Focus On Your Employees Strengths and Watch Them Shine

A leader’s charge should be to help maximize their team's strengths.

A part of this process is learning your team collectively and on an individual basis, while helping to build their jobs/responsibilities around these strengths.

Due to "right-sizing" over the past several years (a term that's very PC and one I'm not fond of), many people have been asked to take on more responsibilities... Many of which do not compliment their skill set nor even fit into the scope of their job.

There's a difference between strategic and intentional cross-training for the benefit of someone's development and growth, and piece-mealing outlying tasks to your employees after the fat is trimmed.

This practice leads to disengagement, lower productivity and morale, and in many cases, attrition.

If you want to retain employees and get the best out of them, let them do what they do best.

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CEO and Founder of The Bernard Group, Gregory Bernard is an Associate Director for University Relations at Wesleyan University, specializing in alumni leadership development, volunteer cultivation, affinity group management, and program logistics/execution.

With over 10 years of experience in student and alumni affairs combined, Gregory has been a featured speaker for seminars on leadership, diversity, advanced communication techniques, and career preparation.