Keeping your job when others around you are being laid off isn’t easy. A 30-year Gallup survey ("Investing in Strengths”) of more than two million workers revealed that employees who refined their talents stood a better chance of being promoted than employees who turned weaknesses into strengths.
More specifically, rather than boning up on several skills, employees who demonstrate proficiency in one or two areas--areas that also happen to be critical to organizational success--are in the best shape.
Start by thinking of yourself as a business and your employer as an investor, advises Vaughan Evans, economist, business strategist and author of Backing U! A Business-Oriented Guide to Backing Your Passion and Achieving Career Success.
If your boss were to assess your prospects for future success, what would be your defining strengths, the ones worthy of financial backing? These are the ones that ought to be targeted for development, Evans asserts. Most project managers ought to have many high-value strengths worth promoting.
The expert has developed the following six tips for fine-tuning them:
Step 1: Identify top strengths. These are the half dozen qualities and skills for which you've become known--the capabilities for which you receive compliments from co-workers and praise from managers. Be specific, says Evans. "Likeable" or "popular" is not as meaningful as "able to mediate between factions and win supporters."
Step 2: Rank strengths. Put these strengths in order of strongest to weakest by rating them on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is top of your game and 5 is strong, but still developing. Don't worry if you give the same ranking to more than one of your traits and talents. However, try to differentiate between stronger and weaker as much as possible.
Step 3: Rank strengths crucial to the job. What are the five or six strengths most valued and play the largest role in the success of your organization? Don't worry about key capabilities for now. Instead, just take an objective look at your organisation and list the traits or capabilities most valuable to your position. Rank these required strengths in order of greatest importance to the company.
Step 4: Compare the two lists. Look at your strong points and compare them with the traits most necessary to your company. Which top-ranked strengths on your personal list intersect with top-ranked strengths in the company's list of required traits? Use your judgment to pull out the most promising top two.
Step 5: Fine-tune top two strengths. For the moment, forget your weaknesses. Instead, invest energy in becoming a superstar in top two strengths--ones that are also critical to the success of employer. Take classes, read books, go to conferences, do Web research, join associations, ask for testimonials, get a mentor--do whatever is necessary to become an unparalleled leader at your organization in these two skills.
Step 6: Leverage strengths. Evans suggests keeping an accomplishment log to track how improvements made a noticeable difference in your performance. This is valuable information for performance reviews.
All tips are part of a “Stand Out” strategy. “It’s about making what you offer distinctive and different from others,” Bob says.
Happy Success to all of you
From the writers table - Bob Weinstein ( a Management Consultant)
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