Saying Goodbye to the Dome; A Legacy of Leadership
An interview with Steve Mermell
By Larry Hammond
The City of Pasadena, California, with a population of approximately 140,000, is the 44th largest city in California. Pasadena is a complex city for a municipality of its relative proportions. It operates more like a large city than one of comparable size. It is known around the world for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and the Tournament of Roses Parade. It is also the home to California institute of Technology, the ArtCenter College of Design, and other internationally known institutions.
The city’s complexities extend to managing a truly diverse population, ethnically and economically, as well as a deep historical commitment to its cultural and physical structures. First, it owns and operates a football stadium and does not have a football team. It operates its own water and power department that supplies water, sewer services and electricity to Pasadena residents and businesses. It has its own police and fire departments with over five hundred dedicated public safety staff that includes a helicopter operation. Running a city that is laser focused on its citizens’ diverse needs, with over 2,300 employees and has an annual budget approaching $1 billion, takes a certain type of dedication and leadership. Enter, Steven B. Mermell, who served as this city’s city manager from 2016 through 2021.
Steven B. Mermell
Pasadena City Manager (2016-2021)
Before becoming the city manager, Steve’s more than 30-year stent with the city included serving as assistant city manager, finance director, budget administrator and purchasing administrator, just to name a few. Steve’s resume states that his areas of expertise include improving operations, municipal budgeting, policy analysis and project management and that he has a history of creative problem-solving, building consensus and strategic management.
I went on to explore Steve’s journey to become city manager and I asked him what he thought helped him to ascend to this position. He replied that he believed that his writing ability and analytical skills gave him a leg up. These attributes helped him to shine and get noticed. He also sees himself as a generalist which allowed him the flexibility to work in a variety of roles and not to be pigeon-holed in one area.
Steve said that one of the things that he believes made him successful in bringing his team together was that he never saw himself the smartest person in the room, “you can’t be totally egocentric and be an effective leader.” Success requires a team effort. You pull from their strengths, manage weaknesses, and support the team. He relied on his team to get things done. During the COVID Pandemic he met daily with his leadership team to assess the situation and discuss options. “When facing a problem, you are just looking for an answer.” He says that he does not have to be the person with the innovative idea but that he knows a good idea when he hears one.
Then, there was the response to COVID. While this certainly was an extraordinary event for all cities and was challenging for all municipal leaders, Steve pointed out that one of the major highlights of the pandemic was that the City of Pasadena did not lay off any employees as a result of the shutdown. This was not the case for many other cities. All staff pitched in to help get through the crisis. “The staff responded fabulously! It was a true team response. The pandemic rolled out in a crazy way. We all thought that the shutdown was only going to be a brief time.” As we know, that was not the case. The shutdown dragged out for months and the pandemic continued to get worse. Steve took immense pride in the team he was able to put together. During the pandemic, he saw them come together and do an amazing job keeping vital services going in Pasadena. Staff were eager and able to step in and help wherever needed to keep things going. When a crisis occurs, a talented team will rally and work collectively to keep operations functioning. This is the sign of good leadership. No one person gets through tough situations alone. Amassing a strong and capable team will help ensure that an organization can be agile and adapt to any situation.
After becoming city manager, and having been awfully familiar with the city’s budget, Steve knew that there were short and long - term issues that needed to be addressed. He immediately began to focus on these budget concerns. He was instrumental in modifying the contribution agreement with the city’s legacy fire and police pension system that ensured stability in this substantial financial obligation for years to come. The city’s budget needed a long- term structural solution. This problem was addressed, in large part, due to the efforts of Steve Mermell. He was the driving force that pushed a sales tax proposition that won approval by the City Council and the citizens of Pasadena to increase the local sales tax that helped to stabilize the city’s budget. These actions helped to secure the city’s AAA credit rating, a critical factor in fortifying the city’s financial status and borrowing power.
During the lockdown, Steve said that he sent out encouraging messages frequently to uplift the staff. People thanked him for the messages and talked about how much they appreciated personal concern. Leaders can play a key role in encouraging and uplifting staff during tough times. Showing support during a crisis and extolling positivity are crucial to coalescing a team.
