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The Leader's Edge-How To Identify, Build And Manage Personal Strengths Strength Building-Personal Productivity
Do you sometimes feel that perhaps the potential of your team is far beyond what they are currently demonstrating? Do you sometimes feel that your team members are gnawing away with an ax, while at others they seem to be working with a chainsaw? Surely, personal productivity is subject to a degree of inconsistency. But what if you could get your team members to work at their best for the majority of the time instead of only a part of the time? To answer this question, here is a simple solution based on the following four principles.
The first principle is that everyone has a different set of strengths and a set of weaknesses as part of their nature. While you may be able to improve on the weak points they will only become mediocre at best, and you will waste energy which could be used to cultivate strengths. It is far more important you have team members who are specialized than to have team members who are well rounded. Look at the areas that certain people are failing in and the areas where they are succeeding, and see if you can get people to work only in the areas where they are strong. This will eliminate a great deal of frustration and will empower people to excel at what they do best.
Once this is done, look for the things which are getting results and eliminate the things which are not. There may be systems and procedures which you currently have in place that are not getting results but which are kept in place because of denial. Far better to get rid of the things which are merely ?busy work? and leave room for the things which are really getting what matters: results. When it comes to that, the things which need to be eliminated may be getting some results but there may be far too much energy being expended which could be used to drive more effective tasks.
Third, have your team members contribute ideas for what kinds of incentives they would prefer to work for. While it may be fun to come up with creative ways to reward employees, you want to make sure that the rewards mean something to them. This means that the free company thermo mugs may have to go, but it will also ensure that people are actually working for something which has value to them. It will also communicate that you respect their input enough to ask for it and to act upon it.
Finally, make it a point to supervise results instead of the way that people go about getting them and allow them to develop their own methods. True, it is important to build your company brand but there are also times when uniform procedures can hinder people?s ability to get the job done. You may have heard it said that sometimes management is the very thing which makes it hard for people to get their job done. However, when you choose to hold people responsible for results you can be assured that they will develop methods which will get those results. Through consistent application of these principles you can be assured that the personal productivity of your team will improve dramatically.
About the Author StrengthsMapper is a powerful add-in for Mindjet's MindManager mind mapping software program. StrengthsMapper allows users to create mind maps of personal strengths and team strengths. Create personal strengths posters to share and communicate your best strengths. Managers can ignite team building and analyze team dynamics. Increase effectiveness and productivity of teams. Visit www.strengthsmapper.com
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