Strengths vs. Weaknesses

When it comes to managing one's strengths and weaknesses, there are different schools of thought. Some people are of the opinion that weaknesses are areas of improvement and it pays to work on them. The contrary point of view is that we should focus on improving and taking advantage of strengths rather than trying to reduce weaknesses.

Focusing on strengths and working at a job where you can utilize your talents and skills makes sense on different levels. You can be much more productive and have a greater chance of obtaining successful results. Success at your job can provide greater satisfaction in both tangible and intangible ways. Strengths usually have a snowball effect, i.e., the better you are at something, the more you are likely to learn and improve upon them.

Of course, you don't have to be dependent on your job to receive satisfaction. Many skills can be used at hobbies, which provide an outlet for greater creativity and fun. Many personal qualities can be channeled into productive activities within your community, helping people in the best way you know.

But let us look at the limitations with only focusing on improving strengths:

1. The snowball effect does not continue forever. At some point, you hit a point of diminishing returns from improving your strengths. This is usually a function of external circumstances. For example, while the best programmer may be 10 times more productive than the worst programmers, they never get paid at the same ratio. High rates of improvement may not be possible because of stagnation or lack of innovation in your industry. This is not true of the technology industry, but many other sectors are conservative and not receptive to or do not generate new ideas.
   
   
2. People often confuse managing their strengths and weaknesses with managing other people's strengths and weaknesses. As a manager, it is advantageous to place people in situations which make maximum use of their strengths and reduce any risks caused by their weaknesses. All things considered, you cannot force people to change their personality and hence this is your best option. But when it comes to you, you do have a choice to do something about your weaknesses, such as creating a process around you to prevent problems.
   
   
3. You cannot expect other people to accept your weaknesses and put you in a situation where only your strengths matter. That may be the wise thing for those people to do, but often, they don't do it and you don't have a choice. Nobody loves you for what you are. They always love you for what you will become (or what they imagine you to be). And that means change. There will be many aspects of your job that will require you to overcome certain weaknesses. A new opportunity that closely matches your strengths may also mean managing some of your failings. You cannot be perfect, nor can you improve upon everything, but you may have to work hard on some aspects of your personality.
   
   
4. Many people also tend to confuse strengths and weaknesses with likes and dislikes, leading to premature dismissal of anything distasteful. Some jobs or tasks may take great advantage of the person's strengths, but the person takes time to realize this. Often, the cause is bad training or a bad trainer. You can see this in the school system where some students fail at everything, even though it is conceivable that they may succeed in jobs requiring one or more of those subjects.
   
   
5. Knowing one's strengths and weaknesses is an imprecise science. For example, consider the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and its different personality types. Even setting aside concerns about reliability and accuracy, people may end up making mistakes in answering an MBTI questionnaire, and think that they have strengths and weaknesses that they do not possess. This may drive them to make incorrect choices about their career and what they do at their jobs.
   

Nothing is ever static. As industries evolve and the nature of jobs change, strengths that may have worked for you in the past are no longer as helpful. Long-term neglect of weaknesses may create a crisis situation. To avoid that, pay some attention to your weak spots regularly. Constantly evaluate your strengths and weaknesses with respect to your present career path and make necessary adjustments to avoid big corrections in the future.

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Technorati tags: personal learning, strengths, weaknesses

The Distinct Types of Workaholics

Jason Calacanis, CEO of mahalo.com, recently generated some heated controversy over his statement “Fire people who are not workaholics” as part of a longer post about how to save money running a startup. While many people criticized him for not understanding what work-life balance means, a few others supported him for suggesting what startups require to succeed. Calacanis later changed his statement to “Fire people who don’t love their work” and wrote another post attempting to answer the question of whether one can have a life and work at a startup company.

I felt that neither his posts nor the various reactions (positive and negative) carefully considered the different types of workaholics and the circumstances and motivations under which a workaholic operates. In this essay, I would like to explore the difference between voluntary and involuntary workaholics and also the relationship between being a workaholic and liking one's job. Let us also take a look at the benefits vs. costs of such behavior.

