I’m Not Sure I’m Up to the Task
Comfortable jobs equal drifting employees. Everyone in your organization needs to feel stretched in some area.
Successful leaders help others step into uncomfortable – stretching – challenges and opportunities. Eventually, you’ll hear, “I’m not sure I’m up to the task.”
Helping people grow
means making them uncomfortable.
It doesn’t matter if you think they are ready. The issue is exploring the challenge from their point of view. Use this series of questions to guide your conversation.
Long version:
Clarify the challenge:
Describe the project or initiative in your own words. What are you doing?
What are the deliverables?
What is a win?
How do organizational values connect with this activity?
How does this activity express organizational mission?
Explore skills:
On a scale of 1-10, how important are the following skills to the success of your project?
- Organization and planning. ____
- Budgeting. ____
- Inter-departmental communication ____
- Organizational communication ____
- Public communication. ____
- Technical. ____
- Relationship building. ____
- Initiative. ____
- Follow through. ____
- Reporting. ____
- Collaboration or acting independently. ____
- Initiate and sustain teamwork. ____
- Problem solving. ____
- Decision making. ____
- Creativity, openness, and innovation. ____
- Adaptability. ____
- Supporting/developing others. ____
- Motivation and inspiration. ____
- Risk taking. ____
- Strategic planning. ____
- Listening. ____
- Delegation. ____
- Giving feedback. ____
- Integrating new people. ____
- Research. ____
Personal discussion:
Why are the high ranking skills important?
Which high ranking skills reflect your strengths?
Which high ranking skills reflect your weaknesses?
How stretched does this project make you feel? ____ (1-10)
What most stretches you?
How important to your career path is developing in the stretch areas? ____ (1-10)
How could you leverage the strengths of your teammates?
What support is important? (describe and discuss)
Would you like to move forward or should I find someone else?
Short version:
I’d like you to step into this new challenge. What do you need to succeed?
Choosing:
Use the long version with timid teammates.
How would you develop or change this structure?
How do you help people step into new challenges?
Love the “Short Version”! The guided discussion you’ve provided here is excellent for that sit-down after you’ve gotten at least a soft commitment. But when you empower others by putting yourself at their disposal, it’s a show of trust and ultimate support.
How do you help people step into new challenges?
We do this by demonstrating and voicing our confidence in them and in their ability to succeed.
We also serve them with information, guidance, mentoring until they realize that they are being successful and no longer working with us as their safety net.
I find this extremely helpful when considering how to facilitate employees with hidden disabilities. The essential question of disclosure of a disability involves an employee acknowledging challenge in an area. However, it is important that those with disabilities are offered achievable challenges in line with other staff. Those performing well with disabilities may find themselves more reluctant to take on challenge, concerned that being seen to ‘fail’ will affect perception of their efficiency at their job. Dan, your breakdown of ‘perception of challenge’ into answerable questions is a way to offer any employee a more factual perception to use in taking on a task. Much more helpful than a corporate ‘sink or swim’ approach, for managing those who must themselves precisely manage costs upon their health. Thanks!!
Hey Trainer, looking to understand here, not be understood.
Asking permission to ask for some clarification to that end.
Figure permission granted or I get a thumbs down, right?
So what other disability any of us spiritual beings having a human experience have except our EGO(edging God out)? Our thinking?
If we think we can, we can, if we think we can’t, we can’t, either way we are right with the thoughts we choose, right?
If we think we will act, we act. If we think we are not going to act, the body won’t move, right?
If we think we are gonna listen, we listen, if we think we are not gonna listen, ears closed tight, right?
So these so-called hidden disabilities are not hidden at all, they are just thoughts.
So if I really want to help anyone don’t I just have to know they are operating out of one of these two branches of self created fear? Help them see the faulty evidence is just crummy thoughts they thought up and they can choose different thoughts? Yes?
Thoughts of the ego basically I have found come down in two ways of describing fear(faulty evidence appearing real).
One fear I am going to lose something I determined I have to have to survive.
Two fear I am not going to get what I have determined I need to survive.
So I got to figure out how to not lose stuff or get stuff….OR
Learn how to cut off the fear determining machine between my ears, right?
Emmett Fox says the Golden Key is “Think About God Instead”. Cool dude if ya wanna googling him!!!! New Thought rocks!!! Other stuff in my experience, not so much.
Plus the way I describe Gods other kids can give me great insight to how I truly see them. I see them with hidden ABILITIES, not the other way around. See the difference?
I see my mission if I choose to accept it is to facilitate what Brownjng said, “to open a way out for the imprisoned splendor to escape.”
We have been offered info from a very early age that originally there is something wrong with us. My opinion flat out wrong. Matthew Fox Catholic dude write a book I found the title better than the book honestly.
Title, Original Blessing. Google away!
So you think about a person training you. You think you would be better able to face squarely deep seated fears you been telling yourself for years with a person who sees you as flawed from the start with hidden disabilities OR a trainer who sees you as Originally Blessed who wants to help you find a way whence to let your imprisoned splendor escape?
Go ahead pen and legal pad and Ben Franklin yo-self!!!! Which would you respond to with more ease?
