Exercising People Strengths
by Shary Hauer
Published on this site: March 25th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
Your potential to be a Great Leader, to ignite passion, to inspire and move
people - to be the kind of leader others choose to follow--is absolutely certain.
The question is: How will you activate the untapped brilliance residing on your
team?
Fact: "Only 20% of employees working in large organizations
feel their strengths are in play every day - - that means that most organizations
operate at 20% of their potential and capacity!" (Source: The Gallup Organization)
Are
you a Great People Manager?
If your organization happens to be operating
at 20% capacity, what a tremendous opportunity to turn up the volume on the people
management side of the business and start tapping the unrealized potential in
every single employee!
Why not shift the energy from managing the work
to coaching your people?
Show Up as a Performance Manager
The
definition of a great manager is "someone who turns someone else's talent
into performance," according to Marcus Buckingham, author of Break all the
Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths. "This is where my focus has been--not
on whether someone can set a vision, change an industry, or inspire the troops
(although this is all critical and wonderful). My focus has been on that part
of the leadership that relates to how you multiply yourself through someone else
and how you turn someone else's talent into performance. Most of those people
who do this tremendously well are not necessarily people we put in the business
press as heroes. We have interviewed over 80,000 great managers and they are wonderfully
effective at being productive through their people--but they are not the Jack
Welch's or Michael Eisner's."
The #1 Leadership Success Factor
True
People Managers are an endangered species. Yet, they are the most highly sought
by the best organizations. In a study by Chief Executive Magazine and The Center
for Creative Leadership, People Management skill was cited as the number one success
factor for CEOs, executive teams and mid-level managers alike. For all levels,
people management skill was considered to be the main driver - 40 to 45 percent
- of a leader's success.
What People Management Quality Sparks the Highest
Performance?
Individualization. Great People Managers know instinctively
that the secret to great organizations is casting by individual strengths so that
everyone can do a lot of what they do well."
Great managers and leaders
seem to realize that people are endearingly unique. You don't have 20 sales people--you
have 20 individuals who happen to be sales people," says Cunningham. "You
can either try to build your whole organization to try to fight against that or
you can assume that your 20 sales people are the same and motivated by the same
thing. You can either assume that--or you can ignore it and build your systems
to try to prevent people from being different, which is what most companies do:
'Here is the right way to sell. Here are the
certain steps to selling. Here
are the 15 steps to leading and the 10 steps to managing.' That is what most companies
do. Unfortunately you end up fighting against the inherent individuality of people.
People are not the same. Great leaders try to figure out and do a wonderful job
of using people's endearing differences rather than fighting against them."
Put
Your Strengths to Work!
- Know Your Strengths: It's amazing
the number of leaders I coach who have been so focused on minimizing their weaknesses,
they've taken their strengths for granted. Some don't even know how to articulate
them. Which of your talents are enduring and unique? Are you capitalizing on them?
-
Do a Strengths Review for each of your People: Be a keen observer and focus
on what's different in each individual. What strengths may be unnoticed or underutilized?
Don't know? Just ask: "Which of your skills, talents and interests do you
want to exercise more?" "Where do you see an opportunity to put them
into play?"
- Delegate Weaknesses: Which of the items
on your "high-priority to-do" list could be the ideal developmental,
stretch assignment for one of your people? One of your team members could be chomping
at the bit to dig into the very issue you're avoiding!
Shary
Hauer is the founder and Head Coach of The Hauer Group, Inc. She is a Master
Certified Coach (MCC) of high-achieving, high-potential corporate executives who
aspire to lead their organizations and lives masterfully. As the Executive PotentialistT,
Shary guides leaders and their teams in cultivating positive behavior change tapping
all of their potentials. For the past 10 years, Shary has coached several hundred
global executives throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe.
To get your Success Path aligned for 2006, enroll for a complimentary Executive
Coaching Consultation. And, sign up for your free subscription to the popular
PotentialistT Leadership Briefing. Visit http://www.thehauergroup.com
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