A workaholic can be defined as someone who spends extraordinary time or effort at his or her work. The similarity with the word "alcoholic" provides a negative tone, meaning that the person is "addicted" to his or her work and would rather spend time at work rather than activities that most people find enjoyable. However, in some work environments, being called a "workaholic" can be positive because it means someone who is dedicated to and loves their work beyond everything else. Such a person is committed to the goals of the organization, and hence is a team player who can be relied upon.

In this context, the term "involuntary workaholic" can seem puzzling because it conflicts with the general belief that workaholics derive pleasure from what they are doing. This confusion arises from the problem that we associate the behavior of working longer with the intention of working longer. We think that just because someone works longer, they want to work longer and hence they must be workaholics. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Involuntary workaholics are those people who are driven by external forces to work longer, even though they would rather be doing something else. Insufficient staffing, inflexible deadlines, lack of planning, improper prioritization, bad estimates, poor quality and unforeseen risks can create circumstances where employees and managers have to work harder and longer. Many workaholics are actually victims of situations created by themselves or other people or processes in their organization. They are working harder because they have no other choice.

A second type of involuntary workaholic is created by managers who wrongly associate more effort with more output, and reward or encourage workaholic behavior. Such managers are themselves busy all the time and they want to see everyone put in as much effort as they do. Such a direction puts pressure on everyone to demonstrate their "dedication". However the proxy for more effort is simply “more time spent in the office” or “more face time with the manager”, not necessarily actual work.

Quality is the first casualty in a workaholic environment as people hit biological limits on their body and brains and start making elementary mistakes. Then, the rate of work getting done starts decreasing, because people get too tired to contribute as effectively, and also need time to fix the mistakes that they made. In the end, there is only a very short-term improvement in productivity coupled with major quality problems and a long-term decline in productivity and increase in attrition due to employee resentment.

Another problem often ignored in this situation is that only some employees are better placed to be involuntary workaholics and can produce more if they work more. For example, unmarried young employees have generally fewer responsibilities than married employees or employees with children. When everyone works longer, some of them may contribute more while others may resent the situation and contribute less. So overall, there is no gain, even temporarily.

Now, let us look at voluntary workaholism. Some people object to this term because they cannot imagine someone being addicted to their work. But like any passion or mania, it is difficult for people who don't have the same feelings to understand those who have it. Voluntary workaholics spend incredible amounts of time and effort on their profession. Their interest does not seem to decline once they are outside the office. If you ask them, they love their work and enjoy the time spent at doing it.

From an organization's standpoint, there are significant advantages to having voluntary workaholics over involuntary ones. Voluntary workaholics are more knowledgeable and produce high quality of work consistently. They tend to be more flexible with changing needs because they have more time at their disposal. They are willing to take on more responsibilities, even if they sometimes overestimate their capabilities.

Many organizations seek out such people and try to reward such behavior. As mentioned previously, that carries the risk of increased involuntary workaholism by other individuals, so a little care is necessary. The first thing to understand is that there is no substitute for proper estimation and planning. That creates your baseline for measuring individual productivity as well as setting standards for quality. When you do this, you can measure the extra effort by the individual in meeting targets in schedule and quality. That may be the basis for a reward system.

It is also essential to understand how your organization motivates the voluntary workaholic. Remember that one's love for the profession and one's love for the tasks done in the profession may not have a linear correlation. For example, a programmer may be excited and animated when talking about their work in general, but they may be periods of time when they have to work on tedious, boring and repetitive tasks. Sometimes a workaholic may be working late just because that is the only uninterrupted time for the tasks they enjoy doing.

Another problem is the decision making on the project. A voluntary workaholic likes the creative aspect of work. So when their work environment is dominated by a few senior people who evaluate options and make all the decisions, they may decide to spend greater effort on some personal project (related to their profession) where they get to play the boss. So it is important for managers to understand how to channel the workaholic's enthusiasm towards the work at hand.

A twist on this entire situation is that workaholics can turn into involuntary workaholics. During uncertain economic times, the workaholic may decide to spend more effort than usual to preserve their job. Alternatively, a new situation in the workaholic's life, like a marriage or a new child, can reduce the effort they can spend. This happens more frequently than managers realize. The issue here is that workaholics fear that reducing their effort would be viewed negatively and thus they have no exit strategy.