When I asked him, what kept him up at night? He replied, “lots of things.” When you go to sleep, there are always five other conversations going on in your head. The city’s budget was a big worry and the times that he had to make big presentations to the City Council usually rose to the top. Concerns with the city’s health department, which was in a serious budget emergency, was one of the issues that caused him to lose sleep. Pasadena is one of only three cities in the state to operate its own health department. The department is a unique and vital service provider to the city’s residents. It is true benefit was fully revealed during the pandemic. The department was losing $2 million/year out of a $14 million annual budget. This could not be sustained. Helping to rectify this problem is also one of the things that he is most proud to have resolved. The reward comes when you can truly make a difference. “We did right by the people that used the JWCH - Andrew Escaped Clinic – three hundred patients in the clinic receiving care for HIV were about to lose funding. Finding a solution to that issue had an immediate and direct impact on the people needing the services of this vital clinic.” He reflected on a time when he had seen one of the patients on the street. She saw Steve and said the care was even better than before and expressed how happy she was that the clinic was providing excellent assistance to her and the other patients. “Situations like that makes it all worthwhile."
In the leadership realm, there are many different approaches to leading. When asked to describe his leadership style, Steve described himself like this: “I am a shy person. Being out in front is not my first choice.” He said that he had to step into this role and go beyond his comfort level to function in the limelight. He says when he makes decisions, he sticks with them. He says that he tries to always “lead by example” and model the behavior that he would like others to emulate. He always tries to lead with integrity, honesty, and a sense of what is right, what is ethical - even when it would be easier to do something else or not having to tell your boss no.
One of the most important leadership qualities that Steve thought served him well was his ability to compartmentalize issues. He also says that his ability to compartmentalize was a benefit. In the city manager role, you need to be able to go from one extreme situation to another on a dime. While not everything matters equally, every problem is important in one way or another to some facet of the community.
Leaders are often faced with conflicting, often dueling, concepts and issues. Leaders that can effectively compartmentalize, can provide laser focus on complicated matters. The issues concerning local residents, are of paramount importance to various constituencies. As city manager, every issue must be delt with at an appropriate level of concern and diligence. Leaders also must set aside their personal thoughts and feelings to get the work done.
Leaders often have mentors that they look to for inspiration and guidance. When asked did he have a mentor or a leadership figure that he learned from to help him lead, he responded that he did look up to others for inspiration and he also looked at people that did the wrong things where he learned not to follow their example. He saw historical figures like Churchill and Roosevelt as leaders that knew what needed to be done during their challenges. He admired people in the city over the years that had more experience than he did. Great leaders do not operate in a vacuum. We have already established that having a formidable team is key to a leader’s ultimate success. I believe that it is equally important to seek out others that have set to right examples and build on other’s strengths, successes, and mistakes.
“A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”
-- Winston Churchill
This leads into how he managed really difficult situations. He did not consider dealing with problems to be difficult. He sees problems as challenges; “dealing with them is my job.” Of course, problems related to police shootings that legitimately upset members of the public are disconcerting and are “angst ridden” bring about a great deal of anxiety and apprehension throughout the community. Getting to the root causes of these issues are complicated but not insurmountable. Steve believes that there are so few things that are so intractable that they cannot be solved.
He says that “What was difficult is when you have a solution to a problem and now you have to get others to sign on.” One example of this is what to do with the historic YWCA building. In this case, there was a solution placed on the table and for other political reasons the city did not avail itself to the solution on the table. Now the problem continues.
One of the things that is getting lots of attention these days is finding work/life balance particularly in high demanding jobs like his. When asked about how he found balance in his life, he responded, “There was none.” In this job you could get a call from the police chief in the middle of the night or while you are out to dinner informing you of a situation or even a tragedy that has just occurred in Pasadena. These types of circumstances happened relatively frequently and need to be addressed 24/7. He also stated that the City Council demanded immediate answers and when you have eight bosses that require answers to a variety of issues then you need to be constantly updated on the issues and prepared to provide answers. “You are expected to know everything.” Steve was meticulous in staying on top of emails, text messages and whatever other forms of inquiry or communications that he needed to be addressed.
“Life balance is not really true. That’s a joke.” The idea of letting a text or message wait was not an option for him. That just caused more anxiety. For Steve, it was job first and, yes, his family did suffer for it. Even when traveling on vacation he still responded.
