Play to your strengths.
One of my favorite books (and I have many) is Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton. I suppose the reason I like this book so much is because it was one of the first books that I found that actually encouraged me to play to my strengths. I was both surprised and relieved to discover this advice.
Perhaps it was because I had spent so many years within the corporate setting where I had, like others, received performance evaluations that always seemed to be more about what I needed to do to change—rather than what I might do to build upon my strengths. “Room for improvement” was code for this is something you do not do well and that we would like for you to do better. Not bad advice, but upon receiving it I often bristled, which not surprisingly was an attribute found in my “needs improvement” column.
But, putting aside my personal “room for improvement,” let’s take a look at what Buckingham and Clifton have to say about why so many corporations (and employees) spend time and energy addressing our weaknesses, rather than amplifying our strengths.
“Most organizations are built on two flawed assumptions about people:
1. Each person can learn to be competent in almost anything.
2. Each person’s greatest room for growth is in his or her areas of greatest weakness.”
So, it seems that our misconceptions about how we humans are wired have led us astray. Might we be better if we “Ac-Cent-TCU-Ate the Positive” —eliminate the negative, as Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen recommended? Well, maybe we should not eliminate the negative, but instead refocus our energies to cultivating our attributes, rather than correcting our “weaknesses” —especially when it comes to our careers.
Buckingham and Clifton, in fact, suggest a better way for corporations to manage their talent —challenging the flawed assumptions about people—and proposing more realistic and helpful assumptions :
“1. Each person’s talents are enduring and unique.
2. Each person’s greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength.”
I think that not only corporations, but also each of us may personally benefit from incorporating these people assumptions into our own lives. A good place to start— taking inventory of our strengths and looking for ways to make them even stronger.
And, the next time you prepare for your performance evaluation—you may want to take the lead in framing the conversation.
For more info: visit my website gibsonworks.com
Buckingham, Marcus and Clifton, Donald O. NOW Discover Your Strengths, The Free Press: New York, 2001.