skills

Pinpointing Strengths that Energize You

04 Mar
by Bridget DiCello

Skills are what you are good at doing, but do not necessarily enjoy. Strengths are what energizes you, but you may not be extremely good at them. However, strengths are where you have the greatest opportunity to improve your performance because they energize you.

The question is:  How do you know which is which – for yourself and your team members?

  1. Observe carefully. If you take a moment to observe both yourself and your team as they go about their daily duties, you will see the times when their faces light up, when they begin to work a bit quicker and when they put their nose to the grindstone and stay focused and determined. Those are the times they are working within their areas of strength.
  2. Listen closely. Listen to how your team members speak about certain tasks and roles. Are they animated, thoughtful and asking good questions? When do they talk more than usual? Or when do they think more than usual? These are times where they are probably talking about their strengths.
  3. Start a discussion. After you’ve observed and listened to those with whom you work, ask them what they enjoy doing the most. If you ask them to do a task or assist you in a certain project area, notice how they approach it and then ask them afterwards if they enjoyed what they did. If they respond with, “Sure, no problem,” ask more questions to clarify. “I really appreciate your assistance and need your expertise, but it seems like you’d rather I was able to do it on my own or get someone else to help me?” Then, be ready to do so.

People-pleasers. The challenge with the above activities is that there are different personality types that make pinpointing strengths difficult. There are people who will never say “No!” would never admit they did not want to help and will always step in with a smile. You must observe them much more carefully in order to see what is really energizing to them, and what they do out of need to please others. Rarely is the desire to please others their actual strength.

Grouches. The other challenge is those people who have tried very hard to cover any energy they might have in a veil of grouchiness. In order to protect their ego, their personal space or their fears, they respond almost always with a lack of energy. You may need to watch them carefully for a longer period of time, offer extra recognition and appreciation for what they do for you, and encourage the things they are good at to see if you can uncover some energizing activities.

Strengths are not always the things you are best at, but certainly can be. Pinpointing what you are good at can be a decent place to start if you are struggling to identify strengths.

What about you? What activity are you doing when your energy levels the highest during the day?

Build an Expectation of Accountability

15 Jun
by Bridget DiCello

Without a strong expectation of accountability:

  • Performance is mediocre
  • Fire fighting takes a lot of time
  • Lack of ownership
  • Constant follow-up
  • Recreating the wheel
  • Missed deadlines
  • Lackluster results
  • Repeated mistakes

Building an expectation of accountability is no easy task.  You must:

  1. Say It – Communicate Accountability
    1. Share expectations in a written form and discuss these expectations in a forum where everyone is speaking and contributing
    2. Continue to reinforce expectations with ongoing conversations ‘on the go’ as well as in structured interactions or coaching sessions.
    3. Include an expectation of individual professional and company growth in all you write, say and do.
  2. Plan It – Realistic Accountability Roadmap
    1. Create a written plan based on clear goals and objectives, documenting how things will get done.  Testing reality is a necessity and everyone’s input is required.
    2. Literally plot the plan on a calendar or chart and assign responsibilities and deadlines.
  3. Act on It – Do What You Said You Would Do
    1. Identify your problem solving process clearly, and follow that process when it becomes a challenge to do what you had planned or you get off track.
    2. Utilize each person’s skills, strengths and focus on the goals and objectives.
    3. Use the Opportunity Space™ (the moment between when someone does or says something and you respond) to respond purposefully and create stronger relationships within your team.
  4. Report It – Critical to Accountability
    1. Set expected, routine times and venues for each person to report their own successes and challenges.  Create agendas that lead the meeting and hold people accountable.
    2. Identify key metrics, measure and discuss them routinely, and involve others in the gathering of information and reporting, especially their own, results.
    3. Celebrate success and address shortcomings through curious conversations and asking good questions to get others to talk – when they are talking is when they are thinking, committing and engaging.

You lose credibility when what you promise, what you expect or what you set as a goal, does not happen.  Your credibility is very difficult to rebuild.  However, many work environments do not have the components of accountability in place and therefore experience repeated issues, mistakes, frustrations and negative results.