It is a tremendous benefit to knowing the organizational culture but Steve points out that within any large organization, there are many micro cultures. Cultural perceptions for all employees are shaped mostly by their specific experiences in their particular work groups. Getting to work in the different areas gave him a good sense of how the city functioned overall. This was especially important in managing the entire organization. The city is a multipronged organization that does a wide variety of things. It doesn’t just produce one kind of product. The city is responsible for multiple lines of work ranging from many extremes like public safety, water and power, transportation, libraries, to emergency medical care and much, much more. There are certain things that you need to know. “When you have been around as long as I have, you have seen where things have worked and where things have gone wrong. That is a good way to learn stuff. “
A leader’s success is directly associated with their ability to maximize working in their strengths. One of Steve’s dominant strengths is that he is an insatiable learner. This talent has served him well as he has climbed the ladder within the city. His ability to learn new things, coupled with a really good memory, allowed him to move from one job to another with confidence and competence. He also says that his ability to remain calm was a positive attribute. A large part of remaining calm in challenging situations is a leader’s confidence in accepting that their actions are the only thing that they can really control and knowing that those actions will surely find a way out of difficult situations is the root to remaining calm. Also, knowing that difficult situations are a part of life and certainly in jobs like city manager. Problems and difficulties are part of self-development and should be seen as an opportunity to gain experience and learn.
We all have reflections on the decisions that we have made, paths we have chosen and things that, if we could, do differently. When I asked Steve, what would he have done differently if he had the chance, he said, “nothing really. There are a few things that I may have wished turned out otherwise, but I would not change anything. There are some things that you look back on that didn’t work out that well and you can say maybe I shouldn’t have tilted that windmill but those are few and far between.” He is proud of what he has done. He did add that he would have networked more because he did not do much of that. Although, it should be noted that during the pandemic, networking events and conferences were extremely limited.
Motivating team members in the best of times is a challenging task. When asked how he kept his team motivated during the pandemic, Steve said, that “it was always important to keep it top-of-mind that people are the most important aspect when leading any organization.” His approach was to treat people as peers. He was not one that attempted to use gimmicks or tokens to motivate people. He felt that it was really important to be genuine and sincere and he believed that if you show people that their contributions are important, that was usually the best motivator. People will see right through you when you lack sincerity, and you will surely lose credibility.
One of the most important factors in leadership is the ability to prioritize effectively. Steve’s approach to prioritizing is to focus on big issues and to push decision making down to the lowest reasonable level. People tend to push things upwards, and leaders have to learn not to get bogged down with smaller issues that should be managed by others. In his role as city manager, he would prioritize about a half a dozen issues that he would focus on in a year. He would direct his attention to work to get those things done. If you lose focus on the really important things, then you will find yourself lost and bogged down with lesser priorities.
Because of his lengthy experience with matters in Pasadena, Steve believed that you have to develop a feeling for issues, that he had acquired a “six-sense,” so to speak, about how certain things would play out. He believed that this acumen served as a vital part in setting the right priorities for the city that he was charged to lead.
In the 2009, documentary concert-film, Michael Jackson’s This Is It, about the Pop star’s rehearsals for his upcoming concerts, depicted the artist’s proficiency of his artistry. In one particular scene, Michael needed to hit an exact mark at a certain time to coincide with video exhibition that was running simultaneously while he was performing. In a discussion with the Director, Kenny Ortega, about how he was going to pull this off since he could not see the video from where he was positioned, Michael confidently responded, “I’ll just feel it". In the next iteration of that scene, Michael nailed it and hit his mark perfectly – he felt it. This is a demonstration of the mastery of his craft from his years of preparation.
Steve uses the analogy that some people have a very unique skill of determining the sex of newborn baby chicks. You just have to know… by looking at feathers, coloration, and other components that you just know by holding the chicks in your hand. He used the example of when he worked at Chucky Cheese, and he had to put 7 oz. of cheese on the pizza that after doing it over and over you can just pick up the cheese and you know that it is the right amount.
In his job managing the city, he asserts that with experience, you learn how to feel when you need to jump on something or wait – the level of importance of issues and whether or not it is important to your overall goals – and like Michael Jackson, you just have to feel it.
When asked, if he ever doubted himself, he replied, that “the good news is that nothing immediately comes to mind.” That means that he did not have any nagging regrets. Leaders have to be comfortable in their decisions. Some decisions will be right, and some will not. He reiterated that everything was not just on him alone and that he had an amazing team working with him. He also pointed out that they did things incrementally by moving big decisions slowly and thoughtfully. He always acted in the city’s best interest.
