People Have “Ridges”

“Ruffles have ridges.” For many years, that was the tagline for Ruffles potato chips. The message was clear. The ridges made for a tastier and more enjoyable experience than plain potato chips People have ridges as well.  It’s all those little bumps that make them unique. They have high and low points, good and bad qualities. They hit a homerun in some areas and strike out in others. Unfortunately, we spend far too much time trying to hire people without ridges or trying to smooth out all their rough places. If your role involves leading people, let me offer two simple suggestions:

• Quit waiting for the day when no one on your team has ridges. Some leaders hold their breaths, hoping for the day when they don’t have any staff issues. That is simply not realistic. If you can’t stand the challenges of managing people, including disappointing performance and the messiness of life, then you may be in the wrong role.
• Celebrate and capitalize on the ridges. Those areas where a person is not plain, where he or she is uniquely gifted, can be leveraged to take your organization to the next level. That means that you need to recognize those special talents and place them in positions where they can best be used. As Marcus Buckingham says, “Casting for talent is one of the unwritten secrets to the success of great managers.”

If you’re not convinced, keep in mind that you also have ridges. I’m not saying that it’s always fun to deal with people’s uniqueness. But think how boring and ineffective your organization would be if everyone was just a plain potato chip. It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>