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The Secret to Being ...
Do You Need a Push?
Are You Autotelic?
Are You Differentiat...
What Drives You?
The Intersection - R...
Your Talent Strength...
Your Talent Strength...
Personalities: The L...
The Steady Eddie Per...
Personalities: The L...
Bulldozer Personalit...
Values in the Workpl...
What Are Values and ...
What Are Values and ...
What Are Values and ...
What Are Values and ...
What Are Values and ...
The Nine Foot Sumo W...
Insanity!!!!!!!!!
Turn Insignificance ...
Olympics and Your St...
The Olympics and You...
Take TIme To Think
Farming, Fertilizer ...
Fidelity versus Conv...
Nobility and Potenti...
Fluid Leadership
Outside Your Strengt...
A Diversified Team i...
Don't Waste Time Cor...
Are You In the Zone?
Don't Get Derailed
Multiply Your Result...
Do You Need Pruning?
Becoming Fully Effec...
Competing in a Flat ...
State of the Economy
Break Free of the N...
Dealing With Extreme...
13 Qualities of Winn...
Never Confuse Moveme...
Be a Person with Ubu...
What Are Values and ...
Does Your Soul Need ...
What are Values and ...
Are Values in the Wo...
Be an Integrative Th...
Protean Corporation
Fitness Clothes Don'...
Untapped Potential
The Next Step
Technical Skills are...
Your Personal Board ...
How The Mighty Fall
THE INTERSECTION
Are You Hiring Peopl...
Network to Improve Y...
Cato's Principle: Al...
Morganization
Talent Strength Zone...
Talent Strength Zone
Strength Zone Reflec...
Strength Zone versus...
Obama's Communicatio...
Personal Brand State...
Leverage the Strengt...
Obama - Living in Hi...
Strength Zone Produc...
Strength Zone - No 1...
The Secret to Being ...
Do You Need a Push?
Are You Autotelic?
Are You Differentiat...
What Drives You?
The Intersection - R...
Your Talent Strength...
Your Talent Strength...
Personalities: The L...
The Steady Eddie Per...
Personalities: The L...
Bulldozer Personalit...
Values in the Workpl...
What Are Values and ...
What Are Values and ...
What Are Values and ...
What Are Values and ...
What Are Values and ...
The Nine Foot Sumo W...
Insanity!!!!!!!!!
Turn Insignificance ...
Olympics and Your St...
The Olympics and You...
Take TIme To Think
Farming, Fertilizer ...
Fidelity versus Conv...
Nobility and Potenti...
Fluid Leadership
Outside Your Strengt...
A Diversified Team i...
Don't Waste Time Cor...
Are You In the Zone?
Don't Get Derailed
Multiply Your Result...
Do You Need Pruning?
Becoming Fully Effec...
Competing in a Flat ...
State of the Economy
Break Free of the N...
Dealing With Extreme...
13 Qualities of Winn...
Never Confuse Moveme...
Be a Person with Ubu...
What Are Values and ...
Does Your Soul Need ...
What are Values and ...
Are Values in the Wo...
Be an Integrative Th...
Protean Corporation
Fitness Clothes Don'...
Untapped Potential
The Next Step
Technical Skills are...
Your Personal Board ...
How The Mighty Fall
THE INTERSECTION
Are You Hiring Peopl...
Network to Improve Y...
Cato's Principle: Al...
Morganization
Talent Strength Zone...
Talent Strength Zone
Strength Zone Reflec...
Strength Zone versus...
Obama's Communicatio...
Personal Brand State...
Leverage the Strengt...
Obama - Living in Hi...
Strength Zone Produc...
Strength Zone - No 1...
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Leverage the Strengths of Your People
2009-04-22 12:55:12
The leader's objective is to leverage the strengths of people and make their weaknesses become irrelevant. ~ Peter Drucker
For those of us out there who are leaders, which is probably all of us in one role or another, we need to be sure we are focusing on the strengths of our people and not concentrating on weaknesses. There is nothing more discouraging as an employee than to sit through a performance assessment and only hear about all the things you don't do well. This just results in total frustration, anger and demotivation. Why not focus on what each person does well and work with them to leverage those strengths to become more productive and efficient?
You can use this same advice at home. I often fall into the "weakness" trap when my kids bring home their report card. I always look to see what scores they brought home and then provide advice on how they can raise their lowest scores. As parents we need to be disciplined to focus on the high scores on the report card and help our kids discover their strengths build these on these strengths. We can then coach them leverage these strengths in weak areas. For example, my son, Drew, loves math and science but doesn't like humanities so much. However, when he is required to write a story for his humanities class he now relies on his love of science to create a science based story which results in a good humanities mark.
As a leader of people whether at work, charity, organization or as a parent, who is in a better position to determine a person's strengths? The leader can observe their people in many situations and then coach them to be more effective. We need to help our people/coworkers/families identify their strengths, bring in backfill around weaknesses and coach them to leverage their strengths to become the best they can be.
