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BEYOND GOAL SETTING:

STRENGTHS-BASED DEVELOPMENT PLANNING TO ACCELERATE YOUR CAREER

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Click to edit text styles• Second level

- Third level

- Fourth level

- Fifth level

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Tweets Welcome! @GriffithsCPA

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Prepare to be vulnerable . . .

TRULY EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMERS

What Makes the Difference?

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What separates truly great performers from everyone else?

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Deliberate Practice

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Deep Domain Knowledge

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Willingness to Repeat Hard Things, Even After Initial Failures

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Push Themselves Just Beyond Their Current 

Capabilities

"Organizations tend to assign people based on what they're already good at, not what they need to work on." 

‐ Geoff Colvin

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Developmental Goals

"The best performers set goals that are not just about the outcome, but about the process of reaching the outcome." 

Separate Coaching from Mentoring

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Structured Coaching

3‐3‐1 in 15 minutes

•What’s working?

•What’s not?

•One goal

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KNOW THYSELFWhy do we fail to get to know ourselves?

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How do I get good, honest feedback?

Create safety

Prime the pump

Start early in your career

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Create Safety

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Create Safety

Warmth . . . And . . . Strength• Do you mean me harm?• Do you have the capacity to 

carry it out?

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Prime the Pump

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Start Early

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Getting to Know Your STRENGTHS

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A Word About Strengths

• Is it just something that you’re good at?

• Is it different from a skill or ability?• Traditionally we would define a

talent in terms of the output• Strengths theory defines it in

terms of energy and engagement

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Gallup Strengths Framework

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Map Your Strengths

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Know ThyselfA leader needs to know his strengths as a 

carpenter knows his tools, or as a physician knows the instruments at her disposal.  What great 

leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths – and can call on the right 

strength at the right time.  This explains why there is no definitive list of characteristics that describes 

all leaders.

‐ Dr. Donald O. Clifton

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Leadership is the capacity to influence human 

thought, emotion, and behavior starting with my 

own.

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How do I identify my strengths?

• What is working well and how can I do more of it?

• What things energize me?

• Do I feel a sense of yearning or inevitability?

• Would I do this even if I weren’t getting paid?

• VIA and SBL surveys

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Pair Share• Give each person the opportunity to share

• What did you learn?

• What really jumped out at you?

• Does the report seem to accurately describe you and your strengths?

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Compounding….Small, Intentional Tweaks

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Change the Frame

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Why Focus on Strengths….What About Weaknesses?

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UNDERSTANDING INFLUENCEMoving the needle on human behavior

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One of your engagement team members has been showing up late consistently for the past two weeks.  What are some possible reasons for why they have been late?

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What if Mikey doesn’t like it?

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Understanding Influence

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Two Key Questions: 

What are the results I want?

What behaviors will get me those results?

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What were the desired results?

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What would you like to influence?

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Create a SMART Result:

• Specific• Measurable• Attainable• Relevant• Timebound

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What specific 

behaviors will 

contribute to your desired result?

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Positive Deviants

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Critical Moments

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What specific 

behaviors will 

contribute to your desired result?

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What specific 

behaviors will 

contribute to your desired result?

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Why aren’t you seeing those behaviors?

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MOTIVATION ABILITY

Personal

Social

Structural

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Can I  do it?

Do others motivate me?

Do others enable or hinder or prevent me from performing?

Does my environment motivate me?

Does my environment enable or hinder my performance?

Am I motivated?

Six Sources of Influence

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MOTIVATION ABILITY

Personal

Social

Structural

Make the Undesirable Desirable

Over Invest in Skill Building

Harness Peer Pressure

Find Strength In Numbers

Design Rewards

Change the environment

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Six Sources of Influence

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Call Centers, the Ultimate in Unmotivated Employees

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Why Do You Wash Your Hands?

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“The greatest untapped source of

motivation . . . is a sense of service to others; focusing on the contribution of our work to other peoples’ lives has the potential to make us more productive than thinking about helping ourselves.”

Dr. Adam Grant – Wharton

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Why is it so motivating?

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Two FactorsHow Intense is 

the pain or reward?

How immediateis the pain or reward?

How do we keep the bigger picture in perspective?

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Two FactorsHow Intense is 

the pain or reward?

How immediateis the pain or reward?

How Can You Bring the Horizon a Little 

Closer?

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It’s the experience….

Story Telling

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Strengths and Motivation

What works for one may not work for another. The approach needs to be tailored to each individual.

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A Tale of Two Staff

Executing

Relationship Building

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Personalize

We’re all unique (no this is not photo shopped)

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Source Two: Personal Ability

How many calories are in a caramel apple?

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Coaches and Mentors

Sources 3 & 4

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Confidence in your presentation . . .

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Confidence in your presentation . . .

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Who are the influencers?

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Source Five: Structural Motivation

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Source Six: Structural Ability

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Source Six: Structural Ability

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PLAN FOR FAILURE

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Let’s Connect

Dan Griffiths is the Director of Strategic Planning at Tanner, a CPA firm based in Salt Lake City. He provides strategic and business planning, business coaching, and leadership development. Contact Dan at: dgriffiths@tannerco.comOr connect with him on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dangriffithscpa

© 2016 American Institute of CPAs. All rights reserved.