Complementary Strengths

For many people , having discovered one's strengths, the greater challenge is to create a plan for making them even stronger. This recent HBR acticle offers some practical advice and advocates focussing on developling complementary strengths.

Sparks!

My colleague Mike Pegg introduced me to the term SPARKS, defined as "An individual's deepest passions and interests that give them meaning, focus, joy and energy.."....their strengths?

Peter Benson coined the term as a result of his research among American teenagers. Here is a list of their 10 most common sparks.
1. Creative Arts
2. Athletics
3. Learning (e.g., languages, science, history)
4. Reading
5. Helping, serving
6. Spirituality, religion
7. Nature, ecology, environment
8. Living a quality life (e.g., joy, tolerance, caring)
9. Animal welfare
10. Leading

Peter says, "Children want to be known for their sparks. When you see these sparks in them, affirm them. You shall know them by their sparks." Great stuff.

Those who simplify — and those who complicate!

I started reading and listening to Dan Pink when he published The Adventures of Johnny Bunko a few years ago. It is essentially a book that brings the work of Bernard Haldane on strengths and career to life for teens and is, of course, beautifully put together and illustrated. More recently, Drive takes us on a journey through the history of motivational theory and has some great practical advice on how to find your own sources of motivation and help others to do the same. I love this post on his blog from a few weeks ago – it got me thinking about how I am being at home and at work and the choices I make every day. How about you?

Drucker on Strengths

Continuing on the subject of the history of the strengths philosophy, if you haven't read Managing Oneself, Peter Drucker's seminal work on the subject, written for the Harvard Business Review in 1999, I suggest you do so. How about this to whet the appetite:

Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong. More often, people know what they are not good at - and even then more people are wrong than right. And yet, a person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weaknesses, let alone on something one cannot do at all.

Strengths Philosophers

It was a great pleasure to attend the inaugural meeting of The Strengths Foundation last week at the HQ of QVC in London. We heard from 3 speakers who told their story of how taking a strengths approach to leading and developing people had transformed their business. Against the current economic backdrop, to have delivered the level of change that we heard about, create a more positive place to work and deliver bottom line results is astonishing and a great illustration of the power of applying a strengths lens to change.

We also heard about some of the history of the strengths movement and given that my research had taken me no further back in time than Bernard Haldane (1945) , I left inspired to find out some more. A quick search on google took me to, guess what, The Strengths Foundation website and this page on strengths philosophers in particular.

The Strengths Foundation

Mike Pegg has once again performed a minor miracle with his new site, the Strengths Foundation . The Foundation aims to share the strengths approach. It aims to provide a stimulating resource that people, teams and organisations can use:
• To build on their strengths
• To set specific goals
• To achieve their picture of success.
The Foundation is 'agnostic' inasmuch that it offers a portal that provides people with an overview of the many approaches to working with strengths and in this sense it is unique. Although still in its infancy the site is packed with resources and information. Take a look.

Awareness

While wrestling with the tricky issue of helping a client to reach the point where he felt he would benefit from soliciting some feedback around his leadership performance, I came across a recent blog post from Tom Peters on the subject of self-awareness in leaders. It led me towards the conclusion that the ability to understand, exploit and develop our strengths, and commit to a plan for managing our weaknesses, may just be the most essential of all leadership attributes. Tom appears to have never agreed with Jim Collins that in reaching for the top, ‘Level 5’ leaders demonstrate a high degree of humility along with their strong will. However, a willingness to listen; take feedback on the impact of our behaviour; and to recognise that our talent is often not enough, surely requires a degree of modesty and respect. Our performance and the performance of others depends on this?

Performance and Strengths

My colleagues at K2 Performance Systems have created a first class blog highlighting issues that connect elite performance in sport with the workplace. In this recent post they provide us with a simple question that captures the essence of the relationship between strengths and performance: How easily can you list your strengths? Take a look.

Sir Alex

I have never really been a lover of Manchester United and consequently Sir Alex - my brother was a fan when we were growing up so how could I be! However, it was great see him show a little humility this week when describing how the team had used Wayne Rooney poorly last season in a recent Daily Telegraph article. Asking a £30m player to play out of position for the best part of season, and leave much of his core ability under-utilised, strikes me as poor management. In the article he also refers to AC Milan's misuse of David Beckham in their recent encounter at the San Siro - playing him in the centre of midfield and failing to exploit his natural ability to deliver with pace and accuracy from the right. Such high profile (and expensive) errors serve to remind us that talent management must start with understanding peoples strengths and creating a plan for exploiting them on behalf of the team (or business). Rooney's game and the teams results indicate that they have it right now, but it may just be a little too late for Beckham?

