Your Reflected Best Self™
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Think of your national athletics team at the
Olympics. All the individuals in it are exceptionally talented –
but at different things. The javelin thrower is able to throw his
javelin powerfully and release it from his grasp at exactly the
right time; the marathon runner has phenomenal endurance; and the
sprinter has powerful leg muscles so that she can explode out of
the starting blocks.
No team manager would encourage the sprinter to start throwing
javelins, nor would he assign the endurance athlete to the 100
meter race. If he did, he'd be ignoring their strengths, and
expecting them to deliver results from an area of weakness.
Yet managers do this every day in business! If you're not
convinced, think back to your last appraisal. Did your boss praise
the way that you carried out various key aspects of your role? Or
do the "areas for improvement" he or she identified stand out more
clearly in your mind?
The chances are that the criticisms are most memorable. And what
this means is that, at best, you're working on your improving your
weaknesses, and you're ignoring your strengths.
Why Strengths Matter
Of course, managers clearly need to point out areas of team
members' performance which are not up to standard, if that area is
an essential part of the job. But there are two good reasons why
ignoring people's strengths can fail to yield the results that
managers want. For instance, increased performance.
First, focusing on weaknesses often doesn't encourage people to
work on those weaknesses: negative feedback generally puts us on
the defensive. And, for many, it's natural to deny that the
observations are true, or to dismiss them as irrelevant, by
telling themselves that that aspect of their work isn't important
anyway. Either way, they're not motivated to do much about it.
On the other hand, most of us respond well to praise. We realize
that what we're doing is appreciated, so we try to repeat the
positive behavior, in the hope of getting more praise.
Second, there's good evidence that our strengths and weaknesses
are, to some extent, fixed. (For more on this, listen to our Expert
Interview with Chuck Martin entitled Are we hardwired for success? , or read our article on Benziger's Personality Types .)
But are you clear about what your strengths are? The traditional
appraisal system offers only so much help in identifying them.
What we need is a way of finding out what they are, and also of
figuring out what we should do to "play to our strengths". The
Reflected Best Self™ exercise helps us do just
that, and this article gives our interpretation of the exercise.
How to Use the Tool
This is an overview of the steps in the Reflected Best Self™ technique:
Step 1: Survey Others About Your Strengths
Identify ten or so individuals who are in a position to give you
accurate feedback about your strengths. This group should include
current colleagues, but also, ideally, former colleagues, friends
and family members.
Then, ask them to think about what your strengths are, and to give
an example to back up every strength they identify. The strengths
don't need to be specifically work-related. In fact, if you're
unhappy in your current job, it's particularly important that you
get feedback from people who know you from outside a work context,
as they may identify real strengths that you have which you're
unable to display at work.
Tip 1:
In this step, your feedback group needs to understand why
you're asking for feedback on your strengths and that you're
not just fishing for compliments (which would be
embarrassing for all concerned).
Tip 2:
If you're doing this at work, consider doing this as a group
with co-workers who are interested in doing the exercise
themselves.
Tip 3:
If you're too embarrassed to do this, identify 10 people who
like you and know you well. Ask yourself what these people
would say your strengths are. Remember, though, that your
answers won't be as good if you don't ask the people themselves!
Step 2: Identify Themes
Once you have all of the responses in from your survey group,
start to group the responses together into themes. Some of the
themes may reflect strengths you were aware of, but they may also
identify things that you hadn't realized were strengths because
they come so naturally to you.
Tip:
If you're struggling to find common themes, consider using an affinity diagram to help you do this.
Step 3: Write Your Strengths Profile
Next, draw together the key strengths that have emerged from your
analysis, and tie them together in a few paragraphs that summarize
what you're really good at.
When you're writing this, bear in mind that you'll use this in the
future in two ways: first, to guide future actions and choices,
and second to shore up your confidence when times get tough.
Step 4: Identify How You Can Play to Your Strengths
With a clear idea of your strengths, take a long, hard look at
your current role. Are you playing to your strengths? If not, can
you adapt the focus and nature of your work to make more of your
strengths?
For example, are you really a "people person" who's spending half
a day a week compiling reports? Is there someone in your team who
would be better suited to this kind of work, and be grateful for
the extra responsibility, while you spend the extra time coaching team members?
Or maybe you're a Sales and Marketing Manager who has come to the
role from a sales position. You have a great knowledge of your
products and understanding of what your company's customers need,
but you also have a real weakness when it comes to copywriting.
Here, hire a copywriter to turn your enthusiasm into words for
your brochures.
If you do this, not only will your marketing materials read
better, but you'll also free up time to spend with the product
development team, letting them know what customers are telling you
about the product range.
Key Points
The Reflected Best Self™ exercise is a simple, structured process
that helps you identify, and make the most of your strengths. It
is not a replacement for the traditional appraisal approach which
identifies areas for improvement with respect to your job
description. Rather, playing to your strengths is an opportunity
to raise your overall performance levels, by focusing on areas
where you can excel, rather than simply being competent.
In order to have a clear head to consider the outcomes of
Reflected Best Self™ analysis, it's best to carry it out at a
different time of year from your appraisal.
The Reflected Best Self™ Exercise is a
copyrighted instrument of the Regents of the University of
Michigan, USA. This Mind Tools article sets out our
interpretation of the exercise. You can purchase the original Reflected Best
Self™ exercise online here .