Tags: strengths, strength, zone, talents, values, personality
0 Comments
2009-04-22 12:55:12
The leader's objective is to leverage the strengths of people and make their weaknesses become irrelevant. ~ Peter Drucker
For those of us out there who are leaders, which is probably all of us in one role or another, we need to be sure we are focusing on the strengths of our people and not concentrating on weaknesses. There is nothing more discouraging as an employee than to sit through a performance assessment and only hear about all the things you don't do well. This just results in total frustration, anger and demotivation. Why not focus on what each person does well and work with them to leverage those strengths to become more productive and efficient?
You can use this same advice at home. I often fall into the "weakness" trap when my kids bring home their report card. I always look to see what scores they brought home and then provide advice on how they can raise their lowest scores. As parents we need to be disciplined to focus on the high scores on the report card and help our kids discover their strengths build these on these strengths. We can then coach them leverage these strengths in weak areas. For example, my son, Drew, loves math and science but doesn't like humanities so much. However, when he is required to write a story for his humanities class he now relies on his love of science to create a science based story which results in a good humanities mark.
As a leader of people whether at work, charity, organization or as a parent, who is in a better position to determine a person's strengths? The leader can observe their people in many situations and then coach them to be more effective. We need to help our people/coworkers/families identify their strengths, bring in backfill around weaknesses and coach them to leverage their strengths to become the best they can be.
Tags: strengths, strength, zone, talents, values, personality
0 Comments
Obama - Living in His Strength Zone
2009-04-13 12:00:00
Two years ago when the race for the leadership of the democrat party (and ultimately the presidency of the US) really began to heat up, I asked one of my American colleagues who he thought would win. He told me he was sure it would not be Obama….not because of the color of his skin but because his name was Barrack Hussein Obama and there was no way the American people would pick a leader with a name that was so similar to two of the most recent and most insidious US arch enemies. Not to mention that fact that most Americans had never even heard of him before.
Note that the colleague I talked with is well informed, highly educated and highly intelligent and was not alone in his prediction. Many people anticipated that Obama would be lucky to win the Democratic nomination and would definitely not become the next president.
But, here we are two years later and Obama not only beat out Hilary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination but also beat out John McCain to become President of the United States!
So what happened? How did Obama overcome the negative publicity surrounding his name, his color, his religious orientation, etc. and prove everyone wrong as he became the president of the United States.
I know there are many reasons for Obama’s success including his branding and marketing team, his campaign team, the celebrities that endorsed him (Oprah, Ted Kennedy, Colin Powell) and the massive funding that he was able to raise.
However, I believe that one of the biggest reasons Obama was able to pull off this underdog win was because he worked within his Strength Zone. He knew exactly what his strengths were and he stuck with these strengths as much as possible….and still is.
Obama’s biggest strength has to be his communication skills. This truly is his Strength Zone. He is an amazing, charismatic, smooth and inspiring speaker…..when presenting a pre-practiced speech. When he has to communicate in an “off-the cuff” format, he is not nearly as impressive. Obama had very few election stumbles. In fact the only ones I remember were related to questions being asked of him where he did not have a pre-planned response. Some of these questions resulted in immediate bad press and a follow-up press conference was required to clarify his previous statements…sometimes the clarifications were 180 degrees different from the original statement.
To this end, when the Republicans were challenging Obama to a town hall format presidential debate, where the questions would be unpredictable and Obama would have to think on his feet and provide off the cuff answers, the Democrats pushed back and did not allow this. They wanted Obama to work in his Strength Zone….and he did excellent during the debates and for every other pre-prepared speech opportunity! The public has almost always seen a well prepared, smooth and charismatic Obama.
I believe this is one of the biggest reasons Obama is now the president of the United States….he stuck to what he did best and worked in his Strength Zone.
Defining and living in your Strength Zone is critical to your success no matter what your role in life. There is no telling what you can accomplish if you follow this simple little strategy!
Tags: obama, strength, zone, president, article
0 Comments
2009-04-13 12:00:00
Two years ago when the race for the leadership of the democrat party (and ultimately the presidency of the US) really began to heat up, I asked one of my American colleagues who he thought would win. He told me he was sure it would not be Obama….not because of the color of his skin but because his name was Barrack Hussein Obama and there was no way the American people would pick a leader with a name that was so similar to two of the most recent and most insidious US arch enemies. Not to mention that fact that most Americans had never even heard of him before.
Note that the colleague I talked with is well informed, highly educated and highly intelligent and was not alone in his prediction. Many people anticipated that Obama would be lucky to win the Democratic nomination and would definitely not become the next president.
But, here we are two years later and Obama not only beat out Hilary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination but also beat out John McCain to become President of the United States!
So what happened? How did Obama overcome the negative publicity surrounding his name, his color, his religious orientation, etc. and prove everyone wrong as he became the president of the United States.