The job of city manager is an incredibly challenging position for the reasons explained heretofore. So, I asked Steve how he would rate his performance and what he thought of the job in general.
“The job is incredibly interesting. It was great. COVID gave a great opportunity to lead.” Problems of this magnitude show whether or not you have any leadership skills or not. It gives you an opportunity to step up to the challenge. When everything is copasetic you do not really know if you can lead or not. That’s when you see people fail when they are not up to it. Inertia is such a powerful force. It is hard to do something different and it can be a very heavy lift to get things done but it is gratifying to make important things happen. Crisis force you out of the zone of inertia. Leaders understand that one of their primary responsibilities is to solve problems. Leaders that see problems as opportunities thrive in their roles as leaders.
In reference to how he would grade his performance, he made a baseball analogy and said that he felt that he had a Rod Carew batting average. Rod had a batting average of 0.328 – 34th of all time. Average for the league is about 0.250. So, I would put that in the top percentile in the world of public administration. While certainly many others will have varying opinions about Steve’s performance, it is amply apparent that his leadership skills and acumen were the right combination of aptitudes for a very unusual and demanding time.
Conclusion:
Excellence is not achieved in isolation. Excellence is created through the merging of people's differing strengths and creating teams that that are aligned on goals. Finding the right leader is where the true excellence and success happens.
It is said that great leaders motivate others; assert themselves to overcome obstacles; build trusting relationships; make informed, unbiased decisions for the good of their team and organization; and create a positive culture that will flourish. Finding the right person to fulfill these responsibilities is a daunting task for any organization. While the debate as to if it is more advantageous to promote leaders from within or from the outside will continue, the bottom-line is that whichever decision is made, the new leader needs to be effective and consequential in moving organizations forward. When a person comes from within the ranks of your organization that can stand up and lead the organization through an unprecedented pandemic and the many challenges that have faced the city over the past several years, then, for this city, the answer of leadership, for this time period anyway, has been answered.
Sometimes saying goodbye to a place, to a culture and to the people, who have been so much a part of your life can be extremely difficult. The memories, the successes and the challenges that were faced have become an integral part of you and will never be forgotten. In the case of Steve Mermell, saying goodbye to “the dome” is bittersweet. The friends left behind the laughs and maybe a few tears too, will all continue to be a big part of him and will guide his future endeavors. As for Pasadena, Steve’s legacy of leadership with the City of Pasadena will be part of the tapestry of the history of this great city for years to come.
City Hall, Pasadena, CA
What is Going to Make YOU the Next Great Leader? What Will Take YOU to the Next Level?
As the workplace dynamics and life situations are rapidly evolving, there are multiple opportunities to assume leadership roles. Circumstances whether in your job or in your community or even in your family may require you to step up and lead. For example, I have seen one of the biggest and most consequential leadership roles that I have had to undertake was addressing the needs of my aging parents. In our communities, we often see that individuals are standing up to fight for what they believe in or to seek justice. In the workplace, organizations are moving more aggressively toward team management and project-based operations. These settings have made it even more imperative that organizations invest in growing leaders that can step into management roles to execute their organizational.
So, what do the experts say makes a great leader?
Great leaders get straight “A’s” on their leadership test. They exemplify authenticity, accountability, adaptability and appreciation.
Great leaders cast a compelling vision about where they want to go and they have faith in their beliefs - they create lasting solutions to problems not just band aide fixes and they create a thriving organizational culture.
Great leaders stay positive, exhibit confidence and have a sense of humor - they are clear about their goals and decisive in their decisions - they lead with courage, passion and humility.
Great leaders handle controversial issues or crisis calmly and confidently - they embrace failures and manage setbacks while taking responsibility for their actions - they learn from their mistakes and make the hard choices when they have to.
Great leaders embrace change and lead by example - they communicate effectively and are transparent in their actions.
These are what I call the brass ring objectives. These tend to be the buzz words of leadership development. These are the things that we often shoot for to become better leaders. While these are all good intentions and yes great qualities to have as a leader, they tend to be taught as the flavor of the month but, in reality, nobody embodies all of these leadership qualities. While a finely tuned racecar looks great and will perform competitively on the racetrack it won’t be a winner when you need to bring the groceries home from the store; your SUV will do a better job at that.
