How to put the ST in SuperSTar
Empowering your team with the Skill and Behavior Assessment Chart
I have been waiting for this day for a long, looong time.
The day I am forced to humble myself and acknowledge to the world what I’m bad at.
And trust me, there’s a long, looong list of these things because, being my obsessively thorough (or “German,” as I often call it) self, I’ve been gathering this list since last August when this blog became a thing.
But here’s a fabulous curveball. I have been tasked with writing about what I’m good at.
Unfortunately, this is actually my biggest fear. What could I ever have done to deserve this torture? The last thing I want after reading dozens of my blogging predecessors’ inspiring confessionals in this is series…is to be like:
Self-promotion has always made me uncomfortable. This roots back to my über-German upbringing, where my mom would sing me lullabies to this tune:
Sei wie das Veilchen im Moose,
bescheiden, sittsam und rein
nicht wie die stolze Rose
die immer bewundert will sein
TRANSLATION:
Be like the Violets in Moose
Modest, virtuous, and pure
Not like the proud Rose
that always wants to be admired
So, please, PLEASE don’t make me talk about what I’m good at.
Obviously, I’ve been toiling over this, so people that I’ve forced to listen to my tirade have responded in turn:
Then, I asked one of my favorite people at Social Tables for inspiration.
Kelly said“I know! You’re good at figuring out what other people are good at.”
That I know their strengths, weaknesses, and passions better than they know them themselves. That I’m able to help funnel these into motivation and help inspire others on our team to achieve great things.
Wow, that was nice, Kelly.
So, I thought, why not take a shot at codifying this for others? I mean, worst case scenario, everyone got a decent laugh at that video and then stopped reading anyways. Right?!
So here it goes.
I’m going to start with one of our favorite little charts at Social Tables — the Skill and Behavior Self Assessment of our infamous Career Management Scorecard:
This is where I begin with my team, and this is where I draw my inspiration. With coaching and coaxing, each person’s box fills up with surprisingly different results. Words like leadership, creativity, public speaking, patience, and strategy end up scattered across opposite ends of the board for all 10 members of our team.
To some, this is an uphill battle of weaknesses that need to be addressed.
To me, it’s a puzzle of strengths that can fit together to build a stronger whole.
Next, I look to 3 people for inspiration on addressing these results.
These people are my Mother, Ann Friedman, and William Henry IV.
My Mother. My mother is an “ideas wo-man.” No matter what comes your way, she has a creative, glass-half-full, reach-for-the-stars solution for you.
“You hate math and love cooking? Become a Michelin Star Chef!”
“You want to play World of Warcraft all day? Become a Video Game Designer!”
“You love dancing like a weirdo in public? Become a mascot!”
OK, the last one is a little too real, but you catch my drift.
I attribute 100% of my positivity and creativity to my mother and use this technique specifically for the “Like” box of the Skill and Behavior Self Assessment Chart.
What Managers can do:
- Pinpoint your team’s “Likes” | whether they are strengths or weaknesses
- Channel Likes into rotational projects | à la The Alliance Framework
- Empower them to collaborate with others who are strong in the subject | the best products are developed collaboratively, so strategically align all participants’ “puzzle pieces”
- Provide them with outlets for leadership on the topic | presentations, team emails, high level meetings, and more
- Tell the world.
Ann Friedman. I have another favorite Tabler, Angelina Nepa, to thank for sharing the teachings and commentary of Ann Friedman with me.
With a Customer Advocacy team that is 75% female, I strive to be a conscientious advocate (no pun intended) of our collective success by applying The Shine Theory.
My personal interpretation of The Shine Theory: one should approach, befriend, build up, and glorify smart and powerful people (not just women) to make them shine. Because when they shine, we all shine.
A perfect example of this is “my better half” Dana Hagar. She is an amazing advocate — first to recognize accomplishments, first to sing praise from the mountaintops. And we all know this couldn’t be a proper blog post without a little bit of this action:
I learn from Friedman and Dana and apply the following elements to the “Strengths” box of the Skill and Behavior Self Assessment Chart.
What Managers should remember:
- The associative property of awesomeness | Fueling someone’s strengths with opportunities to shine makes the entire team look awesome. One team member’s success is never competitive — it’s a win for all
- The fact that true confidence is infectious | Building up someone’s strengths has a ripple effect
Friedman summed up her article beautifully.
“If Kelly Rowland can come around to the idea that she shines more (not less) because of her proximity to Beyoncé, there’s hope for the rest of us.”
William Henry IV. Ok, guys, here’s my suck up moment. Like most managers, I’ve learned that one of the best ways to fine-tune one’s management style is to copy-paste great techniques. Well, I definitely stole this one from Will.
I still mark the day that Will began managing me as the day I began to shine. He said “This quarter is going to be the Sophie Show.” And indeed it was, because he made it his prerogative to highlight my accomplishments and most importantly… develop my weaknesses.
My weaknesses were as follows 1) lack of confidence 2) self-deprecation 3) modesty 4) never saying no and 5) being too polite to publicly question policies or ask for anything (told you I had a list!).
Although I’m still refining some of these (#DDO), I have learned from my own progress how to apply the following elements to the “Weaknesses” box.
What Managers should consider:
- Telling it like it is | Sometimes just saying “You’re too polite” or “Can you please just be bossier?” is all it takes for self awareness.
- Empowering their team to codify and teach strategies on their own weaknesses | Being tasked a presentation on “When to say no,” for example, forces you to reflect, hold yourself accountable, and “walk the walk.”
- Showering them with *genuine* compliments | At team meetings, via email, with Cheers, to upper management, to their parents, on twitter, on slack, on blimps, etc.
So, that’s it folks. With my 5 seconds of managing an amazing team of 10 people, my best advice is for you to find your own 3 people that inspire you, use the Skill and Behavior Self Assessment Chart to empower your team, and begin puzzling together your own team’s strengths so they too can come together and achieve great things.