Each individual should demand accountability.  It is an opportunity to celebrate your success, ask for help if you need it, and proactively prepare for others’ changing expectations or disapproval.

Do you work in an organization that focuses on accountability?  What will YOU do TODAY to begin to create that focus?

Identifying Strengths & Skills

08 Mar
by Bridget DiCello

Skills are what you are good at doing, but do not necessarily enjoy.  Strengths are what energizes you, but you may not be extremely good at them.  However, strengths are where you have the greatest opportunity to improve your performance because they energize you.

The question is:  How do you know which is which – for yourself and your team members?

  1. Observe carefully.  If you take a moment to observe both yourself and your team as they go about their daily duties, you will see the times when their faces light up, when they begin to work a bit quicker and when they put their nose to the grindstone and stay focused and determined.  Those are the times they are working within their areas of strength.
  2. Listen carefully.  Listen to how your team members speak about certain tasks and roles.  Are they animated, thoughtful and asking good questions?  When do they talk more than usual?  Or when do they think more than usual?  These are times where they are probably talking about their strengths.
  3. Start a discussion.  After you’ve observed and listened to those with whom you work, ask them what they enjoy doing the most.  If you ask them to do a task or assist you in a certain project area, notice how they approach it and then ask them afterwards if they enjoyed what they did.  If they respond with, “Sure, no problem,” ask more questions to clarify.  “I really appreciate your assistance and need your expertise, but it seems like you’d rather I was able to do it on my own or get someone else to help me?”  Then, be ready to do so.

People-pleasers.  The challenge with the above activities is that there are different personality types that make pinpointing strengths difficult.  There are people who will never say “No!” would never admit they did not want to help and will always step in with a smile.  You must observe them much more carefully in order to see what is really energizing to them, and what they do out of need to please others.  Rarely is the desire to please others their actual strength.

Grouches.  The other challenge is those people who have tried very hard to cover any energy they might have in a veil of grouchiness.  In order to protect their ego, their personal space or their fears, they respond almost always with a lack of energy.  You may need to watch them carefully for a longer period of time, offer extra recognition and appreciation for what they do for you, and encourage the things they are good at to see if you can uncover some energizing activities.

Strengths are not always the things you are best at, but certainly can be.  Pinpointing what you are good at can be a decent place to start if you are struggling to identify strengths.

What about you?  What activity are you doing when your energy levels the highest during the day?

A Strength or a Skill? Which is which?

07 Mar
by Bridget DiCello

Janice is a whiz at taking notes, summarizing what happened in a meeting of 20 people going in all directions, and pinpointing not only the most important points, but the action items upon which everyone agreed. Strategically, she asks key questions throughout the meeting to clarify points, expand conversation to alleviate confusion and isolate what needs to be acted upon. Because of her brilliant abilities to do this tough task, Janice is often asked to act in that role.

The problem is, Janice really does not like to take the notes, is worn out by the process and gets bored in that role especially because it prevents her from actively sharing her opinions in the meeting. She is skilled, but taking notes is not her strength.

What is a strength? A strength is something that energizes you.

Think about the times you are excited to be at work, times you really feel full of energy for what you are doing and despite difficulties, you can keep working at a task that is truly challenging. Those are the times you are working with your strengths.

You may not be exceptionally talented in your areas of strength, but the fact is that you are energized by doing the task, by working to get better at it, and have much resilience to push forward.

On the other hand, a skill is something that you are good at doing. Maybe through innate ability, or lots of practice or hard work, you have built up this skill. And it certainly feels good to be successful at something. But, it is not necessarily exciting for you and you don’t look forward to it.

Each individual needs to identify their strengths and pinpoint their skills. Then, the greatest part about a strength is that you are eager to work very hard to get better at it because you enjoy the process. And you have enormous potential to significantly improve your performance in an area of strength. Seize that opportunity and ensure your employees do the same!

Did you ever wonder why difficult conversations occur?

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