Using your strengths to produce results
March 8, 2009 by Vauna Beauvais · 1 Comment
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Yesterday I took a little thin, unread, book down from my bookshelf and decided to read it. My bookshelves are full of unread books (as well as books that I have read). I find they so much come in handy when I have a weekend with no engagements planned, nothing on the TV, and I am slightly tired, anyway. Its like having a fridge full of brain-food at the ready.
It wasnt just that “MANAGING ONESELF” by Peter F Drucker looked like it could be read in an hour or so, but it was the title that appealed to me also.
“I could do with a bit of self-management”, I thought. I have recently identified a way in which I would like to be living my life differently, and I need to do things differently (obviously) to bring this about. “So maybe this little book will inspire me”, I thought.
I hadn’t realised that the book was written by a business managment guru. A bit synchronistic really, since I am currently a delegate on a Leadership and Management training course, as you know. (I had expected it to be one of those simple little self-help booklets that you get free when you give your email address on a good website).
So flicking through the internet I found that Drucker taught generations of managers the importance of picking the best people, of focusing on opportunities and not problems. In those days that was ‘out -there’.
Apparently, Warren Bennis, a management guru himself , asked Drucker how he came up with so many original insights. The reply was, “I learn only through listening,” he said, pausing, “to myself.” (I’m also a big advocate of intuition, and trusting in myself, so I liked that).
Because Ducker was born into a highly educated professional family, in Austria in 1909 (which was a time of a cultural and economic hub) his family mingled with people such as Sigmund Freud. Perhaps Druckers worldliness and style of expression is as a result of him first having met Freud at the age of eight years old, and the fact that his parents would entertain Freud, and other members of the Vienese intellectual elite, regularly in their home.
In fact, for me, the comparison with Freud could be stretched further when I read that Drucker’s most famous text, The Practice of Management, published in 1954, “…laid out the American corporation like a well-dissected frog in a college laboratory”. (Freud began by dissecting frogs in his shed at home!).
Anyway. Back to my little book. In this book, ‘Managing Oneself’, Drucker talks about managment in terms of ‘enhancing performance’. “Well, that’ll do”, I thought, “If I need to do things differently, then I can enhance my performance and see if my life is different”.
So, I’m going to share with you the bones of the book, and how I have interpreted the bits that are relevant for me - and hopefully, you too. (If you really want to, you can read the whole book in this PDF file ).
Drucker says that a person can perform only from strength. And that most people think that they know what they are good at, but they are usually wrong.
“One cannot build performance on weakness”, he asserts, “let alone on something that one cannot do at all.”
I’m not sure that I totally agree with that. And I am not convinced that I am ready to say it is not true, either. I have an open mind about those statements. With anything like that, its a case of asking myself, “How useful is it to operate as if this were true?” (See the NLP Presuppostions for more like that).
So, lets assume that this is true, because believing this will be useful. “A person can only perform from strength”.
Drucker also states that, “We need to know our strengths in order to know where we belong”.
Again, according to our man, Drucker, the only way to discover your strengths is through feedback analysis.
So, lets go now, on to discovering our strengths. This is the process that he reccomends us to use:
Take a key decision (or a key action)
My decision is ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Write down what you expect will happen:
What I expect to happen is………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
9 or 12 months later, compare the actual results with your expectations.
Instruction: Go to your outlook calendar, or your mobile phone, PDF, or whatever, and pop a reminder alarm in for you to review your expectations with actual outcomes.
I have now done this to remind me on…………………………………………………………………….. (date)
A very simple exercise isn’t it? Not very satisfactory now, I grant you, because you wanted results straight away, didn’t you? Sorry.
This method, long as it is, does have merits. You are using proper measurement. A quote from Drucker, “What is measured improves”
You are taking the guesswork out of knowing where you need to improve. If you do this across the board (i.e. with everything that you want to do / change/ become) you can see what it is that you are doing that is at the root of your failures (remember the presupposition there is no failure only feedback?) You are seeing where you are not particularly competent. You are also seeing what are your strengths (ah at last!).
Drucker is known for believing that taking action without thinking is the cause of every failure. (Sounds reasonable to me, if you have an outcome in mind, and want to control the results, at least. There is also a case for not trying to predict, and just benefit from unpredictability, but that still doesn’t mean that you act without thinking).
