Frustrated? Work to Your Strengths & Stop Trying to Fix Your Weaknesses

These thoughts are for you and your clients.

Throughout my school and degree years, and in fact ever since then, I’ve been advised time and time again to work on the subjects I’m weak at. I still see that advice doled out today.

My answer to this is: Why?

Unless you actively enjoy the task, practising something you’re poor at or merely proficient at means you are wasting time, draining yourself of energy, and not giving yourself the chance to help others through contributing your strengths.

There is benefit in getting a general range of skills up to a certain level but, beyond that, what does the exercise serve? Surely working to one’s strengths will be of far more benefit? Yes, there are weaknesses in businesses that need to be fixed – but get people with the right strengths to make those fixes.

Strengths can be used by an individual or group to make a tangible contribution to a project or life in general, and I believe people would be better encouraged to make their strengths relevant and a major part of their life.

For you or for your clients, playing to one’s strengths means a greater sense of ‘being’, an increase in self-esteem, a willingness to pass your knowledge onto others, and a huge surge of energy. There are winners all round!

It’s easy to confuse being skilled at something with having strength in that area, and it’s easy to be lumbered with a task because you’re skilled … and suddenly find that once again you’re getting involved in activities that aren’t your strengths. And, as a coach, learning to say no can be a hard one! It’s often more-so for your clients.

Spending more time working to your strengths is not going to happen overnight. It takes time to identify your strengths, and then to finding practical ways for your department to accommodate changes, but the effort is worth it. It also takes time to show that while you’re good at something, you don’t necessarily like doing it and that you’d all be better off if the task was given to someone else.

When you’re looking to identify your strengths, don’t confuse patterns of feelings, behaviour, thoughts and so on with strengths. Strengths are those activities you not only do well at, but want to do again and again – in fact, if you didn’t have to earn a living, you’d do those activities for free because you love them so much.

How do you identify your strengths? First of all, write down everything you’re good at and really enjoy – you will find they are a congruent mix of talent, knowledge and skills. Strengths aren’t predicated on success alone, so if you’re good at something, ask yourself if you instinctively keep going back to do it again and again, and if you do so, does it make you feel good? If you answer yes and yes, then you are looking at a strength you have.

In addition, keep a diary for a few weeks which is based around, “When I did/do X, I felt/feel Y”. Specific examples of strengths include things like: I am good at putting thoughts into words; “I’m good at anticipating problems/obstacles”; and, “I’m good at listening.”

You may find the exercise surprisingly difficult at first, and sometimes downright uncomfortable as you’ll also be identifying things that weaken you. The challenge then is to start building up the time you spend doing strengths activities, and dropping tasks that bring you down. Outsourcing is a wonderful thing.

When you’ve identified your strengths, write them down, and check back regularly to see if you’re playing to them. You are not being self-centred when you offer your strengths, so feel proud, not guilty when you waltz into your next business meeting having done something that for you was an absolute pleasure!

You, your clients, your family – you will all hugely benefit from not just simply fixing weakness, but by amplifying strengths. Go find them.