Would you change your life if you could? Would you change your career? Don't you want to be the best you that you can possibly be? Isn't your ultimate fantasy to have a career you love? A job where others recognize and praise your talents? A position where you are nicely rewarded with a higher salary and enhanced perks?
That fantasy can quickly turn into reality if you are savvy enough to see that a new paradigm is sweeping through the workplace, one where employers are focusing on matching an employee's strengths to the job requirements for a particular position. It used to be that managers encouraged employees to focus on improving weaknesses. Now, the human resource trend is to develop and enhance natural strengths, since an employee, using his or her inherent gifts, is found to perform better on the tasks required by the job.
The number one New York Times bestseller, Break All the Rules, from the Gallup Poll's Marcus Buckham and Curt Coffman study, cited more than 80,000 interviews to test the hypothesis of whether working on strengths betters your career, or if working on overcoming weaknesses will help you advance to a higher level. The study decisively concluded that after examining why top managers excelled, one reason stood out -- successful managers consistently used their strengths.
Skeptical? So was my career counseling client Kelly who had to relocate and give up a job she really loved. She was convinced she'd never ever find a job as good as the one she had just quit so she could be near her fiance. Her five page resume did nothing to promote her strengths and talents.
Once we clearly defined who she was professionally and established her career identity, AKA her personal brand, employers took an interest. That led to her accepting a legal counsel job with a Fortune 100 company. Kelly wrote to say:"Robin, this new position is beyond my hopes and dreams. The personal branding we did was eye-opening for me. My new employer has given me a wonderful advanced opportunity based on totally using my strengths. It's really a fantastic fit ... thanks for all your help in getting me here."
Society has been focused on thinking that attempting to fix weaknesses is what management of employees is all about. New research shows people who are allowed to use their strengths perform their very best each day, and are much more successful and productive on the job. This approach results in a win-win situation -- employers get more engaged and productive workers, while the employee gets a job that is rewarding and fulfilling.
