Picture
Phrases like “You can be anything you want to be,” or “You can accomplish anything you set your mind to,” get thrown around a lot. I heard them a lot myself growing up from friends, family, and teachers. Now, don’t get me wrong, their intentions were good. I’m all for empowering people and encouraging them to pursue their strengths, but we all have our limitations. Just because a young man practices basketball fundamentals day in and day out for hours and hours, doesn’t mean he will become the next Michael Jordan or Kevin Durant. There has to be a natural set of talents and strengths in place to help someone reach that kind of potential. And it’s no different in the workplace. Employees and managers must focus on the unique strengths and the specific value-adding contributions each can bring to the team.

The problem is too many times we focus entirely too much on improving upon our weaknesses. I was in the corporate sector for nearly a dozen years in management, and every time we gave performance reviews, weaknesses dominated the conversation. Did you know that, as a manager, when you focus on your employees’ strengths, the chance for them to be actively disengaged in the workplace is only about one percent? Consider the potential that one shift in the way you lead your people could improve and impact the bottom-line.

I was recently watching a video, which featured Jay Niblick, author of the book “What’s Your Genius?” In that video, Jay said something that to this day I consider quite profound. He said, “For me to focus on my weaknesses is like me saying God didn’t know what He was doing when He created me. And frankly, I’m not that egotistical.” Well said, Jay. Well said!

 
Picture
Jim Whitt and I had a great turnout at our “Power of Purpose: How to Transform Lives, Leaders, and Organizations” workshop recently. One of the points that regularly came up in our discussions on employee engagement and overall performance of the organization, was the idea of having the right people in an organization being instrumental to success. You’ve heard it before – it’s practically cliché. It’s the idea of having “the right people on the bus.”

Seeking profit should never be the sole-purpose for the existence of a business. I realize that one of the goals of a small business is to make money – there’s no doubt about that! Yet, for one reason or another, many companies neglect the importance of hiring the right people – a costly mistake!

I recently read in an online article that small-business owners should have “the right people on the bus,” prior to establishing strategic direction for the company. For the sake of playing “The Devil’s Advocate,” I’m going to question this statement: How can a company hire the right people and begin to make strategic changes in the organization without first knowing why the organization is in business in the first place.
In other words, what is the organization’s purpose?

Jim Collins said, “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” I agree with his statement; however, I’m going to take it one step further and say that even a business driven by purpose without employees committed to that purpose is futile! Having the right people means having employees who are “buying-in” to the purpose of your business. In many instances they will share the same values as you.

The right people understand the difference between working for wages, having a job or a career, and the opportunity to help an organization fulfill its purpose! A great question to ask yourself is this: Knowing what you know now about your employees, which ones would you rehire all over again? If you can’t say yes to the rehire question, then more than likely they are not a good fit for your company.

It’s true. The right people are critical to the success of a company, but without an organizational purpose, it’s really hard to be effective in the employee selection and hiring process.