It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
Greetings to you!
Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.
Russ...
LEADERSHIP QUOTE:
"Cultivate a deep understanding of yourself - not only what your strengths and weaknesses are but also how you learn, how you work with others, what your values are, and where you can make the greatest contribution. Because only when you operate from strengths can you achieve true excellence." Peter Drucker
What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.
A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:
Last week, I referenced a Peter Drucker book, The Five Most Important Questions that we used at our Leader Mundial Cohort here in Orange County.
As I revisited this book, and came across this quote of his above from something else he had done, and I've been thinking about it this week.
This month, I want to do a deep dive into the conversation around our "STRENGTHS". I'm not sure where this will take us, but I want to explore this with you a little bit over the coming weeks.
There are some great books and teaching on STRENGTHS, and I want to look at a couple of different approaches over the next few weeks.
The first comes from Marcus Buckingham. He's done some great writing and teaching on strengths so let me give you a simple overview from him.
Buckinghams definition of a strength: "a strength is an activity that makes you feel strong". He goes on to say "not something you're merely good at, and not something other people praise you for - but an activity that, when you do it, energizes you, draws you in, and leaves you feeling more alive afterward than before."
He points for four practical signals using the acronym SIGN:
SUCCESS - you do it well or at least pick it up quickly
INSTINCT - you find yourself drawn to it, looking forward to it
GROWTH - you're naturally curious and absorb information quickly
NEEDS - you feel fulfilled and replenished after doing it, not depleted.
Buckingham goes on to say that "strengths are not the same as talents".
An example of this in my life might be:
When I "gather people together", it energizes me, draws me in and leaves me feeling more alive. This is a strength that I am able to grow and develop over time. The strength might be "Activating or Maximizing Relationships".
I think when Buckingham says that a strength needs to "energize you" that's an interesting description.
What strengths do you personally feel you have that fit this description?
DEEPER STILL:
When Buckingham was asked how best to develop your strengths he shared these three things:
#1) Identify Your Strengths With Precision. Define them, be specific
#2) Reshape Your Week To Use Your Strengths More. Spend more time in areas of strength.
#3) Practice Your Strengths to Sharpen Them. Don't just rely on natural ability, work at it.
Great suggestions!
I remember years ago when I was leading an organization, I realized that I had drifted away from some of the things I really enjoyed doing, like teaching or training. I felt that this was an area I wanted to continue to grow in and use, and I wasn't able to do much of it because of my responsibilities with my job.
I shifted some things around, and began to identify opportunities to speak, to train, to work on new topics, and it really challenged me and energized me. It wasn't anything major, but by just making that small shift and finding areas to "practice" helped me tune into a strength that I always want to develop more.
Buckingham shares that many people are only working in their strengths about 20% of their time. What would it be like if you could grow that? Imagine spending 50% of your time or 70% of your time using your strengths, things that make you feel alive!
Think about your current role. Are you using your strengths regularly? What percentage of your work is connected to your strengths?
Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:
Marcus Buckingham & Don Clifton wrote a great book in 1996, Now, Discover Your Strengths. A classic on strength studies. Buckingham follows this up with a book called Go Put Your Strengths To Work, which is a practical look at how to use your strengths.
This is a great tool from Marcus Buckingham that is difficult to find. It's a short video series called Trombone Player Wanted and it's a fun and practical look at your strengths, if you can find it!
Did you know that The Pocket Testament League started distributing the Gospels of John in 1893 and have been doing it every since? What a story, what an impact! Check them out.
Great music from Charley Crockett on Apple with his Essentials Album