Just finished watching Marcus Buckingham (our fourth session of the day)...I have seen Buckingham before and was extremely impressed by his leadership at such a young age - read more about him here. I have posted the audio mp3 files from that session (which is the same one from the Summit 07') right here - enjoy!
My notes are attached below ... go find your strengths!
Marcus Buckingham
"Build on my strengths and manage around my weaknesses"
BUST THE MYTHS
What stops us from becoming one of the two out of ten? Ourselves. What we believe often gets in our way and because we believe we do nothing to ensure our beliefs are the truth. Think about these myths and truths for a moment:
MYTH: As you grow your personality changes.
TRUTH: As you grow you become more of who you are.
MYTH: You will grow most in the area of your greatest weakness.
TRUTH: You will grow the most in the areas of your greatest strengths.
MYTH: A good team member does whatever it takes to help the team.
TRUTH: A good team member deliberately volunteers his/her strengths to the team most of the time.
Ask yourself:
How would it benefit me to believe the truths?
What would it change in my work or life?
GET CLEAR
Do you find it tough to articulate your strengths? Do you think they are best identified by others based on your results?
Buckingham states strengths can be identified by four "SIGNs":
Success: strengths are activities you are good at AND which fulfill you and sustain you in life.
Instinct: strengths have an I-can't-help-but- quality. You feel a pull toward these activities and look forward to doing them even when they scare you.
Growth: These are areas where you learn the most, come up with the most new ideas, and have the best insights. You feel inquisitive about this field of endeavor or activity, you want to learn more, practice, and refine your skill. When you are engaged in this activity you have focus.
Need: How you feel after you have completed this activity? Chances are you have that all-is-right-with-the-world feeling. Strengths make you feel strong.
It is this feeling that makes strength identification a very personal thing. No one else knows how you feel when doing something. You may do something wonderfully but loathe it. Hint: not a strength.
Here Buckingham introduced a simple yet powerful tool: the Strength Statement. Simple, not easy, it is a precise, specific-to-you statement detailing what makes you feel strong. It is a statement that moves you every time you read it. These Strength Statements are the guideposts for what you need to do more of on the job.
FREE YOUR STRENGTHS
Freeing your strengths entails doing more of what comes naturally to you. At work this sounds easier than it is as most of our work addresses the needs of someone or something other than ourselves. Buckingham suggests asking this question: How can I use my strengths to fulfill my customer's needs, meet or renegotiate the expectations of my boss and/or honor my career aspirations.
The Strong Week Plan is the tool for this job. Again simple but powerful in its awareness building and planning aspects, the Strong Week Plan is used for reviewing the past week, predicting the coming week and identifying two specific actions to free your strengths in the coming seven days. Of course the catch is you. Will you do what you promised yourself?
I have personally learned and grown from Buckingham's leadership and strength sharpening tools - his books are practical and his principles are cross platform - whether you lead at church / business / school or at home! Go - Now find YOUR Sstrengths!
