When you’re a leader, you have to deal with uncertainty.
Regularly. Maybe daily.
Employees. Customers. Competitors. The supply chain. Government actions. Pandemics. Geopolitics at home…and on the other side of the world.
When uncertainty reigns, your leadership brand is in the spotlight.
How you deal with problems. How you communicate with people. How you deal with the pace of activity. How you embrace process…or not.
When uncertainty grows and all eyes are upon you, how do you act?
Most of us tend to lean into our strengths. They’re what makes us good at what we do. Got us to where we are.
The Gallup organization did extensive research that was included in a book by Marcus Buckingham and Don Clifton called Now Discover Your Strengths. The book sold two million copies and continues to be a perennial bestseller. It strongly suggests you should focus on your strengths, rather than your weaknesses.
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
If you’re good at something and love doing it, you should focus your attention there, and not waste time trying to improve on your weaknesses. You’re not good at them and don’t like doing them anyway.
Right?
Er…not necessarily.
Your weakness may be a requirement for your job.
And that strength? Too much of it may prove to be your fatal flaw. 😳
People are Spiky
Some leaders seem to have a broad range of talents. But most of us have a limited number of talents that we’re very good at. The rest of our skills are somewhere between meh and non-existent.
Personally, don’t ask me to stay organized (meh) or to follow a detailed set of directions (non-existent).
Seeking to become a well-rounded leader can cause you to spend significant time on skills you aren’t adept at and you don’t enjoy. So the upside is that you get less bad at them. 🤨
It may not be worth the effort.
We are all unique. We all have strengths. And weaknesses.
Marcus Buckingham (yes, the same guy who co-wrote Now Discover Your Strengths) and Ashley Goodall, in their book Nine Lies About Work, suggest that it isn’t well-roundedness, but our spikes, that make us great at what we do.
By their definition, a strength goes beyond something you’re good at.
A strength is an activity that strengthens you. That you look forward to doing. It’s an activity that leaves you feeling energized, rather than depleted. — Marcus Buckingham
The ability to use your strength regularly impacts you both physically and mentally.
The anticipation of doing it energizes you. It brings you joy while you’re doing it. You look back with pride for having done it.
Buckingham and Goodall use the example of soccer superstar Lionel Messi, who uses his left foot ten times more than his right foot, when shooting, passing, dribbling, and playmaking. Rather than get modestly better with his right foot, he works to become exceptional with his left foot.
In a perfect world, we’d assemble a team of spiky people, all having different strengths, who are perfect complements to one another.
In. A. Perfect. World.
The Gallup organization recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first publishing of Now Discover Your Strengths, written by Marcus Buckingham and Don Clifton. Clifton developed the CliftonStrengths assessment in conjunction with Gallup. The Gallup website promotes the fact that more than 26 million people have taken the assessment.
In the press release for the 20th-anniversary edition, they wrote:
“Led by Don Clifton, the Father of Strengths-Based Psychology, Gallup created a revolutionary program to help people identify their talents; develop them into strengths; and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance.”
Consistent, near-perfect performance?
Wow. Can you say, “hyperbole”?😱
I’ve taken CliftonStrengths and find it to be accurate. But packaged as the vehicle to identify and develop talents, it has created a following of people obsessed with an exclusive focus on their strengths.
Be careful.
Six Strategies to Address Your Strengths AND Your Weaknesses
Before you double down on your strengths and give up on your weaknesses, consider implementing the following strategies:
1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses
Good leadership begins with self-awareness. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses. Gain an understanding of when they show up, how they work in your favor, and how they work against you.
A necessary part of that process is understanding how you are experienced by others.
Any of the following can work to gain an understanding:
A. Just ask. Peers. Direct reports. Your boss. Yes, it makes you vulnerable, but it also builds trust and provides valuable insights. Explain why you are asking for the feedback. Don’t react or justify your behaviors. Just shut up and listen. When they’re finished, thank them for their time and thoughtfulness.
B. Conduct a 360 review — anonymously. This can be facilitated by HR or by a 3rd party. If done appropriately, it can provide detailed insights. Don’t fight the results. Perception is reality.
C. Initiate a “Climate Survey.” It is sent out anonymously and asks three questions:
a. What are 3 things Name is doing that he/she should continue to do in 2022?
b. What is the one thing Name should stop doing in 2022 that would make our team stronger?
c. What can Name do to better support your growth and development?
The feedback you receive can be insightful. Look for themes, consistent observations / recommendations, and take action. Asking for feedback and then ignoring it is insulting. Taking action on feedback signals respect and helps build trust.
