Remember the final pages of Cinderella, when the wicked stepsisters struggled to claim the glass slipper? Grunt and push as they might, they couldn't fit a foot into the dainty shoe. Only Cinderella had the right shoe size -- and temperament -- to win the heart of the coveted prince.

One of the greatest dangers of downsizing is pushing employees' feet into uncomfortable shoes. As profit pressures continue to force layoffs, it's tempting for managers to reassign the work of terminated employees to those closest to them. Instead, managers should focus on improving performance by increasing the energy, focus, and morale of those that remain. This requires shifting people into positions that match their skills and strengths, rather than forcing them into roles in which they are likely to fail.

Businesses should identify, groom, and offer incentives to the survivors who show promise as future leaders or outstanding contributors. This requires genuinely understanding their needs, motives, and talents. Not every gifted engineer, for example, has people management skills. Burdening your most talented developers with unwanted supervisory responsibilities can turn them into "deadwood," drag down team spirit, and impede corporate momentum.

Managers seeking to identify and cultivate employee talents -- and match the right people with the right jobs -- should make sure they are putting employees in charge of their own success. Employees who are empowered to manage their growth and achievement tend to be more self-satisfied, cooperative, and proactive in solving problems. They are also more likely to remain loyal.

Research has identified best practices for empowering employees. The following are several proven guidelines:

• Understand and appreciate assets. Many employees don't have a clear sense of the many assets and leadership qualities they have acquired and refined through life experience. By identifying these assets and sharing them with their managers, employees can broaden their view of their competencies and better understand what motivates them naturally.

• Complete fit/gap analyses. Even more essential for employees is an awareness of how their personal and professional assets match the requirements of a particular job. While most individuals are aware they have certain competencies they were hired for, they often lack a clear sense of how their behavioral styles may be short-circuiting their growth or impacting personal relationships. Employees and managers should work together to realistically uncover fits and gaps.

• Delve into critical relationship patterns. Beyond having the right behavioral traits and skill sets for a particular job, employees must be able to foster and maintain successful relationships with key people, including supervisors, team members, direct reports, and customers. Employees who recognize and understand how their behaviors mesh with the styles of these "key connections" are better able to address and develop strategies to compensate, improve compatibility, and maximize productivity in newly assigned positions. Managers who focus on these relationships will be more successful in assigning individuals to the roles where they can best contribute.

• Employees should remember to evaluate their fit with the company culture. Cultural indicators include the manner in which decisions are made; the frequency, style, and format of internal communications; and the organizational pace and work ethic. An effective strategy for managers is to have employees describe their company's culture on paper and then compare it to a description of an environment in which they know they perform best.

• Take action. In-depth evaluations enable employees and their managers to know what it takes to succeed in a particular position and to develop action plans for personal and organizational success. They empower employees to identify and leverage their strengths, avoid positions requiring behavioral styles that they lack, and to bridge critical gaps through training and coaching. They also enable managers to slip employees into roles where they will be well-heeled, hit the ground running, and power up their organizations to sprint ahead.