Mastery

Encouraged by a colleague I committed to reading Dan Pink’s 'Drive' over the last few days. Not really a hardship as it is superb and relevant. It seems Dan is another one of these authors (like Gladwell and Robinson) who are brilliant at pulling together old ideas and putting a new and entertaining ‘face’ on them. Pink draws heavily on George Leonard’s work on 'Mastery' (but strangely does not appear to acknowledge him). I went back to this wonderful book again and re-discovered a section in which he encourages learners to love the learning ‘plateau’ and to expect it. It struck me that helping people to enjoy the process rather than continuously striving for the final product could be a key for me in supporting them as they develop their strengths and discover new way to get them into action . As Leonard says, life for people who can do this can be ‘especially vivid and satisfying.’

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?