Managing Oneself
Managing Oneself
By Peter F. Drucker
By Peter F. Drucker
What does it mean to manage oneself?
Develop yourself.
Place yourself where you can make the greatest contribution.
Stay alert and engaged over your entire working life.
Know how and when to change the work you do.
"A person can perform only from strength" (p.2)... "We need to know our strengths in order to know where we belong" (p.3).
How do I discover my strengths?
"Feedback analysis"
What Drucker suggests could also be thought of as a regular habit of "projection and reflection". Projection: an estimate or forecast of a future situation or trend based on a study of present ones. "Whenever you make a key decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen. Nine or 12 months later, compare the actual results with your expectations" (p.3). Reflection: serious thought or consideration.
This habit of "feedback analysis" will reveal your strengths. Drucker makes a parallel statement that lends further definition to what feedback analysis is and does. He calls it, "steadfast focus on performance and results" (p.4).
"Practiced consistently, this simple method will show you within a fairly short period of time, maybe two or three years, where your strengths lie - and this is the most important thing to know" (p.5). Drucker suggests the method will show you three things:
What you're doing or failing to do that deprives you of the full benefits of your strengths.
Where you are not particularly competent.
Where you have no strengths and cannot perform.
"Several implications for action follow":
Concentrate on your strengths... Put yourself where your strengths can produce results.
Work on improving your strengths... Improve skills or acquire new ones... Fill the gaps in your knowledge.
Discover where your intellectual arrogance is causing disabling ignorance and overcome it.
"Go to work on acquiring the skills and knowledge you need to fully realize your strengths" (p.7).
"It is equally essential to remedy your bad habits - the things you do or fail to do that inhibit your effectiveness and performance" (p.7)
Conclusion:
Determine your strengths, then work to improve them, and position yourself to work where your strengths are fully utilized. "Energy, resources, and time should go instead to making a competent person into a star performer" (p.10).
"How I perform" could also be thought of as "How I get things done". Different people work and perform differently. "Too many people work in ways that are not their ways, and that almost guarantees nonperformance. For knowledge workers, How do I perform? may be an even more important question than What are my strengths?" (p.10)
I am in a field that is knowledge work - it is mostly, if not entirely cognitive work. Therefore, I must be able to answer the question "How do I perform?"
"Like one's strengths, how one performs is unique. It is a matter of personality." (p.11) How a person performs is a matter of personality, and personality can be slightly modified, but it is unlikely to be completely changed.
Don't seek to change the way you perform. Seek to maximize it.
Drucker says there are a few common personality traits that usually determine how a person performs:
Am I a reader or a listener? It seems that this has to do with how you process and respond to information. Readers process information internally and before responding. Listeners process information externally (in dialogue) and respond simultaneously.
I am a reader, and I am in knowledge work. Therefore, I perform best with ample time for early and internal thinking and processing. This allows me to perform at my best.
The second trait is How do I learn? Some learn by reading, some by listening and some by writing. Some people learn by doing. Others learn by hearing themselves talk. "Indeed there are probably half a dozen different ways to learn." (p.16)
"Of all the important pieces of self-knowledge, understanding how you learn is the easiest to acquire. When I ask people, 'How do you learn?' most of them know the answer. But when I ask, 'Do you act on this knowledge?' few answer yes. And yet, acting on this knowledge is the key to performance..." (p.18)
The third trait is Do I work well with people, or am I a loner? "And if you do work well with people, then you must ask, In what relationship?" (p.19) Some work best as subordinates, some as commanders, some as team members, some alone, some as coaches and mentors.
A fourth trait is Do I produce results as a decision maker or as an adviser? Decision makers need advisers, and vice versa, but "the top spot requires a decision maker." (p.20)
"Strong decision makers often put somebody they trust into their number two spot as their adviser - and in that position the person is outstanding. But in the number one spot, the same person fails." (p.21)
Between decision maker and adviser, I am positive that I am an adviser.
Other important questions to ask that reveal personality traits are:
Do I perform well under stress, or do I need a highly structures and predictable environment?
Do I work best in a big organization or a small one?
"The conclusion bears repeating: Do not try to change yourself - you are unlikely to succeed. But work hard to improve the way you perform. And try not to take on work you cannot perform or will only perform poorly." (p.22)
"This is not a question of ethics." (p.22) Drucker will briefly address the topic of ethics using what he calls "The Mirror Test". He tells a story of the German ambassador in London who, after refusing to participate in a unethical activity, said, "I refuse to see a pimp in the mirror in the morning when I shave." "That is the mirror test. Ethics requires that you ask yourself, What kind of person do I want to see in the mirror in the morning?" (p.23)
"To work in an organization whose value system is unacceptable or incompatible with one's own condemns a person both to frustration and to nonperformance." (p.24)
Drucker gives several examples of values conflicts to prove his point. I believe his concept of values could also be understood as philosophy. Your values will shape your philosophy, and vice versa. Drucker says, "Whether a business should be run for short-term results or with a focus on the long term is likewise a question of values." (p.26) I believe this could also be considered a question of philosophy - or how you envision and approach accomplishing your work. It is how you believe your work should be done.
