What is your True North?
Posted By Mike Gfeller on December 13, 2012
Good afternoon folks,
I’m a bit embarrassed to discuss the topic I am about to cover just because I think it is the most obvious thing to do and yet I don’t believe most of us that either manage or have managed people have performed this at all. It’s about discovering what you are best at in the eyes of others. We spend an incredible amount of time and energy critiquing our children, our staff, and even our friends on what they need to improve. We spend almost no time letting them know what they do best. Many of us know our strengths and weaknesses, but this is a little different than that.
My wife told me about an exercise they went through in her work environment and it went something like this: each person had to get 360 degree feedback from a number of people they selected. I don’t recall precisely the number, but let’s say it was between 5 and 10. You can pick any 10 you want, doesn’t matter where they are on the friendship spectrum. They only have one question to answer: in the time that you’ve known me and have observed me, what was I doing at the time that you thought I was performing at my very best. When did you go “Wow, clearly Mike is best at THAT.” What were the circumstances and what did you observe, and why do you feel that way? And you ask that same question from those 5-10 people you selected.
What you get back many times is eye opening. What we personally feel we are best at (i.e. our strengths as I mentioned earlier) is not necessarily what others would perceive as our strengths. It is so important to align those two. If you are in a job where others perceive you as being great, but you don’t like the job, then success is going to be difficult. On the other hand, if you believe you are really good at something and others just don’t see it, you’ve got a different sort of issue. But it’s not just that, it is not about knowing where you are good. Most people know this to some extent. This is about knowing what you are BEST at doing.
The great thing about this exercise is you can do it as a teambuilder on a smaller scale and share the results. Nobody minds if you openly talk about how great they are at something. Well, there are a few people who are a bit more shy by nature, but assuming you get their buy-in upfront, it is a pretty fun and enlightening exercise. This exercise serves to boost self-esteem and also if people know what others perceive them as doing best, they will do it more often, and possibly can do it even better since they know that behavior is receiving some attention.
Let me see if I can provide an example. Let’s say I have an employee that is task-oriented. That employee has probably received feedback from me saying that I appreciate that they are always well-organized and keep everything on track. The employee knows that organization is a strength of theirs. So that employee does this 360 feedback exercise. The response is always going to vary based on differing perceptions, but let’s say one of the answers is something like this: “I thought you were at your best when XXX happened. Your organizational skills were helpful, but combined with your calm demeanor you were able to tackle the issue with rational deliberation while others around you were flustered. Anytime all hell is breaking loose, this company would be well-served to have you in the middle of it. (Disclaimer: lest someone think I am writing this as a backhanded way to give credit to myself, think again. I am not sure people would describe me as generally being calm.) What that person has just learned about others perception of them is a whole lot more than “they have a strength with organization”. Knowing that, they may want to consider learning more about crisis management and honing those skills others see in them.
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts and feedback, especially if you think this is not a valid exercise. I’ve been thinking about this for some time and haven’t found a down side, other than there are some who believe this might be too touchy-feely for their environment. This isn’t rainbows and unicorns though. This is concrete, and it isn’t about warm and fuzzy but about behaviors that a person exhibits. Thanks for reading.
-Mike
Mike,
That sounds like a good exercise. I may have to try that one on our team. When I first got here I attempted to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. The team went through Strength Finder 2.0. We got busy and let it fall through the cracks but we picked it back up again last week. Our newest employees are working through it now and the management team is working out a plan to make it a part of the every day life.