My friend Tim shared with me a video he caught from an excerpt shared by a keynote speaker he heard at a recent conference. He was inspired enough to seek out the entire video. The short film is a discussion on strengths – discovering true strengths and cultivating them. It also takes on the conventional thinking that Marcus Buckingham calls “the myths of thinking about personal strengths”.
There is a weekly discussion in one of my graduate courses on management, and supervision. These discussions have been helping me in the process of forming my own ideas around the importance of making sure people are in the right jobs, and the right skills are being cultivated. A recent MSNBC segment about aptitude testing and pigeonholing young students in a specific track led to a generative conversation with my partner to ensure the girls do not get tracked but instead have many opportunities to discover their strengths, interests, and passions. We are still struggling occasionally to find the best way to parent the differences in the girls. And now, this video was hand-delivered to me. This is one of those moments I have come to realize where a message is being delivered “just in time” and that it is usually a convergence of messages so prevalent to become obvious. Usually, this awareness only comes in hindsight.
Buckingham says in the video that “less than 2 out of ten of us get to play to our strengths at work.” He asks the question, are you one who gets to work this way, and do you want to be? Chapter one explores the myths which I discuss below, and chapter two goes into how to find your personal strengths or what he calls “any activity that makes you feel strong”. It’s just over 30 minutes if you watch both chapters. It’s downloadable on iTunes too. Watch:
Here are some of the nuggets I took from Chapter 1… Myths to explore so that you can spend more time being deliberate and performing to your strengths:
Myth 1 – As you grow, you change. (5:35)
This is the belief instilled in us all that you are supposed to grow up, be more well-rounded and balanced, and become an adult. The truth is “as you grow, you become more and more and more of who you already are.” SO, DON’T REPLACE THOSE TRAITS, CHANNEL THEM. Dreams, circumstances, and achievements may change, but your core stays constant. Use it.
Myth 2 – You are going to grow the most where you are weakest.
The structure of educational systems in its current form says that when it was discovered that you “were good at math but not very good at English, you didn’t get more math. You got more English”. However, while you don’t ignore the weakness, you should understand that you will actually grow the most in the areas of strength. Manage the weakness, but INVEST IN THE AREAS OF YOUR NATURAL STRENGTH.
Myth 3 – What the team needs from you is to put aside your strengths and do whatever it takes to help the team win.
This one actually appeals to me the most in relation to the development of my own ideology. If you are building great teams, then you should be seeking the different individual strengths that people bring. Each person doesn’t have all the assets to fit all the roles needed. It’s the team that is a collection of the skills needed to accomplish the goal, not any one individual. WHAT THE TEAM NEEDS IS FOR INDIVIDUALS TO KNOW HIS or HER STRENGTH AND TO USE THEM MOST OF THE TIME. “Figure out what the best is that you’ve got to bring and then bring it often” (13:01)
What I take away from this overall is confirmation of the belief that, as people, we have to be self-aware. We must examine what we have as strengths and be realistic about our weaknesses. Know how to cultivate those strengths to the best of our ability and share them with others. In the process of leading others, this takes a different shape, but I believe a true leader is one who knows how to help others achieve this goal. This, to me, is the best thing a leader has to offer: the ability to see strengths and weaknesses in people, processes, etc., and how best to cultivate and effectively utilize them to reach the desired outcome.
If you want to learn more, here is Marcus Buckingham’s website.
Resources
Buckingham, Marcus. Chapter One: So What’s Stopping You?. podcast video. Trombone Player Wanted. M4V. 15:34. accessed March 10, 2013. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/trombone-player-wanted/id211839820.
Reguyal, Nathan, http://vimeo.com/53651982#
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