Values / Philosophy / Beliefs will then inevitably shape your Strategy and Priorities. "But in any conflict between short-term results and long-term growth, each company will determine its own priority. This is not primarily a disagreement about economics. It is fundamentally a value conflict regarding the function of a business and the responsibility of management." (p.26-27)
"Organizations, like people, have values. To be effective in an organization, a person's values must be compatible with the organizations values. They do not need to be the same, but they must be close enough to coexist. Otherwise, the person will not only be frustrated but also will not produce results." (p.28-29)
It is important at this point to make a personal and organizational application to my work with FCA. FCA has established its organizational values of Integrity, Serving, Teamwork and Excellence. I find that I personally align with these values. However, I don't think the time has been taken to determine exactly what these values look like in organizational practice. What does it mean to act and conduct myself with integrity in all my work? Is it possible that there are people working for FCA who do not align with the value of integrity in the practical outworking of their FCA assignment? How would we know?
Also, there is a need for further definition of values as they pertain to belief and philosophy. FCA has defined a ministry strategy, which used to be called a ministry philosophy. It is how we believe ministry should be done. We call it "To and Through the Coach". This is all well and good. It is a belief about how ministry should be done and it's based on the value we ascribe to the position of the coach. I have found however, that there is a need for far greater specificity and detail when executing ministry and organizational strategy. Beliefs, philosophy and values will inevitably surface when working together with others and they will inevitably clash at some point if they are not aligned. It is the job of management and leadership to identify when values clash and attempt to bring unity. If there cannot be unity of values, someone must find another place to work. I think you could simply ask the question to a room full of FCA staff, "How do you make disciples?" and you would instantly reveal an eruption of various values; values that shape philosophy, approach, strategy and beliefs.
One more comment about ministry strategy/philosophy. I think it is not only fair, but best to say that if someone does not align with the value FCA places on Coaches and the target of the ministry then they should work somewhere else. It does not serve them, nor the organization of FCA because this is clearly a misalignment of values. FCA should only employ people who share this value, which is expressed in the ministry strategy, "To and Through the Coach". Not doing so will dilute FCA potency and culture, confuse the message, and cause employees to be frustrated.
You must never compromise your values just because you can leverage your strengths and your performance. "[T]here is sometimes a conflict between a person's values and his or her strengths. What one does well - even very well and successfully - may not fit with one's value system. In that case, the work may not appear to be worth devoting one's life to (or even a substantial portion thereof)." (p.29)
I am very grateful for the story the Drucker shares here:
"Many years ago, I too had to decide between my values and what I was doing successfully. I was doing very well as a young investment banker in London in the mid-1930s, and the work clearly fit my strengths. Yet I did not see myself making a contribution as an asset manager. People, I realized, were what I valued, and I saw no point in being the richest man in the cemetery. I had no money and no other job prospects. Despite the continuing Depression, I quit - and it was the right thing to do. Values, in other words, are and should be the ultimate test." (p.29-30)
"A small number of people know very early where they belong... (p.30).
After contemplating What are my strengths? How do I perform? and What are my values? a person will find themselves at this juncture: Where do I belong? Where you belong should be determined by your strengths, how you perform, and your values (or what I think should also be understood as philosophy).
Drucker says some know early on in life; some learn late, "But most people, especially highly gifted people, do not really know where they belong until they are well past their mid-twenties" (p.31). My logic here is: Highly gifted people do not really know where they belong until they are well past their mid-twenties; I don't know where I belong and I am past my mid-twenties; therefore, I must be a highly gifted person... right?
The journey to discovering your strengths, performance, and values can take time and is probably never-ending, but, as Drucker says, at some point "[you] should know the answers to the three question:
What are my strengths?
How do I perform? and,
What are my values?
And then [you] can and should decide where [you] belong" (p.31).
"Or rather, [you] should be able to decide where [you] do not belong." I'm very grateful that Drucker says this. It is probably far more frequent in this process that we make a decision based on knowing that we don't belong, rather than that we do. We should also embrace the fact that we might find ourselves at a juncture where we have to choose from among several options where we could truly belong and make a big contribution. This is because there are many vocations that are very similar. If you have options, you should be grateful, even though it might be difficult to make the decision. Eventually you must simply make the decision and move forward.
Drucker gives an example that hits home for me: "The person who has learned that he or she does not perform well in a big organization should have learned to say no to a position in one" (p.31). Make decisions about where you will belong based on what you know about your strengths, how you perform, and your values.
I would like to quote this next section at length because it resonates with me strongly:
"Equally important, knowing the answer to these questions enables a person to say to an opportunity, an offer, or an assignment, 'Yes, I will do that. But this is the way I should be doing it. This is the way it should be structured. This is the way the relationships should be. These are the kind of results you should expect from me, and in this time frame, because this is who I am.' Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values. Knowing where one belongs can transform an ordinary person - hardworking and competent but otherwise mediocre - into an outstanding performer" (p.32-33).