So far, we have been talking about workaholic employees. But there are also workaholic employers. The motivations which drive them are very different from the workaholic employees. They have a direct financial incentive towards working longer hours, because usually additional effort from them results in more positive results for the organization such as increased revenue or better products. So there is a certain level of involuntary behavior here, because business reality demands them to spend more hours until they find good people to delegate to.

Some (though not all) business owners have already achieved financial security and consider their business an additional investment in something they enjoy doing. This may be contrary to their employees who need the job to survive and pay their bills, even if they love the job. The employer would be mistaken in his or her assumption that employees share the exact same feelings about the job situation. The ongoing success of the business concern can play a huge part in the motivation of employees.

A final word: Workaholics are seldom understood by other people, who always tend to project their feelings on them. Some people admire them and call them passionate, dedicated and hard-working. Others mock them for not worrying about their health or personal relationships, as well as missing out on other things in life. Very few truly try to comprehend their internal motivations and their circumstances. I hope this article changes that attitude to some extent, at least.

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Technorati tags: business management, workaholism, hard work

The Meaning of No Time

In both business and private life, you often hear people saying that they had "no time" to do something. In many situations, the amount of time required for the task is something that you would expect the person to have, so what do they mean when they say they had no time? It is important to get to the root of the problem because usually the something that they didn't do is something you care about. Pointing out the obvious ("you had a lot of time") does not help you. So what is going on?

Here are some reasons:

1. They were mentally pre-occupied with something else. Maybe a deadline at work. Maybe a family issue. Unless they get moral support and mental relief from that, they will not be able to work on your task. What can you do? Ask them what is going on and try to help if you can. Otherwise, move the task to some other person or to a future date.
   
   
2. They are waiting for some time to dedicate to the task. For example, if they know that a task takes 4 hours, they will not start on the task until they know that they have 4 hours to dedicate to that task. The problem is that tasks keep coming and they can never allocate a continuous stretch of time. What can you do? Break down the task into smaller pieces that must be submitted separately. Also, if you have the authority, you can create the conditions where the person will be uninterrupted for that time.
   
   
3. They don't like the task or they have lost interest. Chores and repetitive tasks fall into this category. One indication of this problem is that the person gets irritated (instead of being worried) when you remind him/her about the task. What can you do? Partner the person with someone else so that the task seems less tedious and boring. Also, examine the task to see if it is really that important and, if not, cancel or transfer it.
   
   
4. They never knew about the task or forgot about the deadline. I am serious - this happens! The indication of this problem is that the person shows signs of alarm and panic when reminded of the task. All you have to do is ask when it will be complete, and usually it will be ready by then.
   
   
5. They don't know how to do or complete the task. They may have accepted the task without understanding its nature or complexity. They may retain some confidence that they can pull through, so they are not yet willing to throw in the towel. You can understand this problem by asking to see the work in progress and seeing the extent and quality of work done. The next step may be to provide additional training or guidance, or transfer the work to someone else.
   
   
6. They have over-estimated the scope of the task. Usually employees just past the beginner stage over-analyze tasks, reading more in them than what is needed to get the job done. Both beginners and experts simplify - the former due to lack of knowledge and the latter out of experience. Try to understand the details of what the person is doing, and then simplify it for them.
   
   
7. They are having starting trouble. Sometimes a task overwhelms a person that they find it mentally difficult to tackle it, even though they are capable of doing it. To handle this, start the task together with them and establish yourself as a go-to person if they have any problems. This will give them additional confidence to continue with the work.
   
   
8. They are not receiving support from other team members. When a person works on a task, but does not see other people working as hard, they start losing interest in the work. For example, people are more likely to go to the gym if they have a partner who is also motivated to become healthy. It is never about the 30 or 60 minutes they need to spare. Look for this team dynamic and manage the resources accordingly.
   
   
9. The outcome of the task (such as a report) is bad news. That is one reason why audits are done by people who have no stake in the project or operations. If the information provided as the result of a task could reflect badly on a person, do not assign that task to the person. But if you must have that person, make it clear that the information will not be used against him/her. Otherwise you will be waiting for a long time.

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Technorati tags: business management, time management