reflected best self
www.hbr.org
You may have more to gain by developing your gifts and leveraging your natural skills than by trying to repair your weaknesses. Here is a systematic way to discover who you are at your very best.
How to Play to Your
Strengths
by Laura Morgan Roberts, Gretchen Spreitzer,
Jane Dutton, Robert Quinn, Emily Heaphy, and
Brianna Barker
Reprint R0501G
You may have more to gain by developing your gifts and leveraging your natural skills than by trying to repair your weaknesses. Here is a systematic way to discover who you are at your very best.
How to Play to Your
Strengths
COPYRIGHT © 2004 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
by Laura Morgan Roberts, Gretchen Spreitzer,
Jane Dutton, Robert Quinn, Emily Heaphy, and
Brianna Barker
Most feedback accentuates the negative. During formal employee evaluations, discussions invariably focus on “opportunities for improvement,” even if the overall evaluation is laudatory. Informally, the sting of criticism lasts longer than the balm of praise. Multiple studies have shown that people pay keen attention to negative information. For example, when asked to recall important emotional events, people remember four negative memories for every positive one. No wonder most executives give and receive performance reviews with all the enthusiasm of a child on the way to the dentist.
Traditional, corrective feedback has its place, of course; every organization must filter out failing employees and ensure that everyone performs at an expected level of competence. Unfortunately, feedback that ferrets out flaws can lead otherwise talented managers to overinvest in shoring up or papering over their perceived weaknesses, or forcing themselves onto an ill-fitting template. Ironically, such a focus on problem areas prevents companies
harvard business review • managing yourself • january 2005
from reaping the best performance from its people. After
You may have more to gain by developing your gifts and leveraging your natural skills than by trying to repair your weaknesses. Here is a systematic way to discover who you are at your very best.
How to Play to Your
Strengths
by Laura Morgan Roberts, Gretchen Spreitzer,
Jane Dutton, Robert Quinn, Emily Heaphy, and
Brianna Barker
Reprint R0501G
You may have more to gain by developing your gifts and leveraging your natural skills than by trying to repair your weaknesses. Here is a systematic way to discover who you are at your very best.
How to Play to Your
Strengths
COPYRIGHT © 2004 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
by Laura Morgan Roberts, Gretchen Spreitzer,
Jane Dutton, Robert Quinn, Emily Heaphy, and
Brianna Barker
Most feedback accentuates the negative. During formal employee evaluations, discussions invariably focus on “opportunities for improvement,” even if the overall evaluation is laudatory. Informally, the sting of criticism lasts longer than the balm of praise. Multiple studies have shown that people pay keen attention to negative information. For example, when asked to recall important emotional events, people remember four negative memories for every positive one. No wonder most executives give and receive performance reviews with all the enthusiasm of a child on the way to the dentist.
Traditional, corrective feedback has its place, of course; every organization must filter out failing employees and ensure that everyone performs at an expected level of competence. Unfortunately, feedback that ferrets out flaws can lead otherwise talented managers to overinvest in shoring up or papering over their perceived weaknesses, or forcing themselves onto an ill-fitting template. Ironically, such a focus on problem areas prevents companies
harvard business review • managing yourself • january 2005
from reaping the best performance from its people. After