So how are you going to become the next great leader? What will get you prepared to step into a leadership role, willingly or unwillingly, and have the best chance to succeed?
We all take on leadership roles in very different ways. Depending on our talents and strengths as well as knowing our limitations we all approach the responsibilities of leading in very different ways. Through Gallup’s research, it was determined that the most effective leaders are always investing in strengths. Without an awareness of your strengths, it is almost impossible for you to lead effectively.
“We believe that when the right talent meets the right opportunity in a company with the right philosophy, amazing transformation can happen.” -- Reid Hoffman
In order to be an effective leader, you need to take stock of your personal characteristics and skill sets and assess your strengths and weaknesses. Further education in leadership and management coupled with continued professional development of your skills are key. In this age of digital enlightenment and rapidly evolving workplaces, the definition of effective leadership is constantly changing and to keep up, leaders need to continuously ask questions of themselves.
In the popular TV show, Game of Thrones – Peter Dinklage plays Tyrion Lannister a dwarf living in this fictional world where physical strength and the ability to engage in warfare are rewarded. When asked why he reads so many books, his answer is to improve his already strong mind. Knowing that because of his physical limitations, that he would never excel as a warrior, his best chance to lead and succeed was through his intellectual abilities. He knew his strength was his intelligence and that by enhancing his strongest asset he could not only survive in a chaotic world but he would excel as a leader.
Knowing your strongest assets are your best chance to be a successful leader. Understanding not only your strengths but those of your team and bringing those talents to bear in your leadership endeavors is your best path to being a great leader. Knowing your strengths and those of your team is like having a blueprint of why you are or why your team members are the way that they are is like having a manual on how to make yourself or your team members function at optimal efficiency.
In my previous articles, I have been talking about knowing your strengths is understanding your “YUR”. Why you tackle certain challenges the way you do; why you react the way you do; why you lead the way you do are all encompassed in how you use your strengths. For example, if one of your strengths is communication you will lead best if you use this talent to influence others. Empathizing easily with others will take you a long way in your leadership responsibilities by helping to build strong relationships. Having strong analytical skills, will help you devise effective strategies while leading a team and if you are a person possessing an acute ability to focus then you will use this strength to lead your team in successfully executing their projects.
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is about growing others.” – Jack Welch
As a person that has “Maximizer” as my top talent theme according to the Gallup StrenghtsFinder assessment, I understand that great leaders know that people are key to your success. One of the keys to being a great leader, in my opinion, is being able to instill power within others. Lifting others up, inspiring them to grow and bringing out the best in people is the best way to create more leaders. A true leader is able to inspire their team to encourage them to go beyond excellence and accomplish far more than anyone expects them to – or they expect of themselves. Great leaders earn their team’s respect. They do this by getting to know their team by listening, providing productive feedback and they encourage cooperation over competition.
“You cannot have faith in people unless you take action to improve and develop them.” -- Sumantra Ghoshal
The other side of the leadership equation is encompassed in why followers follow. In the book written by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, Strengths Based Leadership, Rath and Conchie outline how you can effectively lead using your unique strengths. I highly recommend reading this book and with it you will get a code that will allow you to take Gallup’s StrengthsFinder Assessment.
If you are ready to find out what shapes your ability to be an effective leader and you are ready to maximize your “YUR” by discovering your talents, declaring your strengths and developing them into dynamic tools that will make you the next great leader V1H Consulting will help you to evolve your “YUR”.
“What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths – and can call on the right at the right time.” --Tom Rath
“How You Do Anything is How You Do Everything”
A Strengths Based Approach
Martha Beck is credited with coining the quote, “How you do anything is how you do everything”. This quotation has been widely used in a variety of training seminars, motivational talks and many books and periodicals. It would suggest that how you manage most situations, challenges or other experiences in your life is probably a good indication of how you handle almost all of the occurrences in your life. When I first heard this quote in a leadership seminar a few years ago, I wasn’t quite sure if this was really true and, if it was, how I would process this information. Typically, statements that include words like anything or everything are usually very broad expressions and, quite frankly, I interpret them with guarded reservations. For example, when I looked at the relationships that I have had in my life, or some of the actions that I have taken, I didn’t necessarily see a correlation to that statement. My relationships varied widely and because I may procrastinate on doing yard work that didn’t necessarily mean that I procrastinated in doing other things, especially things that I enjoyed doing. Also, while my desk may get a little messy, my car stays clean. And, I certainly would not want to compare how I play basketball or sing, for example, with how I do other things in my life. So, while I did see some things that fit in this model, my personal experiences didn’t seem to fit this doctrine consistently enough to solidify it in my consciousness.
