We want our kids to be successful at everything they do. And if they’re not good at something, we ask why they failed. We tell them to work harder at it. Understand what went wrong, focus, and fix it.
Johnny comes home one day, looks down at his feet, and gives you his report card. Soon your smile disappears when you see the F in mathematics. You also see an A in English and two Bs (history and science). ”What happened in maths, Johnny? Why did you get this F?”
That’s our first mistake. We, just then, lose focus on the primary objective. If you dwell on Johnny’s failure, on his weakness, you’ll be setting him up for a life of struggle and low self-esteem while reducing his chances of reaching his full potential. But this, you won’t fix his weakness. You’ll just reinforce it!
A report card, measures all students against the same criteria, which ignores that each student is different with unique talents, distinct likes and dislikes, and particular aspirations. And when we see the F on little Johnny’s report card, it’s easy for us to get distracted from our primary job: to help him deeply enjoy his life and fulfill his potential by developing and deriving pleasure from his unique talents.
Fast forward 20 years. Little Johnny is now big John. As he sits down for a performance review with his manager, she spends a few quiet minutes looking over his review and then raises her eyes to meet his.
“You’ve worked hard this year John. Your client orientation is superb. You’ve met your goals with several appreciations from clients and you’re a solid team player. But you have an area that needs development, specifically, your detail orientation. The spreadsheets we get from you are a mess. And also, let’s talk about how you can get better in programing and codes.”
An A, two Bs and an F. We have a report card problem in our companies too and it’s costing us a tremendous amount of time, money, potential, and happiness. It’s costing us talent. No matter what; we do discuss about something to improve in ‘peroformace appraisals’ talk, no matter which organziation and industry irrespective. Must read Appreciative Inquiry, a strategy that focuses on strengths and benefits; analyze patterns of success, so that we can repeat them.
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 goals with several appreciations from clients 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 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’s encourage 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.
Next time little Johnny hands you his report card with an F in math and an A in English, keep smiling and resist the temptation to ask about the F. Instead, ask about the A first. “What happened in English?” you should say to Johnny, “Why did you get this A?” Then let him tell you about how and why he succeeds. What is it about the work that excites him? What about the teacher? How did he study?
Then, if you want him to get a little better in math, you can help him recreate the conditions that led to his success in English. And when you’re done with the report card conversation, it might still be a good idea to get him a math tutor. Because school is about exposure to everything while business is about success in something.
Sachin Tendulkar is one great example. Had he been working on improving his mathematics score in school, the world would have never got a great cricketer. He inquired and appreciated what he was good at, rather than what he is not!
Whats your take on this?
Truly agree with what the manager could do instead of trying to develop the employee on his weakness. A weakness is in the eye of the beholder. The availability of diversity in team settings precludes the necessity for every employee to be all-round champions. How can everyone be good at everything? If someone is unable to develop an ability for whatever reasons, give it to someone else who can do it and focus on their strengths!
One of my favorite posts. Keep coming back to it over and over again. It’s a very intriguing way to make organizations think beyond the “conventional” way of operating and look at Organization Behavior. If large enterprises have issues with implementing such a change, then Project Managers can look into the possibility of coordinating with the HR Managers and implementing such a change. Everyone benefits: the individual, the Managers, the Company! It’s a perfect win-win-win situation! Unfortunately, most companies are happy conducting motivational speeches when the motivation is for all the misfit responsibilities.
Hi Sonia
100 thanks for your kind words. And I am glad, its reaching the right people.
I don’t have much to say about whether are corporates and organizations following it. Though, i ll consider this job done, if you follow the practice once you are there..