Weaknesses : Live with it or Let it Be

Stop Worrying about Your Weaknesses

by Peter Bregman 

Tidaklah begitu mengagung-agungkan pendapat dr org bergelar 'Mat Saleh', namun adakalanya dia berpendapat menggunakan pemikiran dan pengkajiannya. Tapi jika dilihat dr tajuk di atas - adakala benar pendapatnya. Setelah bergelumang dengan dunia pekerjaan selama 10 thn dan mengenal hidup lebih 20 tahun, sy setuju dengan tajuknya. Kita dibelenggu utk terus menjadi yg terbaik - samada dengan menipu, berbohong, berhelah dan terus mengejar impian menjadi yg terbaik - adakalanya kita tersungkur, namun kita kena bangun kembali utk terus meniti perjalanan.

9 tahun yg lalu, Mike Hirst - seseorg dr British Airways dan bekerja di Loughborough Uni pernah menyatakan pendapatnya yg berbunyi  "Sometimes we have to live with our weaknesses".  

The statements in this article that caught my attention are:

We have a report card problem in our companies and it's costing us a tremendous amount of time, money, potential, and happiness. It's costing us talent.

Traditional management systems encourage mediocrity in everything and excellence in nothing. Most performance review systems set an ideal picture of how we want everyone to act (standards, competencies, etc.) and then assesses how closely people match that ideal, nudging them to improve their weaknesses so they "meet or exceed expectations" in every area.

But how will John add the most value to his organization? He's amazing with people, not spreadsheets. He'll work hardest, derive the most pleasure, and contribute his maximum potential with the greatest result if he is able to focus as much time as possible in his area of strength.

Which means taking his focus off developing the things in which he's weak. They're just a distraction.

Here's what his manager should say: "You've worked hard this year John. Your client orientation is superb. You've met your sales goals and you're a solid team player. But working on those spreadsheets isn't a good use of your time and it's not your strength. I'm going to ask David to do those for you from now on. He loves spreadsheets and is great at them. I want to spend the rest of our time talking about how you can get even better at working with your clients. That's where you shine — where you add the most value to the company — and you seem to really enjoy it."

An organization should be a platform for unique talent. A performance review system should be flexible enough to reflect and reward the successful contributions of diverse employees. Let'sencourage people to be weak in areas in which they are average — because no one can possibly be great at everything — and place all our effort on developing their strengths further.

If it's impossible to take away the part of their job in which they're weak, then help them improve just enough so that it doesn't get in the way of their strength. If you can't take the spreadsheets away from John, help him get a C and move on. That would be preferable to spending the time and effort it would take to get an A or even a B.

Want to read more, feel free to visit http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2009/05/.