Doing what you love...

Knowing the strengths of your team members is invaluable to you as a manager, but that knowledge isn’t something you can obtain simply by observing your colleagues or going through standard evaluations. No, since a person’s strengths are those activities that make him or her feel strong, the only way to know what people’s strengths are is to ask them.

But how can you trust that anyone truly knows what his or her own strengths are? Fortunately, there’s a simple routine that will give your people insight into the activities that strengthen them. Since we just celebrated Valentine’s Day, why not make this a week to focus on what everybody loves?

The technique couldn’t be simpler. Just ask your team members to follow these steps (and do it yourself, too):

First, try to make sure you have a notepad (a plain paper notepad, or a note-taking app on your phone/laptop will do) with you at all times during the week.

Make an extra effort this week to be aware and conscious of those times when you really get into what you’re doing. Stay alert for that “wow, that was awesome!” feeling you have when you’ve finished working on something you love.

Try to jot down those “Loved it” activities as soon as you’re aware of them. If you try to remember them at the end of the day or at the end of the week, you may struggle to recall things.

Remember: this is not about the outcome of the activity or about other people’s reactions to what you did. Getting praised always feels good, but you’re looking for what you loved doing before anybody else even saw the results.

Once you have your list of what you loved, look at each “Loved it” entry and ask yourself: what was it, exactly, that made me love doing that? Do I always love doing that? If not, what was it specifically about this time that made me love it?

For those activities you loved, ask yourself: how can I do more of these in my job? How can I offer these up to the team more often?

That’s it! Once you have your team members go through this exercise, make sure you address it in your next one-on-ones. Be prepared to coach and help them get to the heart of what strengthens them. Their results will provide great food for thought and may give you some insight into how you can use their strengths even more effectively on the team.

by Darren Hammond

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