Do you ever wonder why you make certain choices? Why you do what you do? Why you like certain things? In my last article, titled “YUR” which talked about how your talents and strengths determine why you do what you do, leads to the connection between strengths and the do everything scenario. Under the concept of “YUR” I have suggested that the core of why you do what you do is driven by using your strengths. As I viewed the do everything statement through the strengths lens, I could see a more definitive pattern that gave credence to this premise. As I developed the “YUR” concept, as it relates to StrengthsFinder, I began to see a pattern that provided more credibility to the notion that “how you do anything is how you do everything”. By looking at this quote in this new context, I saw it’s meaning in an entirely new perspective.
There are obviously some things we don’t do well. Strengths psychology pioneer Dr. Donald O. Clifton asked the question, “What will happen when we think about what is right with people instead of fixating on what is wrong?” This philosophy dictates that it is better to focus on the things that we do well. Why are we better at some things than others? There is a reason: It’s our talents. Our talents help us to understand why you are the way you are – ergo, your “YUR”. Knowing your talents helps us to understand how we naturally think and feel and they can shed light into our behaviors. Talents are aptitudes, personality traits and interpersonal characteristics like empathy, strategic thinking and assertiveness. These are things that you are born with. Infused with knowledge and the development of skills, these talents will become our strengths. These are enduring qualities in each of us because they are basically hardwired in our brains. In short, they affect our ability to reach our goals and desired outcomes. So, when you are using your talents and working in your strengths you can feel confident that when you do anything that you will find consistency in how you do everything and you can achieve the results that you desire when you know your talents and use your strengths to succeed.
When we look at others, such as, mentors, role models, leaders, etc. we look to them for inspiration and guidance but we also look to them to see if they do anything/everything consistently. Those that we admire for their accomplishments and are at the top of their game in what they do are using their strengths at the highest levels. Whether they are athletes, entertainers or in leadership positions they have discovered their talents and honed them to gain the maximum affect. It is their dedication, tenacity and work ethic that are driven and supported by their strengths. They repeat what has been working for them while enhancing their skills to improve outcomes. For example, a basketball player uses his or her skills as a 3-point shooter to have maximum impact on the game, entertainers use their talents to regale their audiences and leaders use their strengths to influence others to initiate change.
Therefore, I have determined that this notion of how you do anything is how you do everything can be a good thing. If you harness your talents and nurture them and ultimately make them your strengths, you too can use them to achieve your desired results. I encourage you commit to growing your strengths and use them to do everything. When you master the art of unlocking your strengths and step into the version of yourself that uses your strengths to do anything, then you will find that how you do everything will result in more positive results.
Management expert, Peter Drucker says, “everyone ought to know what their strengths are’. How you do anything is how you do everything when guided by your strengths creates patterns of success. Your strengths are your means of making positive contributions in the world. Your strengths are your inborn, hard-wired resources for good works. If you’re not making the most of your strengths, everyone's missing out. Start maximizing your strengths.
Discover, Declare and Develop your Strengths:
“If you are not focusing on your strengths then what are you focusing on?”
Because there’s a 1 in 33 million chance of you having the same top 5 talents in the same order as someone else, YOU are unique. Be inspired to live in your strengths zone. Join us in the world of strengths. Focus on Your Strengths.
If you have any questions about anything that you have read in this article, or you’d like to talk to us about helping your team to understand the power of Strengths then connect with us today to see if we might be a good fit to help your team or organization build a Strengths Based culture.
Larry Hammond, Sr.
Start your Strengths Journey with our Basic Introduction Course
“Why You Are…” How Your Strengths Exemplify You
At one time or another we have all been on the quest to find out “Who you are” in work, business or life. Who you are is generally determined by your beliefs, your character, and your values. These qualities are forged over time; through the influences upon our lives; our upbringing; our education and reactions to things that life has presented to us.
