Where do you invest your 10%?

I had my annual performance review with my company's CEO last Friday. On Tuesday, I received a copy of the "review" to prepare for the meeting.

Our CEO's style is direct and open, and that style carried through to my review. My review was about a page and a half, summarizing major accomplishments from the last year, a few paragraphs summarizing some of the "360 feedback" he'd asked for from folks I worked with (mostly positive), and a couple of lines about an area where I can improve. And, there were no surprises in the review.

When we got started in the discussion, his conversation mapped pretty closely to those proportions: lots of time spent on accomplishments and positive feedback, but only a few minutes on things that didn't go so well.

I mentioned that I'd like to spend some more time talking about the areas where I'd had challenges or failures during the past year, so I could learn from them.

His reply really struck me. Here's what he said:

"Sure, we can discuss what you've learned from those challenges, but I don't want to spend too much time on that.

"One of the things I've learned in my career is that we all have areas of strength and areas of weakness. A 10% improvement in a strength can make a huge difference; a 10% improvement in an area of weakness probably won't have nearly as much of an impact.

"Let's focus on how to make the most of your strengths and make them even stronger."

I think this is good food for thought for anyone. When I think about the times I felt really proud of my results, it was when I was using my strengths.

You only have so much time and energy. Where will you invest your 10%? Always strive to make choices that put you in situations where your strengths can make a real difference.

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• It's about results - not activity (2/4/2005)
• Now, discover others' perspectives (7/20/2005)
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• Del.icio.us: focus, self improvement, management, leadership

Comments

[gr8face]

wow, what school did your boss go to? i've never heard that before. we just did the 360 degree type review and personally i don't like it. in addition to pleasing my boss, i now have to please my co-workers.

[Dwayne Melancon]

I don't know what school he went to, but I think part of it is just life learning. He tells some stories about his early days as a manager which indicate that he used to be a bit more difficult to work with/for.

As for the 360 feedback process, I used to hate it but am warmer on it now. I think it depends on the intent behind what people do with the data. If it feels like it's in the spirit of skills development, it's OK.

Once I went through one that felt like a witch hunt, but that was more the result of the boss's problems. That person didn't last too long.

I don't set out to "please my coworkers" as an explicit goal. I try to do my job in a way that benefits the company's objectives, and keep my commitments, and keep from creating negative surprises for people - that seems to work pretty well. I'm working on getting better at asking for help when I get stuck.

Best of luck in your new 360 feedback world, and thanks for the comment.

[Steve Holden]

John Maxwell talks about this improvement strategy a lot. He says people 'pay' for people who are 'nines and tens' on a scale of 1-10 (higher being better). If you are a 7 in one area and a 4 in another area. It is better to spend time on trying to make your 7 an 8 than your 4 a 5. - Steve

[Rosa Say]

Dwayne, your CEO is my kind of guy!

I remember hearing of this philosophy from Marcus Buckingham in a speech once. He said, work on weaknesses and the best you can do is get them to "not bad." Work on strengths, and you move from good to great. Made a lot of sense to me, and echoed back to a wealth of examples throughout my own management career.

This is now a big part of the MWA philosophy for worthwhile work, and it certainly is much more fun to work on one's strengths!

[John Richardson]

Great Post Dwayne. I really like the 10% philosophy. I've learned that in a roundabout way in Toastmasters. When you work on your strengths the weaker areas naturally improve with time. Unless there is a glaring deficiency, what people really take away from a speech or other presentation is your positive strengths.

That is not to say that you should not be aware of your weaknesses. I always appreciate an honest performance review. I just find in more productive to take the good and make it great.

John