Putting People in the Right Spots

One part of my job that gives me tremendous personal satisfaction is making sure people are working in the right spot. Not only is this personally satisfying, I feel strongly that doing this is ultimately the best for the organization.

Over the years I’ve tried several things to help me do this and I’ve settled on two tools that are invaluable to me as I try to maximize my employee’s efforts and get them in the right spot. Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with simply asking the employee some questions and observing where they seem to gather energy and what tasks or projects seem to drain them. But, from my experience these two tools are the best way to help them settle into the right spot and their best zone:

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I’ve used several temperament tools, but I find this one to be most effective in helping me with my people. Basically the instrument is segmented into four preference categories and it gives you an opportunity to completely understand an individual from those preferences. By doing this you’ll not only better understand the individual, you’ll be able to help them in the context of the team structure.

StrengthFinders. Once I read Marcus Buckingham’s book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, I realized I had a different tool to help me. With StrengthFinders you can easily determine people’s five highest ranked strengths and again, not only understand them better, but also put them into situations that fuel their strengths and their personal satisfation. Consequently, they are more productive, happier and feel a sense of accomplishment.

It’s vital to put people in their most effective working zones and if you’re not using these two tools, I highly recommend that you give them a try and see the positive results for your employees, your team, your organization and yourself.

Comments

[Jim Seybert]

Good stuff. StrengthFinder is an amazing tool. I've led 100's of people through advanced coaching with it and continue to be impressed by how quickly even the most difficult staff people can open up to an assessment that describes them so well.

It makes sense because it's the only such management tool that focuses on an employee's strengths (thus the name, huh) rather than temperament or weakness.

I always suggest that people use the "big book" rather than the newly released 2.0 version, because there's more explanation and background in the original version.

[Wayne Hastings]

Totally agree about the "big book" it has better information.

I'm glad you are using the tool. It quickly gives the leader some solid information on which to build their team and how to shore up obvious open areas (like one team I consulted with who had no achievers, activators or responsibility - nothing got done).