Tom Peters brought the term Excellence into our consciousness some 25 years ago now. In a new blog post on Tom's site, Seth Godin kicks off an insightful dialogue on what we mean when we use the term. For individuals and organisations who are serious about striving for Excellence a good place to start might be to explore and and identify where our existing talents lie - what we have a unique flair for. We can then plan to exploit these strengths in the knowledge that we have a solid and dependable foundation upon which to build.

Synonyms?

I found this excellent list of synonyms for strengths the other day: backbone, body, brawn, brute force, clout, courage, durability, energy, firmness, force, fortitude, hardiness, health, lustiness, might, muscle, nerve, physique, potency, power, powerhouse, robustness, security, sinew, soundness, stability, stableness, stalwartness, steadiness, steamroller, stoutness, strong arm, sturdiness, substance, tenacity, toughness, verdure, vigor, vim, vitality and zip.

Having reviewed some rather dry definitions of strengths in the business literature recently I thought this list brought the essence of the term to life brilliantly. I wonder if there are others words that might strengthen the list and take us towards a definition that might excite?

Partnerships Based on Strengths

If you are planning on creating a new partnership, or looking to develop an existing arrangement, don't go any further before reading Gallup's latest research on this subject. The most effective partnerships are those built around each others strengths! It is all common sense of course but is is common practice?

The Strengths Trap?

In a recent article in the Washington Post, John Rosemond illustrates clearly a concern that often gets expressed when we work with people on developing their confidence and begin by highlighting strengths – how can I take this seriously when all my life I have been ‘taught’ to deal only with my weaknesses? Although Rosemond refers specifically to how we as parents deal with our children in a realistic manner when the overwhelming message is that we need to be encouraging and emphasise the positive; the same applies in business. It’s all very well to switch the emphasis away from shortcomings to strengths in the annual performance review, but this switch needs to include a realistic appraisal of strengths that includes a detailed review of personal achievements and, preferably, some feedback from those who work closely with the employee in question. To do anything less would surely be to fall into precisely the same trap that Rosemond highlights, wouldn’t it?

Strengths and Motivation

Self-determination theory suggests that optimal functioning and well-being results from three basic psychological needs – autonomy, competence and relatedness. Through reflecting and analysing achievement patterns and identifying strengths, people appear to develop a sense of choice in their career and a degree of confidence in their ability to deliver results in appropriate contexts.

Through a strong coaching or mentoring relationship people can also explore their career choices and construct a stronger motivational base for their endeavours. A sense of relatedness to a coach or mentor may for some be the missing ingredient in their motivational pie – the extra stimulus to take action rather remain introspective?

Knowing Your Superpowers

Earlier this week Seth Goddin blogged brilliantly on the subject of the importance of being able to introduce yourself in a memorable way if you are interested in developing your business network. Whilst this borders on shameless self promotion he does make a valuable point. Having the confidence to do this however requires a degree of self knowledge few possess. Taking the time out to explore what you are uniquely good at, and developing the proof that these skills are real, may be the start point for developing this confidence?

Over-Playing Your Strengths?

In the February issue of Harvard Business Review, Leadership Consultants Robert Kaplan and Robert Kaiser argue that although encouraging leaders to focus on their strengths may be a ‘reasonable approach’, it can be taken too far. This issue may be particularly prevalent where leaders rely on feedback in the form of 5 point rating scales. The final report may highlight one of their strengths as consensus building, for example, which when over-done can lead to procrastination and inaction.

Such objective measurement tools, particularly in relation to understanding strengths, appear to only provide part of the picture. Better then to ensure that data on strengths is supported by evidence found in past achievements and verbal peer feedback. A ‘strength’ that doesn’t help deliver a positive outcome and that is not valued by others, may not be considered a strength at all?

In Your Element?

In his latest book, The Element, Sir Ken Robinson says “One of the things that always struck me was that many adults were unaware of what their true talents might be – what they’re really capable of doing.” As I read this I was struck by the familiarity of the message and then by how few people choose to do anything about this. Bernard Haldane once said:

"Many individuals would rather not know what is strong about them, the strengths that point to growth and reveal potential. A greater degree of responsibility is required to take hold of success rather than to stay in the safe area of complacency and complaint".

Sir Ken suggests that this complacency develops as result of schools and organisations not providing the opportunity and conditions for people to find out, not just what they are good at, but what they love to do.

Watch Sir Ken outline his take on creating these conditions at: http://www.thersa.org/events/vision/vision-videos/sir-ken-robinson-the-element