Where are you investing?

No. This article is not about money. This article is about people.

When you take the time to invest in people, you invest in success. Very few people have achieved true success without the help of others. Relationships are at the heart of achievement.

What better way to build relationships than to invest in others? When you take time to improve the performance of other people, you will also receive dividends — of a different kind. Your actions today create a legacy that will live on beyond you. You are collectively making a mark that can’t be erased.

Investing in others is a way to multiply yourself. Can you remember a coach or a mentor complimenting you or speaking a word of encouragement to you? All of a sudden, your posture got straighter and you wanted to live up to those positive words. Their interest in you created energy. Investing in others is a way to infect them with self-confidence and positive results.

How to invest in others?

• Share information

• Be a mentor

• Create growth opportunities

• Challenge them to be their best

• Refer them

• Recommend them

• Sponsor them for educational training

• Give positive feedback

• Listen

By “investing” in others, I mean take time with them, give them your attention, and mentor them. No doubt, you have lots of experience and know-how. Are you transferring your knowledge, wisdom, skills, and even shortcuts to others? When you share your experience and expertise with others you not only help that individual but you benefit the organization, as well. When you sow seeds of encouragement, you inspire self-confidence and determination, which ultimately can impact the bottom line and build awesome relationships along the way.

When you take the time to explain not only what and how you’re doing what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it, you instill a sense of ownership in others. When they can see the bigger picture and the reasoning or logic behind the task, they will have a greater commitment to doing the job well.

Think back. Who invested in you? I am willing to bet that every successful person has had one or many who have invested in them. When you consider their investment in you, what was it that contributed to your own personal success? Is that something that you can transfer to others? Let’s “pay it forward” and invest in others as much as others have invested in us.

Mentoring does not have to be a full-time job. Many people are hesitant to approach others and ask them to be a mentor. It does not have to be an official relationship. Just showing that you care about a person’s success and results, sharing positive tips every now and then, and watching out for their progress can create enough forward energy to impact a career. Mentoring another can be as simple as taking the time to answer their questions, develop their skills, and patiently correct their mistakes. People are honored when you invest even a brief moment in them.

Take a look around you. Have you invested wisely? What investment opportunities are in front of you? Who can you invest in? I challenge you to review how and where you’re investing your most valuable resource — your time. Your investment in people will bring you the most rewarding dividends of all — with interest.