2. Determine the availability of complementary talents
Identify what you hate doing that you can delegate. Someone else on the planet loves those activities. Hopefully that person is already on your team. If so, see if they have the current bandwidth to allow you to delegate the tasks to them. It may require them to shift some responsibilities. If the talent doesn’t exist on your team currently, keep these requirements in mind when you are hiring for new roles in the company.
3. Identify what you hate doing, but is a necessary part of your job.
There may be certain activities that go with the territory. They’re required for your job. If so, suck it up. When you can isolate the individual tasks, they often seem much more manageable. Be objective in assessing the skill level required and intentional about the training, coaching, or discipline required to get you there.
Even Lionel Messi, as good as he is with his left foot, still has to touch the ball with his right foot. Occasionally. To set up his exceptional left foot. His strength.
4. Identify when your biggest strength becomes your fatal flaw
Over the last five years I’ve conducted more than 1,700 behavioral assessments. Frequently the person’s acknowledged biggest strength, which contributes significantly to their success, can ultimately work to their detriment. And not in a minor way. They take it too far. It becomes their fatal flaw.
Are you competitive? Do you get results because you simply refuse to lose and will do whatever is necessary to win? That can be admirable, and perhaps necessary.
To a point.
Until that behavior causes you to compromise your values or get the results at the expense of personal relationships.
Are you good at analysis? Good at pulling meaning out of data and figures? Able to identify precise answers, dot I’s cross T’s, and balance to the penny? That’s a fantastic behavior.
To a point.
Until you become determined to find certainty in uncertain situations. Until analysis paralysis sets in and you miss deadlines and opportunities pass you by.
Almost any strength, taken too far, has a dark side. Know where that shows up for you. Make sure you don’t go there.
5. Keep in mind the golden mean
There was a concept in Greek philosophy called the golden mean, which described the desirable middle between the extremes of excess and deficiency. Aristotle described that it wasn’t the average between the two, nor was it a matter of balance. Very often the optimal level will be closer to one of the two extremes.
Courage is a core leadership behavior. Too much of it can lead to recklessness and too little of it leads to cowardice. The ideal level for most leaders is much closer to reckless, without going too far… 😬
The key is to identify the desired level and intentionally create the behaviors and safeguards to maintain that same level.
6. Know your tipping point
Too much of your strength can result in your fatal flaw, but too little can lead to stress and disengagement.
You need to be able to utilize your strengths a certain percentage of your time in order to remain energized and engaged in your work.
And it doesn’t have to be the majority of the time.
The Mayo Clinic surveyed its physicians about how much time they spent at work doing the activities that they loved the most.
The doctors who reported spending at least 20 percent of their time doing things they loved had dramatically lower risk of burnout. Each percentage point below the 20 percent threshold led to a greater increase in risk of burnout.
You’d love to spend all your time doing activities that you enjoy. Hopefully, you have the discretion to delegate tasks and hire complementary talent, to allow you to do more of what you love.
But it won’t likely ever reach 100%.
Your job may require you to do activities that you don’t enjoy. But they go with the territory.
Understand where your threshold is. Where you feel energized, engaged, and perform at your highest level. And then there’s that point where you don’t get enough of what you love to do. When you get exhausted daily. When you get bored frequently.
Pay attention during the day. When you’re in a state of flow, time is flying by, and you love what you’re doing, what are those activities? Write them down. Similarly, when time is dragging, you wish you could do anything besides what you’re doing, write down those activities.
Lean Into Your Strengths…But Not Too Far
Self-awareness is a superpower. And necessary for good leadership.
For you to be at your best, you need to have a balanced approach to your strengths and weaknesses.
Balance is not a 50/50 proposition. It may be 90/10.
You need to use your strengths, at least a certain percentage of the time. To stay energized. To love what you do.
But don’t go too far with it.
You need to know your weaknesses and when to embrace them. Or manage around them.
There are six strategies that you can employ to understand how you can best focus your attention and energy.
1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses
2. Determine the availability of complementary talents
3. Identify if your weaknesses include necessary skills or behaviors required for your job
4. Identify when your biggest strength becomes your fatal flaw
5. Keep in mind the golden mean
6. Know your tipping point
The more successful you are as a leader, the more opportunities come your way. Unfortunately, that can mean more stress. Greater uncertainty.
You need to lean in to your strengths.
In order to do that most effectively, keep the six strategies in mind.
Be aware.
Be intentional.
Be spiky.