Sherri's Blog

Over the past few months I’ve been teaching Career Development classes. Knowing your strengths and building on them is a cornerstone of these classes.

Your strengths are your unique combination of talents, skills, and knowledge.  Using them gives you intrinsic satisfaction.  In growing your career, they help you to go from good to great and enjoy the journey!

And it isn’t always easy for people to answer the question:  What are my top strengths?  So in my classes I have questions that help lead to the answer. Here are my favorites:

–  What does the day look like on those mornings you get up and say to yourself, “I can hardly wait to go to work today because…”
–  The next morning you say to yourself, “I really don’t want to go to work because…” Why do you say that?
–  If you had your ideal job, what would you do day in and day out?
–  What have people complimented you on all your work life?

It only takes a few moments to answer them.  And if you want to dig even deeper, you can take an assessment in the books Now, Discover Your Strengths or Strengths Finder 2.0.  The fun begins as you notice how your strengths show up in your life and find ways to use and grow them with every career move you make.

I was recently reviewing a 360-assessment report with a client.  Two things came up as areas for improvement – delegation and developing others.

He’d heard the feedback about delegation before.  Usually it came as a command from his manager:  “Just give your people the work that you don’t have time to do!”  He wanted to comply, but he felt his direct reports weren’t capable of doing his work, so he kept it for himself.

In our conversation I focused first on how he developed his people.  I asked him two questions:

Who are the one or two direct reports you’d like to develop?
How might you do that?

In answering these questions, he said,  “I’d have them attend some key cross-functional meetings with me so they can grow their understanding of the business. I want them to be able to assimilate information and respond appropriately.”

“What’s the impact of this?” I asked.

“I don’t have to make all the decisions and go to all the meetings.” Then he laughed and said, “Ok, I get it.  Ignoring their development means I can’t delegate.  They clearly go hand-in-hand.”

Very often delegation and development are connected.  Of course, there are people who are ready for the delegated work, but with development those folks can be even more successful.

So when you think about developing your people as a time-consuming “nice-to-do,” think again.  As their skills grow, you can delegate more and in turn focus on work that builds your business and grows your own career.  The energy you invest in developing others benefits both of you.  It’s clearly a win-win.

A number of managers I work with have recently been told “amp up your networking.”  Meaning:  Join groups.  Get out there and talk to lots of people throughout the company and the industry.

These talented, but introverted managers, meet this request with mild terror!

This is because, as described by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), introverts are energized by what happens in their inner world.  They are more comfortable when a good deal of their work activity takes place quietly inside their heads.

Since building a network is important, what can encourage these managers to do it?  Perhaps one answer is to expand the definition of networking to include building strong one-on-one, interpersonal connections with people throughout the company and the industry.

And how do you develop interpersonal connections?
–    Ask questions to learn from others.  Be curious.
–    Listen carefully, reflect on what you hear, and come back with ideas.
–    Notice what others are doing well and compliment them.
–    Offer to help solve problems.

Many introverted managers already have these skills.  They are very present, excellent listeners, and are willing to go deeply into a conversation with genuine interest.  These strengths give them an edge in building solid relationships and will help them to build a network – one person at a time – the introverted way!

Recently a friend was praising the head of his division, who was new to the company.  My friend had been working in this division for many years.  Right away the new leader asked my friend “What’s your perspective on the company as a whole and on my organization?  What do you see as the important issues that I need to address?”  These questions took my friend completely by surprise.  

“Why?” I asked him.  “It makes perfect sense that a new leader would want to know this.”

“Well, she’s the first new leader in all my experience with this company who has bothered to ask me!  Our interactions just focus on their to-do list or the project at hand.  Ignoring all knowledge and insight I’ve gleaned over the years.”

This made me think about all the people inside and outside of our organizations who have valuable ideas and perspectives and how we often don’t take the time to learn from them. 

So I’d like to challenge you to get curious!  Make a short list of people (no more than 5) whose perspective you’d value hearing – people who have a history with the company, ones with depth and breadth of experience.  They can be employees inside or outside your function, customers, and/or contractors.

Email them, call them, walk into their office, add some time to your next one-on-one – whatever works – and ask them those same simple, powerful questions:

What’s your perspective on the company and on my organization?
What do you see as the important issues that I need to address?

You’ll get a two-for-one benefit.  You’ll build a bond with them and learn things you might not have known.

“What’s the one trait that makes a successful leader?” a manager recently asked me.

“Honestly, I can’t pick just one, but there is one that’s essential and often overlooked.  Humility.”

“Humility? No way!” he responded.  “Why would I want to down play my talents and my team’s accomplishments?  Who wants to work with a manager who’s always talking about what went wrong? “

While I agree no one wants a negative manager, being humble does not exclude talking about your accomplishments.

In his book, The Leader’s Code, Donovan Campbell gives a compelling and useful definition of humility.

At its essence, humility is nothing more than a realistic and unflinching view of yourself and your relationships.

Based on this view, humility has two aspects.  One is personal and focuses on the leader’s self-knowledge – their awareness of both their strengths and their areas for improvement.  The other is about working with others.  Humble leaders honestly appraise their team’s capabilities and accept the team’s view of their leadership.  They learn the good and the bad and use this information to build a strong team.

Far from showing weakness, humble leaders are strong – strong enough to see where improvements are needed and confident enough in their own abilities and in their teams to make them.  This is the kind of humility that develops better leaders and creates more successful organizations.