Weaknesses – 3

Welcome back! We’ve been on a journey unpacking what tactically we can do to “manage” weaknesses.

We approach it in four steps.

• Who are you – really?
• Can you stop doing what highlights the weakness?
• Can someone else do this activity instead?
• If you have to do it can you use a different approach that better aligns with your talents?

 Here’s the next part of the process. Enjoy!

Can you stop doing whatever it is that highlights this weakness?

This a hard one. We keep performing certain activities because someone (perhaps a senior person) once asked for this item and one day might ask us for it again. It’s perhaps something we’ve done for years and has become a habit. We get used to doing things because that’s the way we’ve always done them. But while we are incredibly good at taking on new activities or responsibilities, we are truly awful at stopping stuff. Instead, it’s just easier to get on with it and get it over with than challenge the status quo. But is it? What about the impact on your motivation and engagement with your work? What if that impacts the folks around you? What about the opportunity cost of not doing something more productive instead?

One piece of research found that 29% of time was lost to non-value add activities. 29%! More than a day and a half per week – wasted! That is massive! Imagine if instead you started that process with a question. How does this tie to my goals? Or Why am I having to do this stuff? Or Why is anyone still doing this stuff?! So, it’s a serious opportunity. Ask these questions. See what happens, you might be surprised that you end up with less of the stuff that drains you!

How to Reduce Non-Value-Added Work in Engineering (survey results)

So that’s the second concept done. Tune back in soon if you’re interested in learning more about the other strategies we mentioned and how to put them to use!