Somewhere in the land of motivation, and being our best selves, we’ve stumbled into some dangerous ground! We’ve bought into the idea that we need to overcome our weaknesses in order to be successful. We’ve started digging in the ground trying to find all of our deepest, darkest areas of ineptitude. And then we try to unearth the ticking time bombs and remove them completely from ourselves. It’s slow, painful work! And along the way, we often times get blown up and injured in the process.
I’m not writing today as someone who has mastered this principle! But instead as someone that has recognized the craziness, and consistently reminds myself not to go digging for my weaknesses as a leader. The trouble with digging for weaknesses is that you will ALWAYS find them! There is a never-ending list of incompetent, lousy, lazy, bad, and in general “not enough.”
However, on the flip side of motivational thinking, we have an equally delusional idea that if we pay attention to anything negative, we will get more of it. So we have a portion of our leaders walking through the minefield of their weaknesses, pretending they aren’t there, and when they step into the bomb that is their weakness, they attempt to find the silver lining in the shrapnel.
Great leaders are AWARE of their weaknesses.
If you want to be a great leader, of course you need to be aware of your weaknesses. I’m not suggesting we pretend we don’t have them. But what if instead of digging around and trying to work on our weaknesses we just got to work? I promise you’ll locate your weaknesses in the course of leading in your business and working with other people. And then, once you find those weaknesses, what if your next step was to admit you have a weakness? Awareness is the first step to being a strong leader.
Great leaders don’t let weakness stop them they build workarounds.
A bad leader is unwilling to admit their faults. A non-leader will feel like they have to fix themselves before they can lead anyone. A developing leader will keep leading while they work on their weaknesses. And a great leader simply sees the weakness, and creates a workaround. The great leader is NOT ignoring the weakness. They are hyper aware of it. And they are unwilling to let their personal weaknesses stand in the way of the team success. So they create workarounds while they work on personal growth. Someone that is disorganized can hire a detailed person. Someone that is too intense for their team can schedule 15 minutes a week to connect with a member a team member and build rapport. Our visionary that spends their time in strategy and planning for growth, needs to surround themselves with some strong implementers. The heartfelt leader needs to have written, well defined performance standards so that the team members don’t try to take advantage of their generous, soft heart. The great leader will not let the weakness stop them.
Great leaders play to their strengths.
One of the biggest mistakes we make is trying to lead in someone else’s style. “If it works for so and so, it should work for me!” This is the mark of an inexperienced leader. A great leader knows their strengths and finds a style, systems, and management practices that support their strengths. Great visionaries should spend the majority of their time in creation, strategy, and planning. A heartfelt leader that loves everyone will do a great job at building loyalty, rallying the troops and making the team feel valued. A leader that is highly logical will be great at problem solving and finding ways to make the business run more efficiently. This is where they should spend the majority of their time.
You can be imperfect and still highly effective as a leader!
The bottom line is, you’ll create results faster by gaining awareness of your weaknesses, playing to your strengths, and then simply working around your weakness.
Keep working on your weaknesses, but don’t let it stop you! You have value to offer today! Happy leading!