Commemorating the Centenary of harvard business review丨How to manage yourself?

Commemorating the centenary of the founding of the Harvard Business Review

This is a very classic article, and one of the most reprinted and popular articles in the Harvard Business Review since its inception in the 100th century, first published in 1999 by Peter Drucker, the "father of management".

Self-management requires looking at three seemingly simple points that are actually little known: each person's strengths, the way they work, and their values. Knowing where you belong is only when you are successful.

Throughout history, the reason why successful great people have been able to achieve different things from ordinary people is because they are very good at self-management.

1. What are my strengths?

The only way to discover your strengths is through feedback analysis. Whenever you make an important decision or take an important action, you can record your expectations of the outcome in advance. After 9 to 12 months, compare the actual results with your expectations. As long as you apply this method consistently, you can discover your strengths in a relatively short period of time (maybe two or three years).

Based on the implications of feedback analysis, action needs to be taken on several fronts.

1. Focus on your strengths. This is the most important thing, to put yourself in those places where you can play to your strengths.

2. Strengthen your strengths. Feedback analytics quickly shows where you need to improve your skills or learn new ones. It will also show you gaps in knowledge – gaps that can often be filled. Mathematicians are born, but everyone can learn trigonometry.

3. Discover and overcome any prejudice and ignorance caused by arrogance. Too many people, especially those with specializations in their craft, tend to dismiss knowledge in other fields or think that a clever mind can replace knowledge. However, if people are still complacent about such ignorance, it is tantamount to self-destruction. In fact, to make the most of your strengths, you should strive to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge.

4. Correct your bad habits. Bad habits are things that affect your work effectiveness and performance. Such habits can be quickly reflected in feedback.

Comparing expected and actual results will also find yourself unable to do anything. Each of us has many ignorant and untalented areas in which we cannot even reach the level of mediocrity.

People, especially knowledge workers, should not try to accomplish the work and tasks in these areas. They should try to waste as little energy on areas that are incompetent, because going from incompetence to mediocrity requires a lot more effort than going from first-class to great.

2. How do I work?

For knowledge workers, "What is the way I work?" What might be my strength than "Probably"? "This issue is even more important.

The same person's strengths are the same, and the way a person works is unique, which is determined by the person's personality. Just as what a person is good at and what is not good at is established, the way a person works is basically fixed, it can be slightly adjusted, but it cannot be completely changed - and certainly will not change easily.

To do a good job of self-management, you also need to ask the question: Can I work well with others? Or do you prefer to go it alone? If you do have the ability to work with others, you have to ask the question: In what kind of relationship do I work with others?

Some people are best suited to be subordinates. General George Patton, the great hero of The United States during World War II, is a good example. Patton was a senior general in the U.S. Army. However, when he was proposed as an independent commander, the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, and perhaps the most successful Kó Lè in U.S. history, General George Marshall, said: "Patton is the best subordinate of the U.S. Army, but he will be the worst commander." ”

Some work best as team members, others work best alone; some are particularly talented as coaches and mentors, while others are not capable of mentoring.

Another key question is: How can I achieve results, either as a decision maker or as an advisor? Many people perform well as consultants, but are not able to take on the burden and pressure of decision-making. Conversely, there are also many people who need consultants to force them to think before they can make a decision and then execute it quickly, confidently, and boldly.

By the way, the number two person in an organization often fails to be promoted to the number one position, and it is for this reason.

The highest position requires a decision maker, and a strong decision maker often puts the person he trusts in the second position as his adviser. The consultant is often excellent in the number two position, but when he moves to the number one position, he can't. Although he knows what kind of decisions to make, he cannot accept the responsibility of actually making decisions.

Don't try to change yourself, because then you're unlikely to succeed. However, you should work hard to improve the way you work. Also, don't do work that you can't do or can't do well.

How do I learn?

There are about six or seven different ways to learn. Which one do I belong to? This is the first question to ask yourself. But these problems alone are clearly not enough. To do a good job of self-management, you also need to ask the question: Can I work well with others? Or do you prefer to go it alone? If you do have the ability to work with others, you have to ask the question: In what kind of relationship do I work with others?

