What is “full employee potential?”

The idea of full employee potential is largely a crock of BS, because that would theoretically imply 100% given to an organization instead of a life, and such a person would be boring as hell and probably have a heart attack on an elliptical machine at age 46. There is “full potential within contextual reason,” however, and I think that’s probably akin to how bosses think of “A-Players,” even though we all realize that many bosses anoint C-Players as “A-Players” if they get the right crap off the boss’ plate. (More on that here.)

There are a million theories on what would constitute “full potential” for employees, and I’ve blogged about hundreds of them over the years. Here’s a new article from people at some Yale Emotional Center and they claim the following:

• They are clear about what they are expected to do.
• They are willing to ask questions and feel safe doing so.
• They are not overwhelmed with rules about how the work has to be done or with unproductive meetings.
• Their organization supports creative problem solving (e.g., implementing employee suggestions for improvements) and provides rewards and recognition for jobs well done.
• Supervisors notice and acknowledge employee feelings, understand how their decisions will impact employees, and help them manage…