Measure it Out

I took one of those Clifton Strengthsfinder(tm) tests the other day and one of the first traits was "futurist." It told me that one way I could get better at leading was to realize that not everyone is a futurist and that they might need to get to the future a little slower than I want them to, which was useful advice. Specifically, it said this:

Dream in smaller steps.

Isn't that a juicy concept? Sure, dream and be excited about things, and tell people your vision for the future, but maybe just talk about the next few steps that get them on the path towards the future you have in mind.

Measure it Out

My next strength was ideation. It said I was great at ideas, but because I'm always thinking up new ways to approach matters, people might feel I'm whipsawing them around too much. And very much like dreaming in smaller steps, it had useful advice:

Prioritize your ideas when sharing with others.

The unspoken subtext is, "Chris, you have a LOT of ideas, and if you come and bury people in all your thoughts, they're going to feel flooded, overwhelmed, and more importantly, they won't be motivated to take any action." More likely, they'd probably want to take a nap after hearing me sometimes.

The advice, twice, was "measure it out." You can be as wild and passionate and everything else that you are, but maybe give people smaller doses.

There was another theme, too.

Let Others Have Their Say

This is so tricky. A lot of times, when you're a thinking person and really pride yourself on being able to solve people's challenges, it's really easy to over-speak, and give out all kinds of information and... talk.

More than a few times, the Clifton Strengthsfinder advice said for me to shut up and let others talk. It's advice I've given to others many times. It's sometimes one of the MOST important parts of advice that others I work with need to exhibit.

And yet, I hadn't really given myself a tune up in that department lately. I'm glad this information told me to consider it. Let others talk first.

And listen. Don't prepare lots of questions to show what a great listener you are. Listen.

Another piece of advice I received was that I offer too many solutions to problems people bring to me. It said that maybe I could tame it down, dial it back.

That was basically the larger message to me: simmer down.

Measure Many Times, Cut as Often as You Need

You know the saying, "Measure twice, cut once." It's a good one. The premise is that we should take a little care and caution before doing something.

But there's a time in life to measure many times. It's great to think about yourself always as a work in progress. To build yourself every day instead of thinking that you've arrived.

To me, we often think we've finished a process. But more true is that it's an ongoing situation, a cycle. And we need to re-measure, reconsider, revisit, and review who we are, how we're doing, etc.

The Strengthsfinder test is $60 USD and there are ones for leaders, ones for individual contributors, and a few other flavors. You can peek at it here.

Me? I'm just over here listening.

Chris...