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How do I use this guide?

Strategies for improvement
First, determine the need.

The key to using this guide is to identify the right development need. Five of the most typical development
needs fall into two major categories—the need to build skill or the need to reduce noise.

Developmental strategies to build skill in competencies are straightforward. In all cases, you can attack
the need directly or at least deal with it by working around the need. Consider these three cases that
indicate a need to build skill:

1. You are average in a skill that is critically important and needs to be stronger.

2. You are weak (unskilled) in an important area and you’d like to get better (skilled) or move from
negative to neutral.

3. You are untested (maybe unskilled) in an important area.

When your focus is to reduce noise in order to avoid derailment, it’s a bit different. If you receive feedback
that you have a Lack of ethics and values (103), this is a serious problem, and your goal should be to
neutralize this potentially career-stopping issue. Working on a staller is not the same as building a
competency. A staller is much more serious and likely results from many sources—what you underdo,
such as Interpersonal savvy (20) and what you overdo, such as Drives results (28) or Persuades (24). For
this reason, we have written separate remedies for the stallers and stoppers that cover tips you won’t find
if you simply go to Interpersonal savvy (20), for example. Consider these two needs that require you to
reduce noise:

1. You overuse a strength to the point that it is causing problems for you.

2. You have a staller/stopper that is causing serious problems for you that you need to neutralize.

Then, take action.

When you have identified a need, start to put your development plan together. List the competency and
the “before” description that applies to you (from either the Less skilled or Overused skill definitions). Or,
list the staller/stopper and the “before” description that applies to you from the Problem definition. Review
and record Causes as well as your learnings from the Context for each chapter. Then you are ready to
create an action plan. There are four possible strategies for taking action, depending on your need.

1. Develop. You don’t have to be good at everything. Most successful leaders have four to six major
strengths, but tend to lack glaring weaknesses. Developing in all 38 Competencies is unlikely, so
select wisely. If you are committed to developing a competency, create a plan using these
suggestions:

– Choose from the development tips. Look at the specific tips and pick the ones that apply. Each tip
addresses a specific manifestation of being unskilled at the competency. It is unlikely that all of
the topics or tips will apply to any one person. Think back to the Causes you checked and what
you learned from the Context.
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