50/40/10: The ratio for increasing fulfillment and minimizing the work you dread
Would you rather improve a skill from a low of “shockingly bad” to a high of “a bit better”, or from a low of “excellent” to a high of “extraordinary”? In other words, does it make more sense to focus energy on your weakness or to play to – and improve – your strengths? Which will have the greater impact on your career?
Like an athlete, musician, or craftsman who masters their craft, leaders and employees excel when they play to their strengths. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of value in putting effort into something you’re not good at and don’t enjoy. It’s not the best path, yet it’s one too often taken.
Re-energize with strengths
Traditional management principles are all about improving weaknesses. This comes from the notion that a person has some incompetence or lack of ability that needs to be fixed. If we fix these weak areas, performance will go up, right?
Well, no. In my 30 years of experience as a product and business leader, and as an executive coach to technology leaders, strengthening weaknesses does not significantly improve performance. Instead it can lead to negative psychological consequences and a generally poor return on investment for the leader and the organization as a whole.
As a leader, imagine your entire team focusing on their strengths. Every person is moving from excellent to exceptional, and deeply enjoying the pursuit. Research says asking employees to play to their strengths every day is the single most impactful contributor to employee engagement. It’s a leader’s ideal scenario.
A ratio for great outcomes
Convention in learning and development says that 70% of our career knowledge stems from on-the-job experience, 20% learning from others and 10% from formal education. Innovative leaders interested in embracing a strengths-based approach will shift to a new ratio, and ask employees to build their learning and development on:
· 50% of their time rediscovering, redefining, and realizing strengths
· 40% of their time developing awareness, mindset, agility, and adaptability
· 10% identifying weaknesses
Rediscovering, redefining, and realizing strengths
Most of us have some modest awareness of our strengths. We’ve heard from co-workers “you’re really good at that!” or we know when we have entered Zen in our work. But what happens when we deliberately label our strengths and find ways to push them even further? Imagine someone who really enjoys putting together PowerPoint presentations for the team. Could the next step be to attend a seminar to learn how to write keynote presentations? What does it look like to rediscover, redefine and realize strengths for each person on your team?
Developing awareness, mindset, agility, and adaptability
This is the bedrock of growth for your employees. Beyond our strengths, we all have areas we should work on. Things like recognizing when a colleague feels their input was ignored. Fully including multiple cultural and individual perspectives. Dealing with conflict. Developing a full range of leadership styles. Or being able to face a challenge with enthusiasm. To support your employees in this area, it’s a good idea to involve an organizational or performance coach. This can bring structure and intention to development.
Identifying weaknesses
By removing the focus on weaknesses, you give employees freedom to grow their strengths. But we shouldn’t ignore weaknesses entirely. Instead, identify what they are and find ways to work with them. For example, an employee who is a night owl shouldn’t be in charge of leading the team meeting at 8am on Monday. An employee who is uncomfortable in groups shouldn’t be expected to attend a client’s happy hour event. Identify the weaknesses, then adapt to them.
Flip convention on its head
So many traditional management and leadership principles are outdated. They might cling to their place in an organization, but you don’t have to accept convention. Strive to be post-conventional. Focus on your strengths to perform at a higher level of awareness with greater fulfillment and support your employees in doing the same.
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