Years ago when I was first exposed to the Strengths idea of Marcus Buckingham and those who had researched this issue before him, as soon as I heard it - it made all the sense in the world.
Of course it is better to build on your strengths rather than trying to improve weaknesses.
Here is another, similar idea, from the Heath brothers (authors of Made to Stick). They tell the story of a troubled teenager named Bobby. He was in danger of being kicked out of school. His counselor asked him an interesting question.
Instead of focusing on Bobby's problems, he asked Bobby, "Are there classes where you don't get in trouble?"
It turns out there was such a class, it was Ms. Smith's class. So the counselor asked why Ms. Smith's class was different and soon there were concrete answers. Ms. Smith did things differently for Bobby and it worked. Now there was a way forward and soon all of Bobby's teachers were doing the same thing for him.
Here is what the Heath brothers point out.
We are wired to focus on what is not working. This is just like focusing on weaknesses in performance reviews. This is why the news is full of what is wrong, bad, dangerous problematic… that is what we are drawn to.
The counselor asked - what is working and how can we do more of it? That is similar to asking - what are your strengths and how can we make you even stronger in those areas?
What a great perspective!
And I recommend you try it right now…
Ask - what is working? What is working very well? And how can I do more of what is working?
If you remember the Pareto Principle which says, we get 80% of our results from 20% of our efforts… Well, what is working is what generates 80% of your results. If you find out how to spend more time doing what is working, you are bound to generate even more results.
Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com