So, now that you have the results of your feedback analysis:
- put yourself where your strengths can produce results.
- put your energies on working on improving your strengths
- improve skills or aquire new ones
- gain knowledge (in areas other than your expertise)
- remedy your bad habits (the things that you do or fail to do that inhibit your effectiveness and performance).
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Drucker states that what we should NOT do is spend (waste?) a lot of time on improving areas of low competence.
Instead of using energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity, use time and energy to improve from good or first rate, to excellence. Turn yourself, then, from a competent person into a star performer.
Additionally, Drucker states in this little book, that we should
- work out how we perform,
- know what are our personal values
- be aware of personal your ethics system
- find out where we should belong
- understand what we should contribute
- take responsibility for relationships
Knowing all of this enables you to choose actions by thinking.
You can then say to an offer or to an assignment,
”Yes I will do that. But this is the way that I should be doing it. This is the way that it should be structured. This is the way that relationships should be. These are the kinds of results to expect from me and in which paticular time-frame, because this is who I am.”
Now, Drucker becomes aligned with Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in saying that successful careers (and lives?) are not planned, they develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know thier strengths, their method of doing things, and their values. Knowing where one belongs … can transform an ordinary person into an outstanding performer.
A star performer in life.
Is your mind closed or open?
March 1, 2009 by Vauna Beauvais · Leave a Comment
How rigid is your mind?
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Apparently, over 15 years of an average waking life is spent just watching TV.
How many days of an average life is spent reading webpages?
Desktop publishing and the Internet have increased access to production for everyone (for me, my blog and website, for example).
These days we have a more radical understanding of contemporary life because of the information that we can access.
When we watch TV, or surf the web, we are creating our own meanings and emotions. Even our dreams and our own sense of identity are shaped by the media.
- But how much does the stuff you watch or read about influence your opinions?
- Does reading this website change your decision about how to act in your life?
Way back in 1944 America, Lazarsfeld conducted a study called ‘The Peoples Choice’ in an attempt to discover the influence of the media over the American voters. He found that voting intentions were very resistant to media influence.
- Often people had already very well defined political views - and people read the papers which supported their views, not ones which might open their minds!
- When confronted with challenging ideas, voters simply filtered out messages that did not fit their preconceptions.
Only 5% of people were actually converted.
It used to be thought a bad thing that the media had a potential to influence. Even now, people are still wary - and there is still a lot of talk of whether TV and other media influence us, and in what ways it does so.
What I am wondering: “Is it still true that only 5% of people have minds open enough to be influenced?”
Are you going to read this blog and skim over all of the personal development stuff in the articles or self-help sections and filter out all messages that do not support your views?
Or are you going to be one of the 5% of people whose mind is opened and who can be influenced by new ideas to make your life better?
Three little words… (not what you think)
February 22, 2009 by Vauna Beauvais · Leave a Comment
As you come into my therapy room, you pass through a part of the building that is quite boring.
I decided to liven up a stretch of wall with some great wall-art.
Three words that read ‘Love, Laugh, Live’ now reside there.
- Is that a good mission statement for a living human being? You might also like to read about how to be happy
- If you’d like further lexical inspiration, mouse over to quotes about being alive
- If you were really dissapointed that those three little words were not what you thought, find some romance here
Debutante arrives
February 21, 2009 by Vauna Beauvais · Leave a Comment
Stating the obvious
Even before ‘Blog’ was picked as word of the year by Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2004, people have been enraptured by the blogosphere.
Blog, of course, is a shortened form of the word ‘weblog’ which does what it says on the tin - it is a log of web recordings.
Normally a blog is a written piece, with good photos, and the odd video popped in from time to time. As each dated entry (post) is added, it sits above its predecessor, and so the weblog entries are displayed in reverse chronological order - just like all of the pages on this site that are accessed from the blue toolbar (the black toolbar pages are static pages, and are not blog-style pages)
Years ago, when I myself was one of the enraptured, I would be content with reading almost anything, because blogs were all such a novelty, and there was little choice around. These days the coverage is of all subjects that you can think of, and the scope is as broad and deep as the pacific ocean (probably).
Who knew?
People have taken to blogging like a duck to that massive body of water, and the activity of blogging has grown exponentially. People from all over the world, from all different socio-economic groups make blogs. So, what is the global fascination with blogging?