Tags:
Career Skills, Skills
Olympics. All the individuals in it are exceptionally talented –
but at different things. The javelin thrower is able to throw his
javelin powerfully and release it from his grasp at exactly the
right time; the marathon runner has phenomenal endurance; and the
sprinter has powerful leg muscles so that she can explode out of
the starting blocks.
No team manager would encourage the sprinter to start throwing
javelins, nor would he assign the endurance athlete to the 100
meter race. If he did, he'd be ignoring their strengths, and
expecting them to deliver results from an area of weakness.
Yet managers do this every day in business! If you're not
convinced, think back to your last appraisal. Did your boss praise
the way that you carried out various key aspects of your role? Or
do the "areas for improvement" he or she identified stand out more
clearly in your mind?
The chances are that the criticisms are most memorable. And what
this means is that, at best, you're working on your improving your
weaknesses, and you're ignoring your strengths.
Why Strengths Matter
Of course, managers clearly need to point out areas of team
members' performance which are not up to standard, if that area is
an essential part of the job. But there are two good reasons why
ignoring people's strengths can fail to yield the results that
managers want. For instance, increased performance.
First, focusing on weaknesses often doesn't encourage people to
work on those weaknesses: negative feedback generally puts us on
the defensive. And, for many, it's natural to deny that the
observations are true, or to dismiss them as irrelevant, by
telling themselves that that aspect of their work isn't important
anyway. Either way, they're not motivated to do much about it.
On the other hand, most of us respond well to praise. We realize
that what we're doing is appreciated, so we try to repeat the
positive behavior, in the hope of getting more praise.
Second, there's good evidence that our strengths and weaknesses
are, to some extent, fixed. (For more on this, listen to our Expert
Interview with Chuck Martin entitled Are we hardwired for success? , or read our article on Benziger's Personality Types .)
But are you clear about what your strengths are? The traditional
appraisal system offers only so much help in identifying them.
What we need is a way of finding out what they are, and also of
figuring out what we should do to "play to our strengths". The
Reflected Best Self™ exercise helps us do just
that, and this article gives our interpretation of the exercise.
How to Use the Tool
This is an overview of the steps in the Reflected Best Self™ technique:
Step 1: Survey Others About Your Strengths
Identify ten or so individuals who are in a position to give you
accurate feedback about your strengths. This group should include
current colleagues, but also, ideally, former colleagues, friends
and family members.
Then, ask them to think about what your strengths are, and to give
an example to back up every strength they identify. The strengths
don't need to be specifically work-related. In fact, if you're
unhappy in your current job, it's particularly important that you
get feedback from people who know you from outside a work context,
as they may identify real strengths that you have which you're
unable to display at work.
Tip 1:
In this step, your feedback group needs to understand why
you're asking for feedback on your strengths and that you're
not just fishing for compliments (which would be
embarrassing for all concerned).
Tip 2:
If you're doing this at work, consider doing this as a group
with co-workers who are interested in doing the exercise
themselves.
Tip 3:
If you're too embarrassed to do this, identify 10 people who
like you and know you well. Ask yourself what these people
would say your strengths are. Remember, though, that your
answers won't be as good if you don't ask the people themselves!
Step 2: Identify Themes
Once you have all of the responses in from your survey group,
start to group the responses together into themes. Some of the
themes may reflect strengths you were aware of, but they may also
identify things that you hadn't realized were strengths because
they come so naturally to you.
Tip:
If you're struggling to find common themes, consider using an affinity diagram to help you do this.
Step 3: Write Your Strengths Profile
Next, draw together the key strengths that have emerged from your
analysis, and tie them together in a few paragraphs that summarize
what you're really good at.
When you're writing this, bear in mind that you'll use this in the
future in two ways: first, to guide future actions and choices,
and second to shore up your confidence when times get tough.
Step 4: Identify How You Can Play to Your Strengths
With a clear idea of your strengths, take a long, hard look at
your current role. Are you playing to your strengths? If not, can
you adapt the focus and nature of your work to make more of your
strengths?
For example, are you really a "people person" who's spending half
a day a week compiling reports? Is there someone in your team who
would be better suited to this kind of work, and be grateful for
the extra responsibility, while you spend the extra time coaching team members?
Or maybe you're a Sales and Marketing Manager who has come to the
role from a sales position. You have a great knowledge of your
products and understanding of what your company's customers need,
but you also have a real weakness when it comes to copywriting.
Here, hire a copywriter to turn your enthusiasm into words for
your brochures.
If you do this, not only will your marketing materials read
better, but you'll also free up time to spend with the product
development team, letting them know what customers are telling you
about the product range.
Key Points
The Reflected Best Self™ exercise is a simple, structured process
that helps you identify, and make the most of your strengths. It
is not a replacement for the traditional appraisal approach which
identifies areas for improvement with respect to your job
description. Rather, playing to your strengths is an opportunity
to raise your overall performance levels, by focusing on areas
where you can excel, rather than simply being competent.
In order to have a clear head to consider the outcomes of
Reflected Best Self™ analysis, it's best to carry it out at a
different time of year from your appraisal.
The Reflected Best Self™ Exercise is a
copyrighted instrument of the Regents of the University of
Michigan, USA. This Mind Tools article sets out our
interpretation of the exercise. You can purchase the original Reflected Best
Self™ exercise online here .
