Identifying Your Training Weaknesses

I'm a book geek. One of the few things I like better than a bookstore is a used bookstore.
Petaluma, California has a very good one called Copperfields, where Angie and I spent a couple hours yesterday.

I bought a mint copy of "101 Stupid Things Trainers Do to Sabotage Success" there and leafed through it last night.
The book serves as an excellent reminder of how many things can go wrong in a training situation.

My pet peeve is #64 - Foolish Icebreakers. I hate icebreakers. If a class is properly designed, the introduction of attendees should happen organically. If you want me to do a formal introduction, fine... but don't ask me to pick which animal is most like me. Just ask me to introduce myself. Better yet, give us a topic-relevant exercise that requires us to meet each other.

Two that I could be better at would be #41 - using inappropriate humor - occasionally my filter doesn't work quickly enough, and #86 - flopping flip charts. I'm a frequent user of flip charts, but this book reminded me that once you flip the page, people can't see what you wrote. The book suggests hanging the important sheets (and they're all important, or you wouldn't be writing them, right?) so the group can refer back to them.
Great suggestion, and a good book.

What are your biggest training weaknesses?

Are You Leveraging Your Strengths?

Last week, I received Strengths Guru Marcus Buckingham's latest DVD "Go Put Your Strengths to Work". It captures an excellent live presentation and it's reasonably priced.

As attendees of my management workshops will attest, I'm a big Marcus fan.
If you don't know him, Marcus Buckingham is a former Gallup Organization researcher and current best selling management author. He also has the delivery of a stand-up comic, so he's fun to watch.

Earlier this year, I was showing a Buckingham video in India. I'd seen it a dozen times, so I pulled out my index cards and decided to practice sketching while the attendees watched. The result is above.

I'm not particularly good at drawing, but the act energizes me. That feeling fulfills one of Buckingham's basic definitions of a strength - a strength is something that strengthens you.

Not everyone agrees with his core belief that "you will grow the most in your areas of greatest strength". According to surveys, in fact, most people disagree with that statement.
His latest book, "Go Put Your Strengths to Work" addresses this.

I believe his thesis.
I (and my teams) have been most successful when I focused on bringing my strengths to the team - not on correcting my weaknesses.

When I've been in positions that don't call on my strengths, I did okay work. But I struggled, feeling drained at each day - not able to summon the energy to do outstanding work.
In my current role, which calls on all my strengths, I have endless energy.

I stumbled on this formula before I discovered Marcus, but his books helped me put it into words. They also helped me realize that I wasn't a slacker for not wanting to grunt and sweat my way through my weaknesses.
On my current team, as much as possible, we trade each others strengths for weaknesses, so that there are few times when we feel drained.

I'm lucky to be on such a team, but I'm only lucky because we know our strengths and communicate them...

If you're not so lucky, go to iTunes and search for Marcus Buckingham's "Take Control of Your Career and Your Life". This podcast shares his process to identify your strengths and bring them into your worklife.

As for me? I'll keep finding ways to draw at work!