Blogging is so easy. There are really easy to use blog sites, that offer you a ready-made nice-looking blog template system, where you just type in your stuff and press publish, and its all for free! No Webmaster, no SEO, no hosting fees, nothing.
Anyone can create an online presence, and therefore can exist in cyberspace.
Why should your therapist or counsellor blog?
As an independent counselling and therapy professional, Blogging is great for me.
I can
Not only can I evolve and develop by researching and writing this stuff, but also, I can learn from the comments that you provide - from my feedback from you.
Blogging allows me to connect with you in a way that a static site never could (and never did!).
I can demonstrate to you my individuality. Show you what I am like as a person. And, unlike the articles that you read here, in my blog, I can show the fun and light-hearted side of myself.
When you have sessions with me, you will find that I am good at what I do, I take you seriously and I find out what needs to be done, and get down to it. But also, there is room for some real human relating, and that includes laughing sometimes (yes, even in counselling and psychotherapy - sometimes) . Not only do I want to share information with you, but I want to share a more whole view of me as a person. I hope you like it 
What to do on a Friday afternoon…
What is the point of being beautiful if you never go outside?
I have decided that it might be worth popping my blog onto some excellent bloglisting sites, so that a few more people can see me.
I have listed them below:
You might do this with your own blog, too - feel free to use this list of blog directories.
Hip Hip…
February 13, 2009 by Vauna Beauvais · Leave a Comment
My website has gone live tonight!
After two years of talking about updating my old site, finally I’ve done it.
This new site is fabulous. I can make lots and lots of pages - write whenever I want and edit whenever I want. (so if you ever see anything odd on here, its just been thrown on - next time you look it will probably be tidied up - but if it really bothers you, contact me I dont mind feedback)
This ethical website was made by Dan, and is being hosted using solar power at Lightbeing Creations.
Go there and you can Win a Year’s FREE Green Web Hosting!!
Great work, Dan - I love it. Thanks
BTW - Dan is the most patient, pleasant, webmaster I have ever encountered. He talks to you when he says he will, he explains things really well, doesn’t get irritated, and gives loads of encouragement when you’re trying to figure out stuff. I truly recommend having him do you a new website and hosting plan. I will definately continue to work with him on this project and on others that I am involved with.
Keep on learning…
February 10, 2009 by Vauna Beauvais · 1 Comment
Vauna Beauvais' Blog
Welcome to my blog.
This is the first page of your journey into my life.
Keep on Learning
I have never felt as alive as I do now.
No, it’s not just because I have survived 40 - its more to do with keeping my brain active by continually going on training courses.
I was so impressed with myself at gaining a Masters degree as a mature student. I realised that I could study, understand, and, learn things. It felt great!
I didnt want to give up the good feelings, so I enrolled on another course, which began later in the same year as my graduation ceremony.
I trained to be a practitioner of NLP with Frank Daniels Associates. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the material, but I also met some great people, with whom I am still in touch.
Straight after that, I enrolled for the ‘Coach Practitioner, NLP’ - also with Frank. And, after that, I was tempted, and succumbed to that temptation, of ‘Master Practitioner, NLP’
Since then I have done 6 more courses, and I loved every one of them. I didn’t love every moment, however, that’s something else! There are some times, I find, during your learning journey, when tussling with a concept, or problem, that, well, quite frankly, your brain hurts. Not to mention when you want to watch ‘Dancing on Ice’ but your paper has to be completed by the next day.
Overall, though, I can honestly say that learning is a very enjoyable, worthwhile experience.
This Friday I start an ILM, NVQ level 3 course on ‘First Line Management’ and I am looking forward to the next few weeks and months. Who will I meet, I wonder? What will we read, discuss, learn? In what ways will I be challenged? How will my ways of looking at things be questioned? What will I discover? How will I be better than I was before? What doors will become open to me?
Being cognitively challenged and stretched stimulates the brain. And this stimulation has rippled through my entire life-energy, and made me more awake, energetic, vital, (and even vibrating) than I was before I got the learning bug.
I am so convinced on the benefits of lifelong learning that I decided to become a trainer myself.
Do consider a life of learning - If, for nothing else but to access great feelings. I recommend it!