The Passion/Skill Matrix:
Do What You Love, and Love What You Do
“People do best…what they like best to do.” That’s an old adage by Frederick W. Taylor, the original efficiency expert and management guru who wrote his Principles of Scientific Management way back in 1911. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? And yet, so many people hate their jobs. So why is that? What’s going on?
Think about your hobbies. You know, the things you do for fun. Whatever it is, whether it’s playing a sport, a musical instrument, practicing a craft, or whatever, you probably do it for at least one of the following two reasons: you’re good at it and/or you enjoy it. Otherwise, why do it?
If you love doing something, let’s say, playing the guitar or the piano or drums—even if you’re not very good at it—you’re going to pick it up and “fiddle around” with it, spending your spare time practicing, and watching and listening to others play, all in the hope of getting better. Even if you’re not that great and know you’re probably never going to play in a band, you still do it because it’s fun.
Similarly, if you’re good at something, even if it’s something like balancing your checkbook, you may not love doing it, but since you’re skilled in math and it comes quick and easy to you, you don’t really mind doing it. Or maybe you do?
What about something that you love doing and you’re good at? Now you’ve hit the magic bullseye: your passions and your skills are in alignment! Let’s say you love playing tennis and you discovered years ago that you’re pretty good at it. Most likely, with this combination of passion and skill, you enjoyed watching tennis on TV to see how the pros do it, didn’t mind hitting a tennis ball against the wall for hours on end, and got a rush from playing every chance you got. Over time, your skills grew. And as your skills grew, so did your confidence, which led to you taking on tougher challenges, practicing more, winning against better and better opponents, having fun competing and winning, and enjoyed your increased success. No, you’re probably never going to qualify to compete in the U.S. Open, but you’re at a level you’re proud of and enjoy as you keep working on taking your game to the next level.
Now, what about when you are stuck doing something that you are not good at, and do not enjoy doing? How successful do you think you are going to be? Probably not very. And, yet, this describes a lot of people’s jobs.
So how does this happen?
Here’s how it happened to me: Many years ago, I had been out of work for a while when I was offered an amazing job as the VP of Business Development and head of the New York office for a leading west coast interactive agency. I was so honored to be hired by, and excited to be working for, this innovative company that I couldn’t wait to take on the challenge of helping them to grow their east coast business.
But once the initial excitement wore off, the job itself ended up being much tougher for me than I ever anticipated. I started just around the time of the dot-com crash when finding new business instantly became a tall order. And, unfortunately, I quickly discovered the hard way that I did not possess either the ability or the personality type required to succeed in this kind of role—especially in this exceptionally tough market environment. And, so, as time went on and as I continued to fail, my stress level rose, and I enjoyed the job less and less, until I could not even bear to get up for work in the morning.
If you’ve ever had a job that you didn’t like and that you were not good at, you know what I’m talking about. Through nobody’s fault but my own, I was set up to fail every single day, and I just wanted out. When I eventually got laid off, despite my intense feeling of loss—as I loved the company and the people, especially the CEO—it ended up being a huge relief.
In almost every job, there are going to be aspects of your role that you enjoy doing and those that you don’t. There are going to be things that you are good (or even great) at, and things that you are not. So, the key to success lies in finding a position that strikes the right balance.
For example, in my current role running a management and leadership consulting, training, and coaching firm, I love and excel at the consulting, training, and coaching part. But there are also aspects of my job that I don’t love and that I am not that great at (for example, the financial and the technology functions). So, what to do about it? What would you do about it?
Well, that’s where looking at yourself and your job through the lens of the Passion/Skill Matrix model comes in handy. Since you probably care more about how you could use this model to assess your situation than worrying about me and mine, let’s take a look at it this way:
1. Make a list of all the different things you do on a regular basis within your job: all the tasks and responsibilities that come with your role, and then break these tasks up into these four categories:
• Things you are good or great at;
• Things that you are not;
• Things that you like or love doing; and
• Things that you don’t.
