Should I Work On Improving My Weaknesses?
Each of us has a set of strengths and weaknesses. A friend recently asked me what he should do in order to improve on his weaknesses. We all have those areas in our lives where we have to work twice as hard as someone else who excels in these areas just to reach a level of success that we consider acceptable. My response to my friend was for him to stop focusing on his weaknesses and instead spend time working on his strengths and improving performance in the areas of business where he has natural talent.
I could tell this advice caught him off guard. He responded with, “Well I don’t need to work on those areas, I’ve got them down, I need to spend time on what I don’t do well so I can be more balanced and well rounded as a professional.” I explained how I believe he could get more things done, make a greater contribution to his business, and have more overall success focusing on his strengths and not his weaknesses.
His response was probably what you are thinking as well, “So what do I do with my weaknesses?”
Here is how I’ve learned to approach my weaknesses:
Delegate the weakness to someone else that can perform the task better and more efficiently than you can. Even if you don’t have employees or an assistant there are options for you. Look into hiring a virtual assistant to perform the most basic to complicated tasks for you.
Use systems to manage the weakness. If you struggle with priority management, organization, or staying-in-touch with past clients and your referral partners, there are systems to help you. Once you’ve setup the system it should perform on auto-pilot so you can focus on your strengths.
Spend limited focused time on the weakness. We all have areas in our job that we would love to delegate but are a requirement of the job title. Look at your calendar and schedule uninterrupted time each week where you can focus your time on performing these tasks. Do them accurately but do them quickly; knowing that when you are done you can move onto focusing your time in your strength zone.
Everyone seems to know the areas we are weak in but few of us have ever taken the time to identify our strengths. Here are a few resources for you:
- StrengthsFinder 2.0 and Strengths Based Leadership are two great books to help you identify your strengths.
- Building Champions offers DISC personality profiles that help to shed light on your natural and adaptive areas of strengths.
Question: Do you feel you should spend time working on your weaknesses? If so, how has this helped you in your business?
Make it a great day!
Dan, Spot on. I try not to work on my weaknesses unless they are a requirement of the job and there is noone else to delegate it to.
Too many times in performance reviews, people are told how well they do in certain areas, BUT they need to work on getting better in other areas. I believe this has the potential to hold the person back. For example, if Phil Jackson were to tell Michael Jordan in his prime, “Michael, your jump shot is great, your drive to the hole unstoppable, defense incredible, BUT, I think you need to work on your sky-hook a little more”, that would have been a problem. Maybe sky hooks were not his strength, but that doesn’t mean he should go out and work on it. I would much rather him keep practicing his drive to the hole and dunks and learn new moves there!!! Although, I was a Celtics fan, not a Bulls fan…maybe he really SHOULD have worked on his sky hook! Nice post, Dan.
Thanks John. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. How is your planning for 2010 coming?
Dan, this note is right on. As I wrestled with folks and tasks, in my prior life, the most important aspect of management that I latched onto was delegating that which I was either uncomfortable with or just plain not good at. It is a signal of growth when we (collectively) realize that there is no way we can be good at everything. Once that recognition is made, life and management becomes far less stressful. Thanks for the “right on” comments. Mark
Thanks Mark. I appreciate you sharing your expert experience as a leader. Appreciate your feedback and kind words.