Invested in Weakness

This past week I was invited to share with the current crop of leaders participating in the Community Leadership Institute class, sponsored by the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce. The occasion was a follow-up review for a “homework” assignment issued in September when I was a guest speaker. During that session each participant was given a copy of the best-selling book “StengthsFinder 2.0” and encouraged to complete an online assessment to identify their five personal Signature Themes (inherent talents that can be turned into strengths).

The premise of the book is that to excel in one’s chosen field and to find lasting satisfaction in doing so you need to understand and refine your strengths. In researching the book the Gallup Organization surveyed more than 1.7 million employees from 63 countries. One of the interesting questions they posed was this: “At work do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day.” The results were surprising – only 20 percent strongly agreed with this statement.

This question set the stage for a discussion about strengths and their importance in determining how successful and satisfied we will be in our job. But it fails to address a rather obvious question, “What do we do about our weaknesses?”

In a strengths-based approach, a weakness is defined as “a shortage or misapplication of talent, skill, or knowledge that causes problems for you or others”. This suggests that ignoring one’s weaknesses, as a leader, is not an option. So what do we do?

In many organizations the topic of weaknesses fills agendas during the annual employee review cycle. Leaders are encouraged to identify weaknesses in themselves and their direct reports, corrective action plans are devised, and commitments made to implement them. This focus on weakness assumes we can fix ourselves and grow strong in all areas while the evidence, both circumstantial and concrete, suggests it doesn’t work. The Gallup research provides some of the strongest arguments against this strategy.

One way to deal with weaknesses is to create internal performance management processes and leadership development programs that enable each employee to maximize what he or she does best every day. In particular this should include honoring the distinctive way that each person succeeds using their inherent talents and making sure they are in roles and positions that fit their abilities. It also includes a sound approach to assisting these same persons in managing their weaknesses on the job.

Strategies such as getting the right education or training could help a person to develop the minimum competencies needed in areas like using computer software. Forming complementary partnerships with a co-worker could offset weaknesses in each other. If the weakness has a low impact on the employee’s career then perhaps delegating or outsourcing the task would be an option. Another may be to ignore the weakness knowing that doing so will have no measurable impact on their work or career path.

When the weakness threatens to limit a person’s career then more drastic measures may be necessary. A CEO who dislikes the budgeting process might be required to “bone up” on these skills to perform them at a minimum level of competency. Otherwise their ability to retain the role as CEO could be in question.

Our challenge as leaders is to recognize that investing in weakness is a sure-fire way to create unhappy and dissatisfied employees. While we can’t ignore the flaws that each of us has, it is a far more productive strategy to identify and cultivate the strengths inherent in each of our team members and ourselves.