If you like to quantify things, you can even score each item on a scale of 1–10 (with 10 being the most positive) from “I’m terrible at it” to “I’m amazing at it” and from “I hate it” to “I love it.”
2. Next, draw a four-box matrix like the one above (or you can use the worksheet shown at the end of this chapter), and place each of these items in one of the four boxes. For example (depending on your type of job), let’s say you are good at and enjoy writing; put that in the upper right quadrant. If you enjoy designing PowerPoint slides, but are not that great at it, put that in the upper left. If you’re good at generating Excel spreadsheets, but don’t enjoy it, put that in the lower right. And if you hate public speaking and feel that you are not good at it, put that in the lower left.
Now, let’s look at the four-quadrant matrix to ask the “So what?/So that!” question to discover how you can this model to be more successful:
Your Sweet Spot (upper right quadrant)—The things that you Like/Love and are Good At: If you have a lot of items listed in that box, you’re incredibly lucky! Try to spend as much time as possible on these things. This is where the intersection of your skills and your passions lie, and where you have the greatest potential to leverage your strengths and go from good to great. When you’re working on things that fall into this category, time flies, ideas flow, your energy is high, and you’re in your element…so spread your wings and fly!
Your Growth Zone (upper left quadrant)—The things that you Like or Love to do but are not great at…yet: These are your primary developmental opportunities. Why is that? Because if you have a passion for something, or even a curiosity, and you feel that you may have an aptitude or potential here, you are more likely to work at it by learning more about it, studying, practicing, trying, even failing, and seeking training and coaching in these areas. Einstein once said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
If you’re passionate about something, keep working at it! You never know how far you might get unless or until you try. And notice the powerful difference between saying “I’m not good at this” vs. “I’m not good at this…yet.” By simply adding that simple word “yet,” you open the world of possibilities.
Your Default Zone (lower right quadrant)—The things that you Don’t Like to do, but are Good at: Perhaps they are things that you used to like doing, or things where you just became the “go-to” person for by default because it comes naturally to you and everyone knows it. Perhaps people think that you enjoy it.
For example, as a former English major, people always gave me things to proofread and edit because they knew I was a decent writer; but that didn’t mean I wanted to be everyone’s proofreader! Well, being good at something that you don’t like doing is a great developmental opportunity—for someone else! Here’s where you might be able to outsource, delegate, or take on the role of a mentor or coach to help someone else develop their skills in this area. This is a win-win opportunity that will help someone else to grow while freeing you up to do other things…so that you can spend more time “above the line” in your Growth Zone and Sweet Spot.
Your Failure Zone (lower left quadrant)—And, lastly, the things that you Don’t Like (or Hate) to do, and are Not Good at. This is your Failure Zone…and you need to do whatever it takes to get out of this box as soon as you can. Again, we all have aspects of our jobs that we may not love, and may not be great at, but if you are spending a lot of time doing things that fall into this box, you are setting yourself up for a whole lot of pain and suffering. Take it from me, as I’ve been there (numerous times).
If you’re in a job that you really, truly dislike and that you are really, truly not good at—and don’t see a way to either improve your performance and/or find a way to not hate what you’re doing—then you are not doing your employer any favors by continuing to function in this capacity. Sometimes we stay in jobs just for the paycheck, but it’s really hard to sustain this state of being over the long haul. And it’s eventually going to take its toll on your physical and mental health. So, whatever it takes, you need to try to get yourself out of this box as soon as you can, in any way you can.
Question: Is it possible to turn something from your Failure Zone into a Sweet Spot? Of course! Your Failure Zone could, potentially, be your greatest area of opportunity! By definition, the items in your Failure Zone are those that you are not good at and don’t love. But do you not love these things because you are not good at them? If you improved, might you begin to enjoy them more? And if you enjoyed them more, might it be possible that the momentum could help you to transition into a different quadrant?
Say you identify something as belonging in your Failure Zone because you are not good at it and don’t like it. But what if you tried…and got better at it? And once you got better at it, you didn’t hate it quite as much. And now that you don’t hate it as much, you are willing to try it again, and with more and more experience you find yourself inching your way up, in this area, out of the Failure Zone until it now—magically—ends up in your Growth Zone!
