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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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How to convert Talents into Strengths...at Work

by Rick Baker
On Nov 10, 2014

 

Talents:  

  1. Do some self-analysis...be as objective as you can be...the things you enjoy at work are 'talent signals'
  2. Obtain some 3rd-party feedback...consider your boss's input...and seek fully-objective help
Opportunities:
  1. Give yourself opportunities...keep your mind open to consider changes...understand opportunities often come in problem disguises
  2. Ensure you associate with other people who are willing to provide opportunities for you...your mentor...your boss...your family members
Specialized Knowledge:
  1. Study your industry with a view to coming up with insights of value to your clients
  2. Study other industries with a view to coming up with insights of value to your clients [borrow brilliance]
Practise Skills:
  1. As Malcolm Gladwell taught - people need much practise to become skilled...dedicate 10,000 hours...then do more
  2. Mistakes and shortfalls are a necessary part of learning...repeat the Act-Err-Adjust cycle until you succeed
Routine & not-Routine Work-Tasks:
  1. The 80/20 Rule: 20% of the causes yield 80% of the results...not-Routine work is the place where innovations yield the greatest returns
  2. Routine work-tasks should be systematized and automated to the full extent possible, freeing up time for doing not-Routine work

Tags:

80/20 Rule | Solutions & Opportunities | STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success

Stop focusing on people’s weaknesses!

by Rick Baker
On Nov 6, 2014

Our habit of 'focusing on weaknesses' may have started in our family homes when we were infants or toddlers.

Or, our habit of ‘focusing on weaknesses’ may have started when we met our first teachers.

Or, it may have started through the hands of neighbourhood bullies.

Or, it may have started when we joined the workforce and received our first performance appraisal.

The point is - it happened.

If fate was kind to us and we received a balance of positive/supportive feedback to offset the barrage of ‘focus on weaknesses’ then…we certainly were among the fortunate few!

Most people have received much more negative feedback than positive feedback.

Most people have become accustomed to focusing on weaknesses…their weaknesses, other people’s weaknesses, employees’ weaknesses, etc.

And, that’s the Problem.

You can choose to be part of the Solution!

Why should we consider people's strengths before we assign tasks?

by Rick Baker
On Nov 3, 2014

Overall, the value of focusing on strengths first can be summed up in terms of increased engagement and improved motivation, which lead to increased profit.

Here’s the logic...and the related emotional connections

1.    People are interested in understanding their natural talents…we see this in their faces and we hear it in their stories when we sit with them to discuss their talents.

2.    People want to use their natural talents…we observe enthusiasm when people talk about their talents; we also observe frustration when they talk about their work-failures and work-troubles.  

3.    Work-tasks can be tweaked to align better with a person's natural talents…this concept catches people’s attention; everyone we have interviewed wants to give this a try [many have doubts and want to see proof, however, all are prepared to give it a try].  

4.    When work-tasks are tweaked to align with individuals’ natural talents the individuals perform better – improved effectiveness…when people know they are being more effective they gain self-confidence – as self-confidence rises people are more comfortable with work and with ‘change’.

5.    When individuals know their organization is building a strengths-based business they – especially, the most-talented individuals -  create efficiencies, leading by example:

  • measureable efficiencies, such as lower staff turnover rates, and
  • common-sense efficiencies such as less time wasted complaining.

 …leading performers tend to have strong personalities, which reflect their character – the visible result of their innate talents, values, and desires; leading performers become fully engaged when they know their strengths are recognized.

6.    When individuals know their organization is building a strengths-based business they help their organization create a culture of self-motivationwhen individuals’ talents are put to use they find it much easier to bring a smile to work – each smile is a reflection of confidence backed by natural talents.

Tags:

STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success

When we want a person to succeed at doing a work-task

by Rick Baker
On Oct 31, 2014

When we want a person to succeed at doing a work-task we must consider 3 things:

1.    The Task [the thoughts and action steps required for success]

2.    The Person’s Strengths [Innate Talent + Specialized Knowledge + Practiced Skill] at performing the Task.

3.    The Person’s Frame of Mind [good mood?, bad mood?, what emotions/feelings? - does the person enjoy the Task?]

If the person accurately understands the task, has the strength required to perform the task, and has a positive attitude about doing the task then the task will be done right.

If any of these 3 pieces are missing then there is a high likelihood the task will not be performed well.

