Ned Hallowell is known for his work on how people can manage ADHD in a positive way. His ideas also reached a wider audience with his book called Shine. This offered many practical tools that managers could use to help people to perform at their best.
Ned developed a framework that managers could use called The Cycle Of Excellence. This is something we will explore in the following pages.
Some people integrate this approach with several of the themes we have already explored. They use it to help individuals, teams and organisations to do fine work. This involves adapting the shine approach by focusing on the following themes.
Strengths
It involves encouraging people to build on their strengths.
Support
It involves following a strengths-based strategy, creating a certain structure and giving people the right support.
Shining
It involves enabling people to shine or do shining work.
Ned describes how some people have a strong desire to help others to shine. He gives the example of meeting such a person at Boston’s Logan Airport.
He saw an elderly man sitting next to his metal walker. Approaching him, Ned asked where he could get his shoe shined. The man smiled, drew himself up and said:
“I’m the shoeshine guy. Set you bags next to my walker here and step on up into my office. I am Doctor Shine.”
While shining the shoes, the man asked Ned what he did for a living. Ned explained that his speciality was to help people to make the best of their abilities. The man responded in the following way.
“Interesting. Would you believe it, that is my speciality too!
“I get up every morning, and I look forward to helping people get into the right frame of mine so they can shine, no matter where they go or what they do. When I do that, I’m happy.
“Every time you’re with a person, you’ve got a big chance. I say, don’t miss it. Don’t worry about putting out the fire before striking the match.
“I always strike the match. I want to find that spark in the person, you get what I mean?”
The man had been diagnosed with MS, but he wanted to keep working. Ned asked how he maintained his drive. The man replied in the following way.
“When somebody is sitting up in that chair, all I think about is what he needs and that gives me energy. I love to find that spark.”
Ned’s book goes on to describe how managers can enable their people to perform at their best. As mentioned earlier, he describes what the calls the Cycle Of Excellence.
Here is a summary of the themes he mentions. You will, of course, apply these in your own way to help people to shine.
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