I know there are many reasons for Obama’s success including his branding and marketing team, his campaign team, the celebrities that endorsed him (Oprah, Ted Kennedy, Colin Powell) and the massive funding that he was able to raise.
However, I believe that one of the biggest reasons Obama was able to pull off this underdog win was because he worked within his Strength Zone. He knew exactly what his strengths were and he stuck with these strengths as much as possible….and still is.
Obama’s biggest strength has to be his communication skills. This truly is his Strength Zone. He is an amazing, charismatic, smooth and inspiring speaker…..when presenting a pre-practiced speech. When he has to communicate in an “off-the cuff” format, he is not nearly as impressive. Obama had very few election stumbles. In fact the only ones I remember were related to questions being asked of him where he did not have a pre-planned response. Some of these questions resulted in immediate bad press and a follow-up press conference was required to clarify his previous statements…sometimes the clarifications were 180 degrees different from the original statement.
To this end, when the Republicans were challenging Obama to a town hall format presidential debate, where the questions would be unpredictable and Obama would have to think on his feet and provide off the cuff answers, the Democrats pushed back and did not allow this. They wanted Obama to work in his Strength Zone….and he did excellent during the debates and for every other pre-prepared speech opportunity! The public has almost always seen a well prepared, smooth and charismatic Obama.
I believe this is one of the biggest reasons Obama is now the president of the United States….he stuck to what he did best and worked in his Strength Zone.
Defining and living in your Strength Zone is critical to your success no matter what your role in life. There is no telling what you can accomplish if you follow this simple little strategy!
Tags: obama, strength, zone, president, article
0 Comments
Strength Zone Productivity Tips
2009-04-13 11:00:00
So you haven’t done a Values Profile, Personality Profile or a Talents Profile and you want a quick way to determine your Strength Zone? Try completing the following two statements:
1) I feel strong when I _____________.
2) I feel weak when I ______________.
Although this is not nearly as good as completing the profiles themselves, completing statement #1 will give you a good idea where your strengths may lie and completing statement #2 will give you a good idea of what is not one of your strengths.
Typically, an activity that makes you feel strong is in an area that is in your Strength Zone. Conversely, an activity that makes you feel weak would be outside your Strength Zone.
Tags: tips, ideas, productivity
0 Comments
2009-04-13 11:00:00
So you haven’t done a Values Profile, Personality Profile or a Talents Profile and you want a quick way to determine your Strength Zone? Try completing the following two statements:
1) I feel strong when I _____________.
2) I feel weak when I ______________.
Although this is not nearly as good as completing the profiles themselves, completing statement #1 will give you a good idea where your strengths may lie and completing statement #2 will give you a good idea of what is not one of your strengths.
Typically, an activity that makes you feel strong is in an area that is in your Strength Zone. Conversely, an activity that makes you feel weak would be outside your Strength Zone.
Tags: tips, ideas, productivity
0 Comments
Strength Zone - No 18.
2009-04-13 10:00:00
Do you periodically review your weekly activities to see how effective you are? If not, you should!
As you progress through each day keep notes on your activities on an hourly basis. At the end of each day review your activities and do a little soul searching. Ask yourself questions like the following;
1) Was your day productive? If so, why and if not, why not?
2) What activities were you engaged in that motivated you and gave you an energy burst? Were you leveraging your Strength Zone with these activities?
3) What activities were you engaged in that seemed to sap your energy? Were you leveraging your Strength Zone with these activities? Were these activities outside your Strength Zone?
4) What can you learn from activities that energized you? Can you take the strengths applied during these activities and apply them in other situations?
5) What can you learn from the energy sapping activities? Can you better apply your Strength Zone to these activities to become more productive and energized or are these activities something that you need to delegate or move away from?
By doing this once a week or even once a month and making small adjustments to your roles to take advantage of your Strength Zone, you will begin to see huge personal improvements.
Tags: general, article
0 Comments
2009-04-13 10:00:00
Do you periodically review your weekly activities to see how effective you are? If not, you should!
As you progress through each day keep notes on your activities on an hourly basis. At the end of each day review your activities and do a little soul searching. Ask yourself questions like the following;
1) Was your day productive? If so, why and if not, why not?
2) What activities were you engaged in that motivated you and gave you an energy burst? Were you leveraging your Strength Zone with these activities?
3) What activities were you engaged in that seemed to sap your energy? Were you leveraging your Strength Zone with these activities? Were these activities outside your Strength Zone?
4) What can you learn from activities that energized you? Can you take the strengths applied during these activities and apply them in other situations?
5) What can you learn from the energy sapping activities? Can you better apply your Strength Zone to these activities to become more productive and energized or are these activities something that you need to delegate or move away from?
By doing this once a week or even once a month and making small adjustments to your roles to take advantage of your Strength Zone, you will begin to see huge personal improvements.
Tags: general, article
0 Comments