The Hindu Business Line : SIGN of strength to STOP weakening

Ask around why people don’t get to put their strengths to work. The most common first reaction is likely to be “a look of bemused resignation.” Then? “They’ll say things like ‘The world isn’t made for my happiness,’ or ‘There’s a reason they call it ‘work,” or ‘Mine isn’t the kind of job where you can really do that,’ and then go on to contrast their job with journalism or acting or teaching, which supposedly are the kind where you can.”

Thus, writes Marcus Buckingham in Go Put Your Strengths to Work ( www.crosswordbookstores.com). Imperative read, because “only 17 per cent of the workforce believe they use all of their strengths on the job,” as a dismal statistic on the dust jacket announces.

There are many good levers to make people engage and perform, says the author. “Selecting for talent, setting clear expectations, praising where praise is due, and defining the team’s mission,” are all proven levers, but “the master lever is getting each person to play to his strengths.”

First, get clear, urges Buckingham. “Do you know what your strengths are?” he demands. Alas, most of us are woefully inarticulate when it comes to describing our strengths. “Our answers tend to verge on the too-generic-to-be-worth-listening-to category.” However, when talking about our weaknesses, we cannot only be very eloquent, but even weave a positive spin around the limitation to make it sound like a strength. For example: ‘My weakness is that I care too much.’Look for the four telltale signs of strength, guides the author. SIGN, he calls them: S is for success, I for instinct, G, growth, and N, needs. “I draws you in, the G keeps you focused, and the N makes you feel great, which in turn fuels the I, which draws you back in. Onward and upward it goes, with your appetites driving your abilities.” S or success at what you do is “the best indicator of your ability.”

Next, put each of your strengths to work, by using four strategies, capsulated in another acronym, FREE: Focus (identify how your strength helps you in your current job); Release (find the missed opportunities in your current role); Educate (learn new skills and techniques you need to build this strength); and Expand (build your job around this strength).

To help you stop your weaknesses, the author offers STOP as the prescription. The acronym stands for: Stop doing the weakening activity and “see if anyone notices or cares”; Team up “with someone who is strengthened by the very activity that weakens you”; Offer up one of your strengths and repeatedly push yourself into situations that play to your strengths; and Perceive your weakness from a different perspective, especially when the activity is something you can’t navigate away from.

On the last, a useful tip is that sometimes “changing the time of day when you do the weakening activity” may help alter the perspective. Powerful messages to draw you into the strengths revolution!

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