Weaknesses – 5

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 last part of the process. Enjoy!

 Can you find a different way to get work done?

Your most natural talents (personal strengths) are your biggest areas of personal potential. Consciously knowing, understanding and developing that potential is as Gallup have proven your most likely path to success.

I’ve worked with many thousands of people on their development, and we usually start by focusing on their top 5 most dominant areas of natural talent.

What I’ve discovered is this.

Most people usually only know three of them pretty well. These three things are easy for them to relate to. They find themselves saying yes that’s me when it’s pointed out. In fact, they are so comfortable with these strengths that they also take them for granted. They are, if you will, unconsciously competent. Finally, they also do not believe these strengths are unusual or valuable either! After all Isn’t everyone Responsible? If you don’t have Responsibility as a dominant trait you’ll know how amazing it is to work with people that do! The conversation here tends to center around their ability to leverage these strengths more broadly, to not just grow your understanding of them but also to know how to deploy them more intentionally and deliberately.

Second, they tend to know one kind of sort of. There’s usually one strength that people feel present but don’t recognize as a strength or being of value. One standout here is Empathy. This is a strength in the Relationship building realm. Those lucky enough to have this strength high in their profile seem to understand that it means they can sense what others are feeling in a very real way. For those of us that find Empathy much lower in our strengths ranking, we experience it as something quite magical. Those without it “can only imagine” what someone else is feeling in a given situation. We cannot get into the hole with them as Brenee Brown puts it so eloquently. Helping those that have this strength as dominant appreciate how incredibly powerful it is is a great moment. Imagine being able to sense where others are on an issue, how things are going at an event, peoples’ involvement level with a project is? This is where those I’ve coached on this start to appreciate what power Empathy gives them. From a business impact point of view it seems these days that most service companies are in the relationship business, be that with customers, clients, partners or perhaps just colleagues, so having a huge advantage in understanding where other people’s emotions are is massive.

Last I’ve found that there is usually one strength that most people had no real clue what it represented. What is Connectedness anyhow?! One of my first strengths-based discussions was on this one. A colleague, now dear friend, had it as his number one trait. He didn’t understand it. Connectedness is an amazing strength. It’s the ability to see disparate connections with a multitude of things, people, actions, data, numbers. There’s a scene in the movie “A beautiful mind” where Russell Crowe imagines a sea of numbers floating in his head. That kind of thing. There’s also a tremendous sense of calm that this strength brings to the holder. They tend to feel very grounded in the idea that everything is connected, that all things happen for a reason and especially in the idea that we don’t always need to know what that is in order to act on it. Anyhow once we discussed it as such and I pointed out just how much my colleague was actually using it in that very conversation the penny dropped, and he understood! Clarity. We now had conscious competence!

So, to sum up. If these five most dominant strengths are evenly weighted from my experience it gives us a sense that 20-30 % of our own potential is under leveraged. We are just not bringing our full selves to bear. That’s a heck of a lot of impact left on the table for you, your team and the organization you are a part of to put to use.

If we were clearer about what comes most naturally to us could we think of more, or new ways to use it? The idea with Talent/Strength is that it does not define what we do but instead informs us how we do it.

If you developed an understanding of your natural strengths in a broader way, could you see how those tools could serve a wider purpose?

Here is an example of switching focus to utilize a personal strength or talent. A colleague many years ago told me how each January, she set herself the goal of losing 30 lbs. Every year she failed. Usually in a matter of weeks. She set the long-term goal but couldn’t figure out the behavior change she needed to make. This year she changed from that top down approach to one using her personal strengths – Achiever. Now if you are or know a person with the Achiever strength you know that the power and focus this gives people is staggering. This person switched her focus to daily calories. By focusing on a small step and keeping track of that step she made her weight loss goal a reality!

So, what underutilized personal strength is in your toolbox that you could put to use for success? If it’s a struggle to figure that out (and don’t feel bad it usually is), then get some help.

Ask others who know you for their feedback and insights – remember this is a very different “feedback” conversation. It’s focused on what you do well! People are far more likely to tell you the positive than the negative. Go further ask how they think you might to do more with it.

Find other people who have the same talents as you. How have they built width in their use of that ability/personal strength? Is it something they would help advise you on? I’ve done this both in groups and individually. Just being with other people with similar gifts and hearing their stories opens up all sorts of creativity and options.

Find a Strengths coach. This is what we do. Each coach, to varying degrees, has helped a client find their personal strengths many times. The coach has got the experience and knows what works and what doesn’t. They know what creates involvement and progress and can share a broader point of view on each dimension of talent and strength. Also, speaking as a strengths coach, we coach because we love seeing you succeed. My Dad used to tell me a smart person learns from their mistakes and wise one from the mistakes of others. There’s nothing wrong with being smart but if you could leverage wisdom in the process why wouldn’t you?!

On that note. I’ve trudged through the jungle already and I’ve got the scars! I can spare you acquiring some of your own and give you a better and more successful route through.