"Growing Your People Monthly" Newsletter

November 2009

As Thanksgiving nears, I am reminded of previous newsletters, where I mentioned the importance of cultivating an attitude of gratitude, and this is a perfect opportunity to express my gratitude to all of my clients and colleagues!

Last month, In Part One of "Strengths and Weaknesses - Bragging Rights or Crutch?," I discussed the concepts of strengths and weaknesses as part of the ongoing leadership development dialogue. This month, I explain the importance of these concepts from the viewpoint of the organization. Read on!

Be Well,
Yvonne Kinney-Hockert
National Speaker, Business Consultant & Coach
Consulting Solutions, LLC.

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Strengths and Weaknesses - Bragging Rights or Crutch? Part Two

Jesse Jackson once said: "Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together." The most significant common thread in the strengths and weaknesses debate is the emphasis on assessment and its importance from an organizational perspective.

Buckingham and Clifton ("Now, Discover Your Strengths") propose that, "The great organization must not only accommodate the fact that each employee is different, it must capitalize on these differences. It must watch for clues to each employee's natural talents and then position and develop each employee so that his or her talents are transformed into bona fide strengths." Meanwhile, Kaiser and the other contributors ("The Perils of Accentuating the Positive") emphasize that ignoring weaknesses is "a lethal strategy for individuals managing their careers, as well as for the organizations building and managing their talent."

Thus, while the two sides may differ on where to focus development efforts, they both subscribe to the fact that self-awareness gleaned from assessments is critical to leadership development and organizational success.

Many companies may already have the information needed to develop and manage their talent. Their challenge is more about making an effort to utilize it and revisit the assessment results and determine how the individual is impacted. While some clients report that they pull out their resources and look at them occasionally, many professionals and organizations say, "Oh, we've done that before and now we are looking for something new." These organizations must ask themselves whether they are truly adding to their professional development inventory, or simply moving onto something else in a "grass is greener" approach.

There's nothing wrong and everything right about adding new techniques and tools to the process of developing people and organizations. However, whether an organization chooses to use the strengths-based tools or any of the other hundreds of assessments available, it's more important to ensure successful implementation. And ongoing utilization!

The field of leadership development abounds with theories and practical applications, some that make a lasting impact and many that get plenty of marketing but don't stand the test of time. It can be overwhelming sorting the helpful from the distracting, but the key is to look for solid research behind each approach, and commit to implementing the tools to help your people and your organization realize true potential and ongoing success.

Your Call To Action. . .