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"The bottom line is, those who learn, grow and change continuously across their careers are the most successful. Whatever skills you have now are unlikely to be enough in the future. Acquiring new skills is the best insurance you can get for an uncertain future. Some of us won’t face our limitations; we make excuses, blame it on the boss or the job or the organization. Others are defensive and fight any corrective feedback. Some are just reluctant to do anything about our problems. Some of us want a quick fix; we don’t have time for development. Some of us simply don’t know what to do" (Lombardo & Eichinger, 1998, p. 302).
For many of us, being unskilled in developing ourselves means a few of the following (many more are listed in the FYI book):
1.Not putting in the effort to grow and change
2. Not doing anything to act on helpful/ constructive feedback
3. Knowing what to do, but not acting on it
4.Is arrogant or defensive
5. Refusing to acknowledge shortcomings
Some remedies include (again, these are verbatim from FYI 2nd ed.):
1.Assessment
2. Divide your skills into these categories:
Clear strengths
Overdone strengths
Hidden strengths
Blind spots
Weaknesses
Untested areas
Don’t knows
Balance your overdone strengths in important areas. If you’re creative, telling yourself to do less of this won’t work - it’s the primary reason for your success to date. The key is to leave it alone and focus on the unintended consequences. (You’re seen as lacking in detail orientation or disorganized.) Get the downside of your strength up to neutral; the goal is not to be good at it, but rather to see that it doesn’t hurt you.
You can also compensate for your weaknesses rather than build the skill. We are all poor at something and beating on it is counterproductive. If you have failed repeatedly at sales, detail work or public speaking, find others who do this well, change jobs, or restructure your current job. Sometimes you can find indirect ways to compensate. Lincoln managed his temper by writing nasty letters, extracting the key points from the letters, tearing the letters up, then dealing with the key points contained in the letter when he regained composure.
Blind spots. Be very careful of blind spots, since you think you’re much better at this than do others. Resist trying challenging tasks involving this skill until you clearly understand your behavior, have a target model of excellent behavior, and a plan so you don’t get yourself into trouble. Collect more data. Ask someone you trust to monitor you and give you feedback each time. Study three people who are good at this and compare what you do with what they do. Don’t rest until you have cleared up the blind spot.
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Category(s):Workplace Issues
Source material from Workplace Psychology
