10 THINGS EVERY NEW MANAGER NEEDS TO KNOW
The best way to accelerate performance is to identify what people are already good
at and let them do more of it. Typically, though, that's not what many managers do.
Instead, they focus on people's weaknesses. They spotlight the defects and then try
to fix what's broken. It's frustrating for the manager and the employee, and the results
are often disappointing.
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Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, authors of First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest
Managers Do Differently, offer the following insights into strength-based management:
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PLAY TO PEOPLE'S
STRENGTHS
Think talent.
All of us have talent, which is defined as a "recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behavior that can be productively
applied." Talent differs from skills and knowledge. Skills and knowledge can be taught, but talent is innate.
Cast people in the right roles.
Ask people about their strengths and weaknesses, their goals and dreams. Take note of what they like to do and
what they turn away from. Find out what they are good at doing; then try, to the extent possible, to match their
skills and talents with elements of the job.
Focus on your best people.
Spend time with your good performers to help them
unleash their talents. If you ignore them, they will start
to do less of what made them good performers in the
first place.
Manage around a weakness.
When faced with poor performance, ask yourself the following questions:
• Is it due to a lack of skills or knowledge? (If so, train them.)
• Have I misread what motivates them? (If so, find those motivational triggers.)
• Is it because the person lacks the innate talent for parts of the job? (If so, find a way to support them or find
them an alternative role.)
" People don't change that much. Don't try
to put in what was left out. Try to draw out
what was left in."
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