Some people are best suited to be subordinates. For example, General George Patton, the great hero of the United States during World War II, was a senior general in the US military. However, when he was proposed as an independent commander, the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, and perhaps the most successful Kó Lè in U.S. history, General George Marshall, said: "Patton is the best subordinate of the U.S. Army, but he will be the worst commander." ”

Some people do the best as team members. Others work best alone. Some people are particularly talented as coaches and mentors, while others are not capable of being mentors.

Another key question is, how can I achieve results, either as a decision maker or as an advisor? Many people perform well as consultants, but are not able to take on the burden and pressure of decision-making. Conversely, there are also many people who need consultants to force them to think before they can make a decision and then execute it quickly, confidently, and boldly.

By the way, the number two person in an organization often fails to be promoted to the number one position, and it is for this reason. The highest position requires a decision maker, and a strong decision maker often puts the person he trusts in the second place, as his adviser.

This conclusion deserves our repeated emphasis: don't try to change yourself, because then you are unlikely to succeed. However, you should work hard to improve the way you work. Also, don't do work that you can't do or can't do well.

What are my values?

To be able to manage myself, the question that has to be asked is: What are my values? It's not a question of ethics, the code of ethics is the same for everyone.

If an organization's value system is not accepted by or incompatible with its own values, people will feel depressed and ineffective.

Like organizations and people, there are values.

In order to be effective in an organization, an individual's values must be compatible with the values of that organization. The values of the two do not have to be the same, but they must be close enough to coexist. Otherwise, the person will not only feel frustrated in the organization, but also fail to achieve results.

There is rarely a conflict between a person's way of working and his strengths; on the contrary, the two can complement each other. However, a person's values sometimes clash with his strengths. Something that a person does well, or even can be said to be quite good and successful, may not coincide with their value system. Values are and should be the ultimate touchstone.

What should I contribute?

For knowledge workers, they have to ask a question that has never been asked before: What should my contribution be?

To answer this question, they must consider three different factors:

What are the requirements of the current situation?

Given my strengths, the way I work, and my values, how can I make the most of what needs to be done?

Finally, what results must be achieved to have a significant impact?

It's unlikely to look too far ahead — or even particularly effective. In general, a plan can be difficult to be clear and specific if it spans more than 18 months.

Achieving self-management requires being responsible for interpersonal relationships

Whether they are members of organizations or individual professionals, most people have to cooperate with others, and it is effective cooperation. To achieve self-management, you need to take responsibility for your relationships. This consists of two parts.

First, accept the fact that others are individuals like you. They will insist on showing their personality as human beings. That said, they also have their own strengths, their own way of doing things and their own values. So to be effective, you have to know the strengths, working styles, and values of your collaborators. This truth sounds easy to understand, but few people really pay attention.

A person who is accustomed to writing reports is a typical example of this — he developed the habit of writing reports at his first job because his boss was a reader, and even if the next boss was a listener, the person would continue to write reports that were sure to have no results.

The boss will therefore definitely think that this employee is stupid, incompetent, lazy, and certainly can't do a good job. However, this situation can be avoided if the employee has studied the situation of the new boss beforehand and analyzed the way the boss works.

It is the responsibility of the people they work with to observe them, understand how they work, and adjust themselves accordingly to adapt to the most effective way of working with their bosses. In fact, this is the secret of "managing" a boss. This method works with all the people you work with.

Second, communication responsibility. Most people now work with people with different tasks and responsibilities. The VP of Marketing may be a sales background and knows everything about sales, but he knows nothing about things he's never done before, like pricing, advertising, packaging, and so on.

So, those who are doing this work have to make sure that the VP Of Marketing understands what they're trying to do, why they're doing it, how they're going to do it, and what results they expect to achieve. If the VP of Marketing doesn't understand what these high-level, knowledge-based professionals are doing, the fault lies primarily with the latter, not himself.

The VP of Marketing, in turn, is responsible for making sure that all of his colleagues know how they see the work of marketing: what his goals are, how he works, and what he expects of himself and each of his colleagues.

Organizations are no longer built on power, but on trust. Trusting each other doesn't necessarily mean they like each other, but it means they understand each other. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for people to take responsibility for their own relationships. It is an obligation.

Whether a person is a member of a company, or a consultant, supplier or distributor of the company, he needs to take this responsibility to all of his collaborators. The so-called co-workers refer to the colleagues he relies on at work and the colleagues who rely on him.

Reviewer: Han Chenchen

Editor: Morning