As managers, we often have to deal with ourselves to overcome the Superman syndrome of “I can accomplish anything.” After years of management training, organizational development programs, personal development courses and executive coaching, I have been successful in exploring the possibility of allowing people to play to their strengths, hiring in a way that fosters that plan of action and managing individuals’ performance through establishing objectives that not only benefit the organization, but also bring out the best in the individual as well.
This theory I am speaking of is called “Playing to Strengths.” There have been many books, articles, lectures and case studies written on this subject. The new game in the business of HR and talent management goes beyond the norm. Everyone is buzzing about the need to find “those” critical key players in a talent-deprived climate. Frankly, there is much more corporate time, effort and money spent on being on the hunt for the“virtually impossible”to find – the top 1% – than on much more impactful and strategic initiatives. In my opinion, if more companies focused their efforts on establishing organizational development initiatives, like building and developing “high performance teams,” the entire scope and theme of employee development and retention would shift.
Rather than focusing efforts on the “key man hunt,” companies could focus being on the team hunt for a well-rounded group of people who collaboratively bring something much bigger and more impactful to the business.
