Update on Q12 and Introduction
of SF34
I'd like to give you just a brief update on our Gallup
Q12 activities, and then introduce a new tool about which
I'm very enthusiastic.
Hopefully all of you have had at least one impact meeting
with your workgroup to talk about your 2003 Q12 data,
identify areas for potential growth, and develop working
plans to move forward on those areas. If you need any
ideas on ways to increase your engagement, you may want
to reference FSA's Best
Practices report on HRD's website.
As we look forward to our next survey, which we're planning
for November 2004, I'd like to encourage you to have
follow-up meetings every 6-8 weeks to ensure progress.
I want to re-emphasize that the purpose is not about
increasing the numeric scores, but increasing our engagement
and thus our effectiveness as an organization, which
is not just a one-time effort.
In the meantime, we are beginning the second phase of
our Best Practices study. Last year focused on questions
1-6, and this year will focus on questions 7-12. We'll
be interviewing groups who are showing up as highly engaged,
as well as groups who are showing significant improvement
since last year. As soon as the interviews are completed,
Gallup will develop a report which we will make available
to each of you.
In conjunction with the work we're doing with Gallup's
Q12, I'm extremely pleased to announce that each of you
will have the opportunity to participate in Gallup's
StrengthsFinder (SF34). We will be piloting this in FMD,
and I plan to expand it to the rest of DAM in November.
My goal is for us capitalize on your individual strengths
and thereby maximize individual and organizational performance.
Gallup has conducted extensive research into the nature
of talents, which they define as "recurring patterns
of thought, feeling, and behavior that can be productively
applied." Their research revealed 34 themes of talent
that are indicative of success. Gallup's StrengthsFinder
assessment tool measures a person's talent in each of
these 34 themes, then reveals his or her five most dominant
themes, or "Signature Themes." An individual's
Signature Themes are very unique to that person - when
ranking within the set of five themes is taken into consideration,
33,390,720 different sets of Signature Themes are possible.
StrengthsFinder is used in a purely developmental context
- I want to assure you that this is not in any way a
placement tool. Gallup does not teach that any specific
theme of talent is more appropriate for one role than
for another (i.e., they don't suggest that "Achievers" should
necessarily be managers). Instead, they first look at
each person as an individual on the basis of talent,
then help that individual discover how to develop his
or her natural talents into strengths within his or her
role. Individuals who focus on their Signature Themes
-- their areas of greatest talent -- have the best opportunity
to build strengths and become more successful.
I am very excited about what StrengthsFinder can do
for us. This is, ultimately, an investment in each one
of you, with the goal that each of you will understand
1) your own dominant strengths, 2) how your strengths
help you in your existing position, and 3) how you can
maximize your strengths to increase performance in your
current role.
We, individually and as an organization, have far more
potential for growth in our areas of strength than in
our areas of weakness, and I anticipate great things
as a result of the work we'll do in this area.
If you have any specific questions related to Q12, Best
Practices or StrengthsFinder, please feel free to contact
Joanna Barlow at (202) 401-0225. And as always, I welcome
your comments and feedback on any of these engagement
activities.
Thank you,
John Williams.
