The Book

Excerpt from: The Great Barrier Reef, Chapter 9

The Great Barrier Reef of Human Potential

Skilled in the art of criticism, most of us can point out weakness in each other with the velocity of a speeding bullet. In the sport of competition, we are sharpshooters with an uncanny ability to target the opposition. Struggling for survival in the jungle of the workplace, we have had years of practice at this. The well adapted have become masters at vilifying the enemy, trigger-happy when it comes to taking each other down. To see a competitor stumble is often considered a measure of good marksmanship.

Without parameters of high moral standards guiding the process, critical thinking can easily become a tool of competitive combat. Independent analysis of information is then used in ways that are counterproductive to the common good. When the rules of right conduct are not in place, criticism can turn into cruelty, resulting in the ruthless dissection of people, programs and practices. We can literally pick each other apart to no avail. Such conduct can be construed by the more positive-minded as a form of professionally tolerated negativity that takes us nowhere.

The alternative to this form of deficit thinking is to see the workplace teeming with infinite potential. This appreciative stance represents a turning of the tide for us. As fishers of the good, we see little from atop our small boat in the water, but deeper down we must rest assured that the metaphorical sea of men and women who comprise the workforce overflows interminably with talent. At first, this will be beyond our ability to fathom, but despite the difficulties, we must behold the bounty. We must believe that the blue waters of business are plentiful in terms of human potentiality. We must know the waters well and be willing to dive deep. In searching the expanse, competence, intelligence and the untapped capacity of many will be found.

As diverse species of marine life swim in abundance beneath the surface of the sea, well beyond our field of vision, human potentiality lies hidden at depths that are deceiving at first. But as surely as the sea conceals rich basins of life, each workplace is home to an abundance of human talent and ingenuity. And deep within each organization, this talent lies hidden until it is called forth in the throes of action, reaffirmed in our conscious awareness and rehearsed enough to become second nature to us.

Contemplating the workplace as a Great Barrier Reef of human capability, we will recognize what escaped our attention earlier. And from our lookout point over the sea of human potentiality, we will seek ways to reflect back what we have been able to behold with new vision. In recognizing the finest of human behaviors, we will affirm each other best.

Action in this regard is the casting of the fisherman's net into the deep waters of human resourcefulness. Without action, potential is mere dormant capacity. It is power in abeyance and the paralysis of all possibility. Until recognized and mobilized, talent remains mysteriously inert. This is why many of us feel so desperately overworked and underutilized. Only appreciative awareness and shifts of responsibility unleash our inner powers to perform. Like finding fish in the sea, visibility is sometimes rather murky. When we persevere, however, what is indiscernible at one moment may become crystal clear in the next.

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