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Leadership: Strengths-Based, Not Perfection-Based

April 17, 2015 by Heidi Frye

strengths based leadership

Back in my Xerox days, I remember one of our high-ranking leaders telling us we wouldn’t be able to score A’s in all categories of our lives. “You can get 2 A’s and a C, or all B’s, but you can’t get A’s across the board.” This was especially disheartening given we were a group of self-motivated, high achievers. Of course, we were ambitious and idealistic and thought “Well, maybe she can’t, but we can.” Little did we know….

The Gallup guys agree. In “Strengths Based Leadership”, Tom Rath and Barry Conchie (the same guys who wrote StrengthsFinder 2.0), talk about how, based on their studies, they have not found a single leader, not one, who has “world class strength” in all categories. Matter-of-fact, “…those who strive to be competent in all areas become the least effective leaders overall.” Ouch! So much for our idealistic thinking that we could do it all – well, we could, just not successfully!! The strongest leaders have an acute sense of who they are – strengths and limitations. It is the strong leader who has the courage to be true to themselves and strive for excellence in a select number of categories versus all categories.

The updated message: know and leverage your strengths, build teams to be well-rounded, and know who you are – weaknesses and all. [I was relieved – their first book focused on strengths and all but ignored weaknesses.  Understanding your weaknesses and how your team compensates is as critical as knowing and leveraging strengths.  Awareness and competency, not necessarily proficiency, are must-have goals.]

“‘Leaders do not need to be well-rounded, but teams do’ is a concept supported by research indicating strong leaders who know who they are, and how to use their strengths, did a better job engaging their people.”

That’s big! Leaders who leveraged their strengths were better able to drive organizational growth – albeit different strengths and different styles of getting it done, but getting it done none-the-less. If you’ve taken the Strengths Finder, you know your “Top 5″. They are categorized  into: Executing; Influencing; Relationship Building; and Strategic Thinking. The most successful leaders build high performance teams by drawing on these four categories, and complementing their own strengths. Not a unique concept but a good one. Healthy teams are diverse, they appreciate “candid conversations” and “different perspectives” – resulting in robust dialogue. Healthy teams are “high performance” because they understand how to productively leverage their individual contributions.

After many years and lessons learned, I now understand where our Xerox leader was coming from. (isn’t “wisdom” a beautiful thing??)  I work with leaders who frustratingly try to be everything to everyone….or leaders who feel like failures for not being perfect. Sometimes the leader who figures out what their good at and how to use it, brings out the best in their people.   Getting clarity and perspective about yourself and the impact you have on others is one of the best things you can do for your career…and for those who chose to follow you. She was right, I haven’t gotten straight A’s – but I have gotten A’s in my categories-of-choice…by leveraging my strengths, “knowing who I am”, and having the courage to not be perfect!

What are your strengths? How do you leverage them in your career?  Let me know!

Filed Under: Leadership, Motivation Tagged With: career, courage, Gallup, leadership, leading, leverage your strengths, motivation, perfection, perspective, strengths based leadership, strengths finder, team, well-rounded, xerox

Motivated or Disengaged? Using a M.A.P. to Find Your Direction!

February 1, 2015 by Heidi Frye

MAP

As I work with business leaders, I am always trying (I say trying because my stack of books is very tall!) to stay on top of current business theories and books. A couple of topics that are extremely motivating to me are “Motivation” and “Engagement“. So I was very excited to pick up Daniel Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us!!

Based on the evidence he offers in this book, our business model might need an overhaul if we want to continue to grow and thrive as a society. People are dis-engaging at an alarming rate and Pink offers some excellent insight. Here are a few of my take-aways:

Carrot/Stick Motivation only works for simple, linear tasks.

Carrot & Stick motivation is “if you do X, then you’ll get Y”. Our entire economy is built around this concept of “extrinsic motivation”. Think about it, what doesn’t work this way? Well, OK maybe some of those software developers…. Personally, I spent plenty of years selling. and understand this model well. Granted, it is important to have a fair compensation structure in place – without it, any type of motivation will be challenging. But studies show, the typical carrot motivation actually demotivates individuals in more creative, “heuristic” job functions. Why? Well, it gives us short-term thinking syndrome, hyper-focusing on the reward. Matter-of-fact, studies show extrinsic motivators decrease our depth of thinking; diminish performance; reduce creativity; and welcome short-cuts and unethical behavior. Enron? Cheating on Final Exams? Finding clothes, books, and toys stuffed in a closet when your son/daughter is told they can go outside and play once their room is clean?!

A newer, more sophisticated motivation system must be in place to drive performance for more complex, creative jobs.  Carrot & Stick motivation might work in the short run but not in the long run (I think this is a factor in why sales people burn out so quickly….).

Type X vs. Type I:

We have all heard of the Type A personality, right?  Driven, aggressive, impatient, intense.  And of course the counter to Type A was/is Type B.  However, the new motivation research requires we redefine the behavioral “types”.  Welcome, Type X and Type I.  The Type X person, is the one motivated by the “X-trinsic” rewards, less focused on the intrinsic rewards. Intrinsic satisfaction is great but definitely secondary to the primary, extrinsic motivator. The Type I person is more motivated by “intrinsic” rewards than extrinsic – like freedom, challenge, and purpose. The extrinsic rewards are great but not the driving force.

  • Something to keep in mind about Type I’s:
  • Type I’s are made, not born.
  • In the long run, Type I’s almost always outperform Type X’s.
  • Type I’s do care about money – for Type I’s fair compensation is a requirement so they can focus on the job at hand.
  • Type I behavior leads to better physical & mental health – studies show focus on intrinsic motivation leads to better self-esteem, relationships, and overall well-being. Studies also show Type X focus on money, fame, and beauty, promotes poorer psychological health.

MAP

To really motivate people, we need to make sure they have MAP incorporated into their jobs.

  • M=Mastery – People need to be challenged, have the ability to grow, and be better…to strive toward Mastery.
  • A=Autonomy – People need to have some sense of ownership and accountability over their jobs.
  • P=Purpose – People are motivated when the have a sense of passion, or purpose about their job, they understand how it fits into the bigger picture.

So how do we start this shift toward intrinsic motivation? One way is to tap into the Type X boss who is in control. They would need to change their Type X ways and move into the Type I model. A couple of ideas are to involve people in goal setting; use non-controlling language; hold “open office” hours.

Personally, this research helps me understand my own career and how I have evolved. I’m sure I would have been described as a Type A, and then a Type X person back in my previous life…but something didn’t feel right. What was missing was “MAP“.  And without my MAP, I lost my direction….but since starting UPwords Inc. and focusing on my own intrinsic satisfaction, I have found my way!

Filed Under: Leadership, Motivation Tagged With: autonomy, carrot/stick, Daniel Pink, Drive, engage, engagement, mastery, motivate, motivation, purpose, strengths, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Type I, Type X

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