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Assessment Results|10 Steps to Attaining
Balance in Your Life|
- Babe Ruth's Motivation
- The Reality of Being Laid Off (A Real Life
Example)
- Are You In A Transition?
Did you know that Babe Ruth was once a pitcher?
At one point he made the deliberate decision to stop pitching
so he could focus on batting. He took a lot of heat for his
decision because he was a GOOD pitcher. He stuck with his
decision though because he knew he had the motivation to be
a GREAT batter.
Often the difference between being good and being great is
making adjustments that allow you to spend more of your time
developing your greatest strengths.
Ever had an annual performance review where the first part
was about the wonderful things you did that year, but then
the focus quickly shifted to a discussion about shoring up
your weaknesses? It's an all-too-common scenario. And it's
probably a waste of time. The "fix your weaknesses"
school believes that with enough discipline, determination
and training, anyone can do anything.
Unfortunately, it confuses weaknesses and limitations. Weaknesses
reflect a lack of skill (how to do something) or knowledge
(what you know). Weaknesses can be overcome by education,
training, experience and practice. On the other hand, limitations
reflect a lack of motivation (what you do well naturally).
These really can't be overcome, because new motivations can't
be acquired. In fact, if a person has low motivation in a
particular area, spelling for example, there is very little
likelihood that he or she will ever be a great speller. The
best they will be is adequate. Who wants to be adequate? It's
a much better idea to build on your strengths.
If you want to move up from being good to being great, know
what your talents and motivations are, and build on them.
Why? Because you will develop what you do best and enjoy most.
These are your strengths, and they are yours for life. You
can build on them, and they won't let you down. Think about
it: what would your life be like if you got paid to do what
you do best and truly enjoy? Awesome, isn't it?
The layoff wasn’t really a surprise, but it
was still a shock to Kristine. She had survived two other
rounds of cutbacks, but she knew her department was next.
Still, that didn’t make it any easier.
After a couple of days she began to see that there was an
upside. She was now free to pursue something else, something
more suited to her natural bent. She had been with her old
company for years, and had advanced from one job to the next.
But as she looked back on it all, she saw that she was just
following the company’s paths, with little regard for her
own personal development. It was about the money, not the
joy. This time things would be different.
A friend had told her about MAPP. As she read through her
report, a warm, confident feeling swept over her. There were
no great surprises, just confirmation of what she had often
thought about herself, but it was nice to have it all written
down in one place. It was affirming to have a third party
reflect back an accurate image of what she did best, and it
gave her the confidence to find a company that needed that.
And that’s what she did.
She took a lower salary to get the job she wanted, the job
that was a great match for her MAPP profile. It turned out
to be a wise move, because she was now working in her areas
of strength, she loved her job, and was highly productive.
Her stellar performance won her new assignments and promotions,
and before long she was earning far more than at her former
company.
Are You In A Transition?
Are you ready to create your own transition?
Let us help. MAPP can provide you with valuable information
about what you enjoy and do best. It provides insight into
the types of environments that will best motivate you. Give
yourself an advantage. Follow your MAPP.
Do you long for meaningful work?
Are you bored?
Are you feeling drained?
Are you restless and don’t know why?
Do you feel like you are just putting in your time at work?
The solution is Alignment, and there are three steps:
1. Discover what you are designed to do.
2. Do it.
3. Minimize everything else.
The idea is to align your work with your natural motivations
and talents. Imagine what it would be like to do what you
enjoy and are good at, in a compelling environment, working
with interesting subject matter, and relating to others in
a comfortable way. Can you picture what life would be like?
Do you get a sense of how productive and energized you would
be?
Too good to be true? No. But it does not happen overnight.
Let’s take a look at the steps involved.
1. Discover what you are designed to do.
This is what MAPP helps you do. It pinpoints your motivations
and their corresponding talents. This is good news, because
most people can not articulate what it is they are designed
to do.
2. Do it.
It’s all about Alignment. Align your work with your MAPP.
Begin to make adjustments that will allow you to do what you are
designed to do. Some changes will be incremental, and some
may be radical. The idea is to spend more of your time using
your strengths. That is where your performance and satisfaction
both peak.
The natural place to begin is with your job. Once you are
familiar with your MAPP ask yourself:
What have you learned about why you do, or don’t do, certain
things at work?
Which of your responsibilities draw upon your most motivated
talents?
Which of your highest motivations are rarely used?
Which of your responsibilities call upon your lesser talents?
What can you do about this?
How does your job fit your preferred way of relating to others?
Are the circumstances that motivate you present?
Given your unique design, is there a position in your company
that is a better fit than your current one? If so, what do
you need to do to prepare for it?
If you are feeling drained or burned out, which areas are
out of alignment?
If you feel you are in the wrong company or profession, what
can you do about it?
Once you have resolved the questions above, it is time to
share your motivations and talents with your boss. Include
some examples or stories to illustrate them.
This is one of the most critical career moves you can make.
That’s because if you and your boss talk regularly about your
MAPP, you greatly increase the likelihood that:
He or she will have realistic expectations of you. You will
get assignments that play to your strengths. Together you
will decide how to handle tasks that call on your minor talents.
Identify areas where training/experience/mentoring will be
most helpful. You will be able to spot opportunities and positions
that are a good fit for you.
3. Minimize everything else
You are designed to do something, but not everything. A fork
is designed to help us eat, and we do not expect it to be
any good at driving nails. The same is true for you. You are
designed to do something, but not everything. Let yourself
off the hook a little. Do not spend too much time working
on areas of low talent.
What if you must work in areas of low talent? You have some
options. First, you can admit that you will never win the
Nobel Prize in that area. Have honest expectations of your
performance. Two, see if you can create some type of system
to help you. For instance, a man with low talent for time
management found that using a Palm Pilot was very helpful.
Third, partner with someone who has high talent in that area.
This does not mean that anything that falls outside of your
MAPP can be shirked. We all have to do things we do not enjoy
from time to time. We have responsibilities and duties that
must be honored.
What it does mean is that we need to have realistic expectations
of
ourselves. The idea that everyone can be a well-rounded person,
a
Renaissance man or woman, is a myth. There are a few exceptionally
gifted people in this world. The wise person knows he or she
has limitations.
Know yourself and then let your boss know you. It’s a win/win
situation. If you have your Personal MAPP, now is the time
to start looking at it as a lifelong tool. If you still don’t
have yours, a professionally bound
copy is waiting for you! Logon today at Mapp
Assessment.
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