The keys to helping people succeed at work tasks are (1) assuming as little as possible and (2) helping as much as possible when people illustrate they are struggling to get over a hurdle. To help a person get over a hurdle the leader needs to be able to accurately identify the hurdle. Does the hurdle rest in the person or in the task?

It is easier to remove the hurdles in tasks. So, leaders should remove as many of those hurdles as possible…establishing clear processes and testing those processes with many people to prove the task is doable.

Why we should think about work-tasks before delegating them

by Rick Baker
On Oct 29, 2014

When leaders and managers spend time thinking about work-tasks before they delegate them to people they gain advantage over those who choose not to invest the time.

They gain advantage for 3 main reasons:

  1. They improve their ability to match people's talents to work-tasks,
  2. They improve their ability to communicate about work-tasks, and 
  3. They make fewer delegation errors.
It helps to answer questions like these before tasks are delegated...
  • Is it a routine task or a not-routine task?
  • Is there a system/process for doing the task?
  • Is that system/process in writing?
  • Has that system been well communicated to all involved and affected?

If the leader or manager does not understand both those things then the leader is taking a chance – taking a risk – when people are assigned to perform tasks.

To make this point more graphically - It is risky to assume bright people can perform simple tasks.

Another graphic point – When a task is not performed well there are only a few reasons why it is not performed well.

Seeking Simple, let’s create a short list of the reasons why a task is not performed well:

1.    The task is impossible, so nobody could do it

2.    The task is possible but not clearly defined/described, so people may do the wrong thing

3.    The task is possible but the person doesn’t understand it: the person isn’t capable of understanding the way the task was defined/described; the person, for one reason or another, didn’t listen…the communication failed

4.    The task is possible & the person understands it  but lacks the talent to perform it

5.    The task is possible & the person understands it  but lacks the knowledge to perform it

6.    The task is possible & the person understands it  but lacks the skill [practice/experience] to perform it

7.    The task is possible & the person is capable of doing it but chooses not to do it: the person chooses to spend the time doing something else; multi-tasking - the person does something deemed more important and runs out of time; the person doesn't like the task; the person is prone to procrastinate; the person doesn’t like the boss or the company - sabotage

Yes – even the short list contains many possibilities. That’s the challenge of managing and leading people. Many things can go wrong according to Murphy they do go wrong.

So - leaders and managers need systems/processes for sorting through the possibilities to determine why things went wrong.

Tags:

Delegation & Decisions | Leaders' Thoughts | STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success

Some people are happy performing the routine day-to-day work. Some are not.

by Rick Baker
On Oct 14, 2014

Some people are happy performing the routine day-to-day things in life, including routine work. Other people yearn for more variety in their work.

The people who yearn for more variety tend to talk about their desires. The people who are satisfied with the status tend to talk less. When desires are communicated, each type of person tends to discount or shrug off the desires of the other.

People who are happy performing routine day-to-day work tend to resist change and oppose innovation. People who seek more variety tend to be curious and inventive. When ideas are discussed, each type of person has difficulty understanding the views of the other.

And worse, these opposing views about the value of routine and not-routine work often generate never-ending problems. These problems can cause businesses to sputter, stall, and become entrenched in poor performance.

Perhaps, these fundamental differences are responsible for most business failures?

Certainly, these fundamental differences are the root cause of many interpersonal clashes. Interpersonal clashes eat up energy, demotivate, and in some cases lead to business failures.

About eating up energy…

People energize one another. One good example is the thing we call team spirit. Team spirit exists when people are like-minded and share a drive to succeed. When team spirit is present, ‘mutual-motivation’ leads to harmonious thought and action, which cause positive momentum to build and teams to do better.

People eat up one another’s energy. Examples range from co-workers who visit with interruptions to discourteous sales clerks to road rage. People are prone to mirror other’s behaviour: road rage is contagious. People are prone to react negatively when others behave negatively: fight and flight reactions are part of our genetic make-up.

We have 2 choices:

  1. We can eat up one another’s energy…leaving insufficient energy to do productive work.
  2. We can energize one another…building energy to expand productive work.

The choice is clear.

People need to understand their differences. People need to communicate about their differences. People need to buy into shared goals.

People need to help one another satisfy different needs.

Using better communication, people need to figure out ways to accomplish both routine and not-routine work. 

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.