Focus on strength

I am going to start this week’s blog with a rhetorical question: “Why do we worry so much about our weaknesses instead of spending our energy on our strengths?” Does all of that worrying really get us anywhere?


No, of course it doesn’t and it is part of the premise of the Strengths Based Leadership book by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie. This book is just one of many written about a thirty year research project undertaken by the Gallop organization called the Strength Finders assessment (Conchie and Rath, 2008). What I like about Strength Finders is that as the name implies, it focuses on an individual strengths through a series of questions. The research found that there are many different strength traits that can be categorized into four categories: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building and Strategic thinking. I don’t want to go too far into this as I think you should take the assessment and learn for yourself. I do want to note that the Strengths Based Leadership book continues the research into the topic of leadership. This week I am going to talk a little about the necessity of knowing your personal strengths which will lead to next week’s topic of using this process as a leader.

Side note - to take the assessment and learn more simply purchase the Strength Based Leadership book. It comes with a code that allows you to take the assessment and receive a profile based on your results. If you missed it last week, here is a link to the website: http://strengths.gallup.com/110440/About-StrengthsFinder-2.aspx.

Now, I am not advocating that in focusing on our strengths we should abandon self improvement projects. What we need to do is ensure in the process of growing and improving, we don’t forget to capitalize on our strengths. As human beings we have unique talents. By using a tool, such as the Strength Finders assessment, we can key in on our individual strengths and talents as a way to improve our business acumen.

Is it really that important? Yes, I really believe that it is and here is an example of why: Is there someone – a leader, a friend, a family member, even a public figure – that you try to emulate but don’t quite succeed? Do you try to model your business style on that of your supervisor but you don’t get the same results? It can be so frustrating! You end up spinning your wheels to become someone that you are not. That frustration may even lead to a feeling of disillusionment or loss of motivation. Those feelings certainly won’t sharpen your business acumen!

Instead of trying to use someone else’s strengths, what if you used your own? Imagine the possibilities - taking this approach will probably keep you more engaged and interested in your business. This motivation will lead to better business acumen. As a personal example, one of my strengths as assessed is being strategic. Having strategic in my strength profile indicates that I can easily problem solve and like to look at different angles of a problem. By knowing this I can focus on situations that allow me to use these skills for my own fulfillment and to the success of the organization. The use of my strategic component will be an advantage for me because successes in solving issues will serve to increase my motivation. Additionally, it will be an advantage for my business because my strength in problem solving will be utilized for its benefit. It’s truly a win-win. On the other side, if I were to go into a situation where the problems were solved for me and I just had to execute the plan, I would be miserable and unmotivated. Certainly those are not qualities one would associate with business acumen!

It’s important to note that one strength is not better than another. They are all equal and our individual combinations help make us unique!

As I mentioned before, next week I am going to move this along further by discussing how we should use Strength Finders in our leadership of others. Until then, embrace your strengths and make a difference in your workplace. May we all find our successes together!