards, Jurgen Klopp described the win as his greatest achievement despite having previously won the Premier League, FA Cup and the European Champions League.
The outcome of this game got me thinking about how much latent, untapped talent there must be in the younger or less experienced members of businesses and in particular, dental practices.
Have you ever considered how many of the less experienced people within your practice are potential stars waiting for their opportunity to shine? Could they be capable of stepping up and taking on more responsibilities and adding more value?
Could it be that one or two of your less experienced dental nurses might train to be treatment co-ordinators or maybe even hygienists or therapists?
People are very tech and social media savvy, especially these days. Are there one or two new team members who would relish taking on the social media activity for the practice? They are also very keen on having a purpose and meaning to their work life. So, perhaps they could lead on Corporate Social Responsibility strategies and getting involved with fundraising and charitable activities.
Nurture talent
Experience is very valuable, but sometimes being thrown in at the deep end with the right encouragement, training and support can reveal previously unseen talents and personality traits resulting in the fast tracking of new team members to positions of added value and influence.
So, take another look at the people in your team and try to identify where that untapped potential might be. Then think about how you could provide the opportunities for those people to grow into new roles. You never know, it could lead to your practice’s equivalent of winning a cup final. Something worth celebrating.