While knowing who you are is important, knowing why you are the way you are can provide a higher level of understanding about yourself and deserve further exploration.
Over your lifetime through experiences of trial and error, you consciously and subconsciously demonstrate your talents and subsequently when you use those talents they influence the outcomes in your life. Using your talents is a process of discovery not invention. When I was growing up, I played basketball with my friends and eventually found out that I was never really ever going to be that good at the game. On the other hand, swimming came more naturally to me and I used that talent to become a lifeguard. The same thing happens with our ability to communicate, to build relationships, to influence outcomes or to execute complex task. Just as I worked to develop my swimming talents into strengths that ultimately allowed me to pass the lifeguard test, developing talents into strengths in these other areas will promote success in other facets of your life.
Have you ever thought about why you are in the position that you are in? Why you are in the relationships that you are in? Why you have the successes in your life? My work has led me to propose that the answer to “why you are…” (YUR…) is determined by your talents and strengths. With our talents being a natural way of thinking, feeling or behaving and our strengths being the ability to consistently provide near perfect performance, these elements are major determinants of why you are the person you are. When we identify and apply our strengths, we act within our circle of competence. We use our strengths to navigate challenges, effectively. When we act within our circle of competence, we become more efficient, productive and successful. Your “YUR” is your collective talents and strengths that denote why you do what you do, react the way you react and respond the way you respond to life’s stimuli.
The “YUR…” is the combination of the drivers that push you to take certain actions or to respond to certain situations. These drivers are your strengths. As an illustration, Superman sees a person in a burning building with his x-ray vision then crashes through the wall and saves them. Because Superman knows his strengths; he knows that he can spot the person in trouble through the wall, break it down without getting hurt and save the victim in the fire without getting burned is an example of his “YUR…”
If he didn’t know and have those strengths his choices of rescue options would be quite different, he would have to find another way to attempt the rescue. While we don’t have super human abilities like Superman, we do have human abilities that we can make super. In Simon Sinek’s book, "Start with Why", Sinek talks about the importance of understanding why individuals and organizations do what they do and that by knowing the right question will drive them to the right purpose. Understanding your strengths manifest in the understanding of why you do what you do and the choices we make. This understanding is key to mapping out success strategies, making decisions, solving problems and enjoying life. When it comes to the question of “Why?” we may ask, why am I inclined to “go with the flow” in most situations? Why do I have a tendency to take control of a situation so easily? Why am I so competitive? - Why do I have such a strong desire to learn new things? Why do I love meeting and interacting with new people so readily? These are all examples of themes that drive us to react and behave in the ways we do.
Learning what your talents are is easy. The Gallup Corporation developed the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment that measures 34 distinct talents. When you take the assessment, you are shown how the 34 strengths themes line up for you. Those of us in the StrengthsFinder community often focus on the top 5 themes which tend to be our most dominant and those that we go to most often. These are the areas where you have the greatest potential to develop strengths.
The Gallup Corporation indicates that there is a 1 in 33 million chance that someone else will have an identical top 5 theme sequence. That means that your strength themes make you definitively unique. Your “YUR…” is equivalent to your DNA. It is your thinking combined with your actions. Just as your DNA determines your physical makeup, your abilities and attributes; in other words, “who you are”. Your talents and strengths makeup the “why you are” in life. What determines this extraordinary uniqueness is how your strengths work together. It is akin to a quantum theory explanation. The quantum analogy depicts the idea that your combined strengths work independently and collectively to fulfill a purpose. As an example, imagine two sports car drivers that are preparing to race each other. One driver’s car has five gears and she is skillful at switching from one gear to another. The second driver has five different cars, each equipped with only one gear. For him, his potential outcome is limited in having to choose a car that is confined to only one gear. This illustrates how when we are not working in our strengths we are less likely to be consistently successful.
For example, my top 5 strengths are Maximizer, Arranger, Strategic, Analytical and Responsibility so whenever I go out to run errands, I analyze the situation then I strategically arrange my trips responsibly to maximize what I can accomplish. Consequently, with all 5 of my strengths working in concert, I achieve the best outcome – this is my “YUR...". For those of you trying to find out who you are, I wish you the best of luck. For those of you that would like to know why you are… we have an answer for you.
