Performance Improves When Leaders Help Develop Employee Potential
- Chad Ruwe
- Jul 24
- 2 min read
Maximizing employee potential requires improving leadership skills.

When an organization brings on an employee, there is a clear recognition of
that individual’s potential. However, it’s unlikely that the person will be able
to deliver 100% of their potential on the job without great leadership.
How Leaders Can Help Develop Employee Potential
Imagine two buckets of water. The two buckets are connected by a pipe, which
allows water to flow from the left-hand to the right-hand bucket. The left-hand
bucket represents the potential of an individual. The right-hand bucket
represents the potential the individual brings to their job.
The left-hand bucket is full of water. However, the right-hand bucket is rarely
full, meaning the employee isn’t contributing to their full potential within the
organization. Why doesn’t all the water from the left-hand bucket flow freely
into the right-hand bucket? It comes down to the pipe connecting the two
buckets.
The pipe represents leadership, which plays a pivotal role in how much
potential an employee delivers in the workplace. Unfortunately, the pipe of
leadership often has holes in it. As the water flows from the left-hand to the
right-hand bucket, it leaks through those holes.
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The “holes” in the pipe of leadership take diverse forms. Maybe the leader
doesn’t value the employee’s opinion or know how to coach effectively.
Perhaps the leader doesn’t have the ability to articulate clear goals or give respectful feedback. Faced with such leadership behaviors, the employee is
unable to contribute to their full potential—and the right-hand bucket remains
only partially full.
Leadership Training: The Key to Maximizing Employee Potential
It’s possible to train leaders to close the holes in the metaphorical pipe so that
they can better develop employee potential. However, this isn’t something
that’s accomplished overnight. It’s like learning to play golf. You have a full
bag of clubs, and you need to know which club to use when—for example, a
putter versus a driver. Further, you must learn how to effectively use each of
those clubs.
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