Working and Playing To Your Strengths
In December Right Management (a Manpower, Inc. subsidiary that handles outplacement) asked 900 workers, “Do you plan to pursue new job opportunities as the economy improves in 2010? More than half the workforce expected to have a foot out the door in the New Year. Fully 60% replied “yes, I intend to leave.” And nearly another quarter, 21% said “maybe, so I’m networking.” Which is better, leaving or staying? And if you do leave, will a new position play to your strength?
Marcus Buckingham has had a satisfying career advising managers and their employees about how to tap into their strengths. First Break All the Rules (1999), Now Discover Your Strengths ( 2001), One Thing You Need to Know (2005) and Go Put Your Strengths to Work (2007) encouraged individuals to build on strengths rather than work to improve weaknesses. This philosophy has earned him a well recognized place among management gurus. I first interviewed him a decade ago for a story about thoughtfulness in the workplace.
Now, though, he’s broadened his approach with the publication of Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently (Thomas Nelson 2008). Before you groan, as I did, about yet another book about women, this one is different. For openers, it shocks by describing that by all subjective measures of well being, women are less happy than men. And for women, who may be juggling a home, family, a job, and perhaps aging parents, happiness and fulfillment may seem like distant goals.
To minimize a tendency toward unhappiness Mr. Buckingham says we need to have a clear idea of what choices strengthen us and give short shrift to confusing and contradictory messages. And he offers a check list.
…How often do you feel an emotional high in your life?
…How often do you find yourself positively anticipating your day?
…How often do you become so involved in what you are doing that you lose track of time?
….How often do you feel invigorated at the end of a long, busy day?
…How often do you get to do the things you really like to do?
It’s important, he says, to recognize that most responsibilities involve many different types of activities and it sometimes takes a conscious, selfishness to choose the ones that nourish you. Where have we heard that before? And how can we better do that?
It turns out that some of our unhappiness may be because we haven’t thought seriously about what invigorates us and we haven’t taken a stand for ourselves without bragging.
The book directs you to take the Strong Life Test. Some might consider it a gimmick, but it was surprisingly accurate, at least for this reporter. You only need to take ti once. I tried twice and got a different answer both times. “It’s best read the first time,” said Mr. Buckingham because on subsequent testing you’ve prepared and have time to weigh considerations.
And he says we get stronger as we get older because aging brings an acceptance of what sustains us. His name for this phenomenon is, “The Popeye Syndrome” because, he says, like Popeye, those who are reaching maturity, regardless of age acknowledge, “I am what I am.”
Mr. Buckingham offers tips to start off in the direction of what he calls a strong life…
Consider outsourcing activities that you find frustrating.
Better yet, look at the activity through the eyes of a strength. An example, at social gatherings or parties, try turning the festivity into a series of long individual conversations rather than brief cocktail party talk in a large group.
It’s more important to listen to your own voice, than social norms.
Tags: management, mentoring, satisfying work