I have found people pretty much do what I think they will. Funny thing is I edit what they do and only emphasize in my own head what I have decided they will do. They can do 9 things right and one wrong and if I as Ruler of the Universe have determined they are a terd, you ask me about them and I all I choose to tell you about them is the one thing they did in my view wrong.
So just hope for a little clarification so I can hope to understand better.
Thanks,
SP back to NOW!
Dear Dan,
I think these are closed ended questions that invites only intensity on the predefined questions based on researchers perspective.To know what people feel, believe and where they can put up their effort with commitment, there is need to understand the workplace behavior and dynamics from their perspective. It is possible through discussion, engagement and appreciation. Leaders should encourage them to expose their opinion and how those opinion could be beneficial to people and organizations.
Based on such discussion, leaders should derive some key components and circulate these questions to take their feedback. I believe that could provide better understanding of change and how leaders can effectively bring change.
When such changes are needed, people will feel happy to accept changes. In the entire process of change, the important part is their involvement and say. If they feel that they do not have any say, or they have not been involved, then even small change can be difficult to execute.
Well I would develop and or change this structure by taking an inventory(step 4).
Then I would take a look at the wrong way we been doing things by doing a Ben Franklin close on myself.
Get a legal pad, put a line right down the middle. On one side how we used to do everything, right side everyway Barry Wehmiller does everything.
Why? Because Anthony Robbins has a track record of telling the truth that gets results. He says success leaves clues. Not really Rocket Scientology we are dealing with here. Getting clear??? Lol
Find someone getting the results you want and DO WHAT THEY DO!!!!!!!
Anything else, DUH!!!!! Just an example of you thinking WAY too much!!!! Hehe
Two reasons Barry Wehmiller.
One Simon Sinek says they practice what he believes more than any other company. Simon rocks so Barry Wehmiller rocks!!!!
Second Barry Wehmilller’s results.
Traditional wrong way….70% of employees go home feeling no one cares about them.
They have a 30% higher rate of coronary disease.
They steal 998 BILLION dollars a year from their employers. Maybe to help pay the medical bills to help take care of their ailing tickers, right?
When they changed to Truly Human Leadership they grew from 20 million a year to 1.5 billion a year.
Went from WRONG traditional way having 70% of their employees leaving work not feeling the love to 72% feeling the love!!!
Bob Chapman figured out NOT better people, treating his people better WORKS better.
If you do not like these FACTS remember you got the right to your own opinion but not your own facts. These are the facts, wake up and deal with it.
Jeez Nap Hill said this already in Think and Grow Rich so many years ago!! Wake up!!! Lol. “It isn’t anything new we need but a better use of what we already got”!!
What we already got is our greatest assest. Our people!!! Love them more not give them more heart disease I always say!!! Have I ever said that before??? Lol. Ok I will say that A LOT going forward!!!!
And BW pays out a 15% annual dividend over the last 5 years while traditional, old, wrong, so 80’s companies paid out an average of a 3% dividend. Why continue stuff that don’t work as well?????
So put to me like this with my Ben Franklin close WHAT CHOICE do I have????
Of course I am gonna copy Barry Wehmiller cause they get better results than what I been doing!!! Duh!!!!
They treat people better and make more money. So think Long and Hard when splaining to your bad self how not choosing what I just laid out is better.
If you think the old lame way is better out it down on paper and SEE!!!
Wake up and clearly see you would be choosing to not treat people better and make less money!!! Really? Wowie! You come to that conclusion really grateful I do not work with for or with you!!! Just speaking for me of course!!!
If I worked for you, with you, was one of your shareholders, your Momma and I watched you come to the concludion treatin people less than the best and make less money we would have to have a serious talk and your wrist is probably gonna get whacked with my ruler!!!!!
Bottom line if you are in love with your own way instead of a better more profitable way for everyone you are no leader, you are an egotistical idiot.
Now you might not like that much, most people pretend they like the truth till it involves something about them less than flattering. Then the messenger is a real jerk!!!!!
So what I just shared is ONLY my opinion based on MY experience. Not right, wrong if your opinion based on your experience differs. Just different.
So think over what I have shared and take what you like and leave the rest. Simple enough?
Lastly I would help others change by mightly, courageously, honestly looking deeply into me and asking God to help me change so I might be of maximum service to him and his other kids.
Change, speed of the leader, speed of the pack. The lead dog only one with a view really worth viewing, right? Think about that!! So to be the lead dog got to be the change leader!!!
I Concur!!
Shifterp back to my present….NOW!!!
Reblogged this on Movers, Shakers, Leadership Makers.
Love the challenging last statement/question of the long version. AND the short version is brilliant!
The short version is amazing. It hits home and to the point.
Let me cast my preference for your skill-ranking checklist. It’s a great way — and a fairly quick one — for a leader to assess the talents of his/her team members when considering people for assignments. Not that someone should get or not get an assignment strictly based on this scoring; but to help the leader identify which skill areas a person might need extra assistance with.
And to continue my somewhat contrarian stance, I would want to change your “short version” a bit. The change is mainly predicated on the fact that we don’t know what we don’t know; so it can be tricky to ask someone taking on a task for the first time: “What do you need to succeed?” My suggestion would be to say something more along the lines of, “I’d like you to step into this new challenge and I will support you in every way possible. Always feel free to let me know how best I can do that for you.”