If you are ready to find out what shapes your ability to achieve and you are ready to maximize your “YUR…” by discovering your talents, declaring your strengths and developing them into dynamic tools for success then V1H Consulting will help you to evolve your “YUR…”
Sharpening Your Talents and Allowing Your Strengths to Manage Your Expectations...By Larry Hammond, Sr.
Our expectations are our beliefs that something is likely to happen. Expectations are formed because we anticipate certain outcomes as we go about our life’s activities. We all have formulated particular expectations from the simple and mundane to the complex and serious aspects of our lives. When we turn on a light switch, we expect the light to come on; when we go to start the car, we expect the engine to turn over. When we travel by airplane, we expect the crew and equipment to work cohesively to get us to our destinations safely. We depend on reliable expectations to make decisions and to manage the activities that we undertake in our lives each day. While we would like all of our expectations to transpire as we predicted, that is certainly not always the case. This is especially true when it comes to expectations derived from the actions related to other people; our family, friends and colleagues. How we process these types of interactions becomes much more complicated. For example, how often have you expected your children to do one thing and they do the complete opposite? How many times have you had an encounter with a friend or associate where their actions have totally taken you by surprise; sometimes even shocked you? And, can you count the number of times that you have engaged a co-worker or colleague and gotten something entirely different then what you expected to get from that person either in action or work product?
We develop our expectations based on our experiences and our encounters. From a young age, we begin to learn what to expect when we do certain things; the reactions that we get from our parents and others when we act or perform in a particular manner. We learn to modify our expectations as we gain new information and knowledge. For example, if you touch a hot stove you may expect that all stoves are always hot. As we grow and discover new information, we modify our expectations accordingly and we can make better decisions as we make more informed assessments of our expectations.
In the case of a finely tuned basketball team, such as the 2017 Champion Golden State Warriors, you would imagine that they refine their respective talents to win games and team members rely on their team mates to exert their strengths to ensure they achieve victories and championships. For example, the Warriors turn to Steph Currie to make 3 point shots and there is a strong expectation that he will make them. Knowing your team’s strengths gives you a clear-cut advantage in implementing strategies and achieving success.
When a manager and other team members are confident that a team member will perform the necessary and comprehensive research to move a project forward; when the team is assured that a co-worker will take on a responsibility, take on complex tasks and move through those tasks with skill and grace; and when a team can rely on their cohort’s abilities and talents then you have a team that can EXPECT success! Conversely, expecting something from someone that they are unable to deliver can be frustrating and less productive.
Leaders who know how to manage expectations are able to more seamlessly navigate the choppy waters within their organizations. Why? Because they know how to communicate, organize and direct conversations around their team’s talents and strengths, thereby being more likely to successfully predict positive outcomes that ultimately achieve success for the team.
What if you could be more confident in your ability to predict expectations?
Building a Strengths based team is key to having the ability to predict expectations. Teams that know and intentionally use their unique talents and strengths have a significant advantage in managing and predicting expectations. Teams built around this philosophy learn to appreciate each other’s strengths and develop a level of trust in their team members’ abilities to deliver. They also know how to combine their strengths with other team members to directly enhance positive results.
The main components in a team environment that will influence the decision-making process and collaboration are the following:
Communication – Having teams grounded in their strengths allows for the team to express ideas in a common language that enables them to build complex connections between members. These connections increase the ability to predict expectations as team members are well grounded in what is being communicated to the team and among stakeholders. This promotes clarity.
Clarity – Using strengths as a basis for fostering effective communication among the team is the first step to solidifying clarity. When goals and objectives are clear and well defined, there is a much greater probability of achieving success. Teams that are fully operating in their strengths are much more likely to perpetuate understanding of intentions and purpose which boost assurance in the team’s capabilities, thus building confidence.
Confidence – Strength-based teams are confident in their abilities, their team members and in achieving the desired outcomes. Having high levels of confidence on a team is an essential predictor of expectations as to how the team will perform.
These elements are enhanced dramatically by discovering, declaring and developing Strengths.
“The expectations of life depend on diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools” -- Confucius
Your talents are your tools - Sharpen them and let your strengths help you manage your expectations.
Larry Hammond, Sr. – Certified StrengthsFinder Coach and Principal with V1H Consulting.
Find out more about strengths based workshops and training at wwwv1hconsulting.com