Focus on your Strengths
From an early age, we're taught to focus on improving our weaknesses. Even in school, there is an emphasis placed on improving the subjects that we're struggling with. This theme carries forward into our professional lives where many leaders focus on improving "areas of opportunities". That's the wrong approach.
Developing your weaknesses is really difficult because it's an uphill battle. It turns out it's not very fun to work on the things we don't enjoy and are not good at. What usually ends up happening is that the individual gets burnt-out from focusing on a task they dread to the point they abandon the effort.
A much more effective approach is to focus on developing your strengths and circumventing your weaknesses. Today, we're going to focus solely on the strengths.
Know your strengths
Of course, the first step is knowing what your strengths are.
If you have a hard time identifying your strengths, think back to some of the most successful moments of your career and identify the common themes. You can also seek feedback from trusted sources or take a number of online assessments to inform the process.
This is a critical first step. Strength based development is backed by research but if you don't know your strengths to begin with, you'll be flying blind.
Communicate your strengths
Too many leaders and professionals shy away from this step. That's a mistake.
You need to make sure that the people you work with know the areas in which you excel. That means making sure your colleagues and boss know your strengths. This will allow you to better position yourself for assignments that align with those strengths.
You don't need to walk the halls bragging about how great you are at certain things. Instead, offer to lend those strengths to help with projects or special assignments when they come up. Something as simple as "let me know if you want help with building-out the training material. I love that sort of thing." goes a long way.
This allows you to not only acknowledge your strengths, but gives you the opportunity to prove it through your work.
Mentors and coaches
Find mentors and coaches who are also high-performers in the areas that you have identified as strengths. Because you are focused on developing strengths, most common training isn't going to give you much value. You want to learn from other masters. They are the ones that will have found nuanced and creative ways to leverage the same strengths you are working to develop.
Identify someone who has a strong reputation for the skill you're seeking. Approach them and share that you are looking to further develop in this same area in which they excel. Working on our strengths is really engaging, so most experts enjoy the opportunity to share those gifts with others.
Cross training
Sometimes, when you train the same strength constantly, it can feel like you've hit a wall. This is where it can help to develop skills that closely complement your strengths. Think of it as leadership cross-training. Just as athletes participate in various activities to improve performance in their chosen sport, you can also cross-train your leadership skills.
For instance, if you are a really strong strategic thinker you might work on your communication or motivational skills in order to be more effective at sharing those strategies.
This Week's Action Items:
Identify 3-5 of your top strengths.
Make your strengths known to your boss and colleagues by offering to support their efforts when appropriate.
Approach coaches and mentors who are masters at the same skills you consider strengths.
Cross train your strengths in order to become a more dynamic leader.
