Why Most Corporations Homogenize Remarkable People
Most corporations don’t practice the principles of Professional Destiny. That is, they don’t actively seek out the gifts of their employees and adjust their responsibilities to ensure that they thrive. The focus needs to be on maximizing people’s strengths, not spending the majority of time developing an individual’s weaknesses. As I wrote in Professional Destiny, a person’s gift may be “spiky.” Meaning they are incredibly good at one, two or three things as opposed to being well-rounded in many things. Weaknesses should be acknowledged and developed just enough so that they don’t hold a person back or get in the way of progress. But beyond that, there is a diminishing rate of return on the effort spent in trying to strengthen them. The focus on improving weaknesses should only be “to keep you in the game.” The things that an individual and the company are good at, are where to focus. It will pay off in both employee satisfaction and company performance.
It takes a very enlightened leader to pull off a personalized approach within a corporate framework. They must see the gifts of the individuals and match those gifts to a position (that may not quite fall in the standardized “job description”) and within the structure of the organization. It requires the leader to think out of the box, take risks and figure out how to pull it all together. It is in no way a cookie-cutter approach. Most companies stifle this type of flexibility.
As companies grow, they begin to focus on standardization and the force the homogenization of their people. They stifle creative thinking and alienate people from their gifts. As I have found through my years in the corporate world, few people are inspired to do their best work when they are forced into a box. When people are fully engaged and use their natural gifts, they do their best work. And, when people do their best work, companies achieve breakthrough results.
Perhaps we should all remember that homogenization is best for milk, not for people!
1 Comment August 18, 2009
