By Barbara Poole
Contributing Writer

Mike sounded resigned. Not only did he have to finalize his departmental business plan for submission by the end of the month, it was also the dreaded performance review time.

“Why we have to do all of these things at the same time, I have no idea,” he said. “It becomes a total box-checking exercise instead of a true developmental opportunity for people.”

As we explored the situation together, it became evident that the issue was about more than the fact that all of his reviews were due at the same time. It was also about the tone of what was requested on the forms that he had to complete for human resources.

Mike explained that of the three-page format he had to work with, there was about one inch of space allocated to identifying what an employee had done well during the past year. The rest of the form requested details about the individual’s proverbial “areas for improvement,” code language for weaknesses.

The real source of Mike’s discouragement was that he was not looking forward to having one-hour conversations with each member of his staff that centered on all the things they don’t do well.

I totally get it, and unfortunately, Mike is not alone in his quandary about how to deal with the traditional approach to performance development.

In many organizations, the basic approach is to acknowledge what an employee does well but then to really focus on what needs to be improved, enhanced or brought up to standard.

Talk about an exercise designed to take the wind out of your sails.

The good news is that some forward-thinking organizations are moving in a direction to change this model. The revolutionary work of the Gallup Organization and the research led by Marcus Buckingham are redirecting many corporate environments to shift their focus to maximizing employees’ strengths versus trying to develop their weaknesses.

According to Buckingham, there are two assumptions that guide the world’s most effective managers:

• Each person’s talents are enduring and unique.

• Each person’s greatest room for growth lies in the areas of his or her greatest strength, not in developing his or her greatest weakness.

If that is true, then perhaps career success is more like sculpting and editing rather than accumulating or building.

According to Buckingham’s research with Gallup, it does not make sense to stretch yourself with new and challenging assignments if it involves doing things that you don’t have an affinity for.

Buckingham contends that you will not feel energized when you focus on your flaws. And where there is no energy, there is mediocre performance.

Imagine if you, as a manager, resolved to do your performance reviews this year with a focus on your employees’ strengths rather than their areas for development.

Suppose you asked your employees to identify what they think they are brilliant at.

Then imagine that you systematically help them analyze what they have done during the past year that reveals their greatest skills, strengths and talents. Suppose you asked them to use that information to help them explore how they would most like to use those skills and strengths to capitalize on their own growth and help build the organization.

How do you suppose both of you would feel at the end of that conversation?

My hunch is that both of you would feel a renewed sense of enthusiasm about the job at hand and how to best tackle it during the year.

When we focus on strengths and talents, we come alive.

When we focus on weaknesses, we become deflated and discouraged.

So how will you, as a manager, use this approach to grow and develop your staff this year?

And how will you use your own strengths and talents in that process?

Barbara Poole is a leadership and career development coach with Success Builders Inc. E-mail her at CoachBarbara@SuccessBuildersInc.com.

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