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© Coert Visser Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade? - Benjamin Franklin Excellent performance is based on strengths This article is a follow up of Effective managers pay attention to strengths . That article explained how excellent performance is primarily based on identifying, applying and developing strengths. The statement is supported by solid research by Gallup. However, in everyday practice most (HR) managers seem to take strengths for granted and focus first and foremost on identifying and eliminating weaknesses and deficits. Large-scale international research by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O' Clifton (2001) has shown that effective manager do not emphasize weaknesses and limitations but strengths. From their research it has become clear that effective managers are led by the convictions that everyone’s talents are lasting and unique and that the greatest opportunity for development for each person lies in the area of their grea...

© 2003, Coert Visser Isn’t it sometimes puzzling how a sports team of highly talented players can be defeated by a team of players who are considered by everyone as less talented? And don’t you sometimes wonder why a management team consisting of people with the highest qualifications seems to be constantly doing dumb things? This article challenges a wide-spread view on individual talent and its importance for organizational success and proposes an alternative view. What is individual talent and how important is it? The word talent is often used in two different ways and the difference is significant. The first way, the categorical way, is used to point out a category of people: ´John is a big talent´, ´ Maria is a high potential´. The second way, the analytical way, is used to point out specific capabilities of people: ´A great talent of Maria is convincing people´, ´John is very talented at speaking in front of an audience´. The categorical use of the word talent implicitly divide...

© 2002, Coert Visser and Maarten Thissen Why are employees sent to training sessions? Why do they get coaching? What do 'areas of development' in appraisals usually refer to? Exactly, weaknesses and shortcomings! For much too long HR professionals, managers and employees have had an almost obsessive fixation on repairing weaknesses. What does this lead to? Insecurity, frustration, waste of time and feelings of being under-appreciated. An Example A CEO of a small company visited a management coach and told him that he seriously thought of quitting his job. The coach, who knew the director as a competent person, asked why. The CEO explained he had lately gotten the idea that a good CEO is always sociable and extraverted. And he wasn’t, no matter how much he tried. The management coach asked if he did his did job well, if he achieved good results and if others appreciated him. The wholehearted answer to each of these questions the answer was ‘yes’. After an hour of talking the di...