From there, once you’ve broken through the box you had put yourself in, could this potentially gravitate across into your Sweet Spot? Only time will tell…but it is entirely within your power to make it happen…if you are willing to be open to the world of possibility. Think about it: How many of your Sweet Spot skills were once part of your Growth Zone; and, prior to that, your Failure Zone? My guess: probably most of them!
Here’s my real-life example for illustration:
Around twenty years ago, I was working for one of the country’s top management training companies as a program manager, in charge of overseeing our mini-MBA program. My job was to schedule and to supervise the external consultants who delivered the workshops; and my place was always behind the scenes and at the back of the room. As an extreme introvert and bookworm my entire life, I traveled all around the country with these superstar trainers and watched in envy and awe as they wowed our workshop participants with their knowledge, confidence, poise, and stage presence. And though I sometimes fantasized about my being up there in front of the room, I knew it was just a pipedream. When it came to public speaking, I was both terrified of it and terrible at it. All through school—from grade school to graduate school—I was always the student who sat way in the back of the room. At work, the dynamic wasn’t much different.
Until one day…when everything changed.
I was at a luxury resort in Hilton Head, South Carolina, setting everything up for a senior-level leadership program that would begin the next morning. The participants were to be a group of twelve small-company CEOs, and I wanted to ensure that everything would go smoothly. As I always did, I arrived the night before so as to get things perfectly set up for the trainer, who would arrive the next morning.
Only the trainer didn’t arrive that morning. He had been sick the night before, overslept, missed his early-morning flight, and wouldn’t be arriving until later that evening—after the end of the first day of the program. So, in a panic, I called my boss back in New York, asking, “So what do we do???”
“We only have two choices,” he said. “We could cancel the program, be completely embarrassed, and lose thousands of dollars along with our reputation.” He paused. “Or…”
This is when I started feeling faint, as I sensed what was coming: “Or…you’ll have to deliver the program.”
Wait. I’m sorry…What?
“You know the contents of this program inside and out,” he argued. “So what’s the problem?”
What’s the problem?! I thought. Are you kidding me?
Anyway…long story, short: I did it. I delivered that first day of the three-day program all by myself. Despite the fact that I had never—and I mean never—spoken in public before, let alone facilitated a leadership program for a group of twelve CEOs. The attendees (knowing the full story, which I confessed to them) greatly appreciated it…and assured me that, together, we would get through that first day. In fact, in many ways, those twelve leaders collaborating to help get me—and to get us all—through that first day—may have been the greatest leadership lesson of all. When the instructor finally arrived later that night, all was right with the universe. The program ended up being a complete success.
When I got back to New York and had a chance to reflect on everything that had happened, and my first public speaking experience, it hit me that I actually wasn’t that bad. And, to be completely honest, I didn’t hate it.
In fact, to my utter shock, I even kind of enjoyed it. And with that experience, my “Public Speaking” score of a 0/0 (zero/zero) got nudged up, just a notch, out of the depths of my Failure Zone. Though public speaking wouldn’t enter my Growth Zone for another five years, or become one of my Sweet Spots for another five years after that, it provides a living example of how, if this could happen for me, it could happen for anyone.
How does this story relate to the power of visual thinking? For years—both at school and at work—I would sit way in the back, envisioning what it would be like for me to be the one up there on the stage and envying those with the courage to get up there. However, when the time finally came, wherein I had no other choice but to take that gigantic leap, it was due to my having visualized it in my mind’s eye so many times before that enabled me to do it for real when I had to. And, for me, that was my greatest personal example of how “seeing the invisible” before it happens can enable you to “do the impossible” when the opportunity comes.
In Review
The Big Lesson: If you really sit down to reflect on your current role relative to this model and where you are spending your time, you can dramatically enhance your potential for success.
The Big Question: What percentage of your time at work (and in life) are you spending in each quadrant? And how can you use this model to spend as much of your time as possible “above the line”?
Your Big Insight:
Your Big Action: