Some very sound advice by Marcus Buckingham in his book First Break All the Rules states that good managers should first understand the strengths, knowledge, and talents of their employees. Then, rather than concentrating on adding to an employee that which has been left out, focus on getting out what was left in.
In other words, work with what they (you) have. This is also good advice for yourself. Evaluate your strengths and continue to work with them. An analogy would be the parent who spends more time on their child's strength than on their weakness.
Imagine if you could more fully understand your stengths and spend time working on them. You cannot get better only by improving what you are bad at. Instead you need to develop what you are good at.
Showing posts with label First Break All the Rules. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First Break All the Rules. Show all posts
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Friday, April 10, 2009
Core Competencies
Both individuals and organizations have core competencies that lead to competitive advantages. It is often tempting to venture beyond those qualities when we have not built upon and strengthen the core.
In the book The Game Changer, author A.G. Lafley states that it is not sufficient to just identify a business's core strengths but rather they must be worked at and enhanced constantly. With this practice, those strengths become competitive advantages.
In his excellent book, Good to Great, author Jim Collins tells us that in building a business we must protect our core and stimulate progress. Growth is great but we must be very careful not to abandon our core strength and our core competency.
The same rule applies to individuals. Once we understand our own personal strength, we need to constantly nurture and work on it so that we have our own personal competitive strategy. For some that strength might be intellect, for others it might be the willingness to work hard. Still for others, it might be compassion and understanding.
In both cases, companies and individuals, it is critical to understand and constantly work at our core competency and then look for and stimulate progress. If you are seeking to understand your own strengths, I recommend the series of works by Marcus Buckingham titled "First Break All the Rules" and "Now Discover Your Strengths." In this series, the authors help the readers to get a grasp on their own strengths so that they can take advantave of them and use them for progress.
Core competencies exist for everyone. The challenge is to work on them.
In the book The Game Changer, author A.G. Lafley states that it is not sufficient to just identify a business's core strengths but rather they must be worked at and enhanced constantly. With this practice, those strengths become competitive advantages.
In his excellent book, Good to Great, author Jim Collins tells us that in building a business we must protect our core and stimulate progress. Growth is great but we must be very careful not to abandon our core strength and our core competency.
The same rule applies to individuals. Once we understand our own personal strength, we need to constantly nurture and work on it so that we have our own personal competitive strategy. For some that strength might be intellect, for others it might be the willingness to work hard. Still for others, it might be compassion and understanding.
In both cases, companies and individuals, it is critical to understand and constantly work at our core competency and then look for and stimulate progress. If you are seeking to understand your own strengths, I recommend the series of works by Marcus Buckingham titled "First Break All the Rules" and "Now Discover Your Strengths." In this series, the authors help the readers to get a grasp on their own strengths so that they can take advantave of them and use them for progress.
Core competencies exist for everyone. The challenge is to work on them.
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