Remember back to your undergraduate management class when the professor discussed management styles and introduced you to Douglas Macgregor’s Theory X and Theory Y? Theory X assumptions portray the average person to have an inherent dislike for work and that the carrot and stick approach will yield the appropriate motivation. Theory Y suggests that a more laissez faire, let do, style of management will bring out the best in people stimulating creativity and self-direction. Subsequently, Dr. William Ouchi developed Theory Z, which focused on increasing employee loyalty to the company by providing a job for life with a strong focus on the well being of the employee. Theory Z was derived from Dr. W. Edward Deming’s work and popularized by the Asian economic boom of the 1980’s.
While the theories were interesting in the academic setting, there were no conclusive answers. Upon entering into the workforce, it was clear there was a disproportionate share of unmotivated and unhappy people which were a drain on productivity, innovation, and morale. As a student of management philosophy, I studied these many theories and leveraged each theory to build a framework for making sense of workplace behavior and what enhances performance. After many subsequent years of consulting, hundreds of executive interviews, and real world “seasoning,” it became clear to why some people perform well and are highly motivated while others experience distress.
There is a common thread in motivated happy workers that is most often overlooked… alignment of core aptitudes and strengths. The core in achieving satisfaction and happiness is uncovering and cultivating unique strengths and abilities and aligning these to your work. It is clear that the vast majority of those unmotivated and unhappy workers were simply working outside of their core strengths, trying to make their weaknesses a strength. Over time, working outside of your core strengths creates fatigue, distress, poor performance, and burn out.
There are many reasons why someone might work outside of their core talents. After all, it’s difficult to objectively assess yourself when you have a limited perspective to how your strenghts stack up against others. There are many who simply try to follow other’s definition of success. There are also those waiting for direction and for their employers to help them find and deploy their talent.
As a young boy, I was engaged in many sports. My friends played basketball and football and I wanted very much to be with them and make my parents proud. I never loved purposely running into people and it wasn’t in my gene pool for me to dunk, however, I gave it my all. I was “Rudy”, if you watched the movie of the same name, spending a lot of energy and time in something that I’d never be very good at. It wasn’t fun sitting on the bench, not performing, and feeling like I let the team down even though I tried hard and was well liked.
I was attending a birthday party at a gymnastics center and the owner came up and said, “you could be a gymnast!”. He had me do a few things and quickly assessed my flexibility, strength to weight, risk tolerance, etc. My path had begun to take shape… Aside from the verbal abuse I took with the name “Shel” taking gymnastics and dance classes in grade school, it became something that I excelled in through my high school years.
It took that one person to take interest, be present, assess my abilities, and help me develop a path for athletic success. That one person helped me unlock potential I didn’t realize and helped to build my self esteem, discipline, poise, confidence, and an athletic ability that would serve me through my adult years.
One thing is certain; there is a great shortage of quality leaders. Finding those that can identify, align, and activate the core strengths of individuals and teams is indeed a rare breed. In this fiercely competitive landscape it is more important than ever to identify the unique talents of your employees and work towards getting them to leverage and utilize their strength more often.
Who gets promoted to the new sales manager vacancy? The lead sales associate of course! The result 6 months later? A fatigued and burnt out sales manager, ready to quit, with a frustrated sales team that is 20% under budget. And who takes the blame? The new sales manager, right?
As a leader, you have a responsibility and great opportunity to assess, align, and cultivate the strengths of your team. It’s never too late to take inventory of your employees core aptitudes and work to more effectively rekindle motivation, enhance performance, and build a stronger organizational culture. It’s amazing what profound transformations can happen when we do what we do well.
According to the Gallup organization, people who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged on the job. Teams that focus on their strengths are 12.5% more productive. Focus on strengths so that the weaknesses of individual team members become irrelevant.
To learn more about aligning the strengths of your team and performance management contact us at info@flvcp.com or visit www.flvcp.com.
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