Why you should spend more time building your strengths rather than fixing your weaknesses

I am a strengths-based coach and therefore enable my clients to identify and harness their strengths, and to become “the best version of YOU”.

One of the tools I use is the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment. Gallup has been supporting the development of this tool for decades. To date, over 20 million people have undertaken the online assessment.

Clients often ask me “What about my weaknesses? Don’t I need to work upon those? Won’t that make me more effective?” The answer is “Maybe, but usually you will be better off focusing on your strengths.” Why do I say this?

Firstly, the return on your investment in your strengths is much higher than if you try to overcome your weaknesses.

There is a lot of research to support this. One example is a 3 year study by the University of Nebraska using 1000 students. The aim was to improve their speed reading skills. Each student was tested for speed and comprehension throughout the study. For those readers who were slow at the start of the study (i.e. 90 words per minute), had improved to 150 words per minute by the end. For those who were already good at speed reading at the beginning of the study (i.e. 350 words per minute) they improved on average to 2,900 words per minute. This is a staggering 728% improvement versus 67% for the poorer readers. Both improved but the return on investment was much higher for those who already had strong speed reading skills.

Secondly, our Strengths are often our weaknesses. Clients often assume that weaknesses are themes that feature in the bottom quartile of their strengths profile. However, more often than not, weaknesses arise when someone is over-using a strength or using it mindlessly or by default.

Let’s take Joshua. He has Achiever and Responsibility in his Top 5 strengths themes. Joshua is incredibly hard-working and has lots of energy and stamina. He sets stretching milestones and deadlines for himself and the team. He prides himself on “delivering on time and on quality”. When he is at his best, he is a highly productive and trusted member of the team. However all strengths themes have a “dark side”. If Joshua is not conscious of these, he could become less effective.

For instance Achievers don’t easily relax. They can feel constant discontent and be unable to celebrate milestones (for themselves or others). They can become addicted to “busy-ness” that is not necessarily productive. They can burn themselves and others out.

People high in Responsibility can find it hard to say “No,” and therefore over-commit for themselves (and the team). They can micro-manage others not trusting that others will deliver to the deadlines set or to the quality required. They can become obsessed about doing things right and find themselves unable to let issues rest.

When coaching my clients, we work towards them consciously choosing which strengths to use in a given situation and to calibrate and combine those strengths to achieve the desired result. Much of the strengths coaching is about “Controlling how you are using your strengths, rather than letting your strengths control you”.

Thirdly, you do not need to be strong in everything to be your best self. if you do not need a skill or talent to be great at what you do, then the fact that you do not have that skill is not a weakness. Gallup defines a weakness as a “shortage or misapplication of talent, skill or knowledge that causes problems for you or others.” Something is only a weakness if it causes a problem.

Carla is a data analyst. She loves analysing vast amounts of information to identify patterns and trends used to create value for the organisation’s customers. She is relaxed in discussing her insights with people she knows well inside the organisation. However she hates presenting to customers. If her job does not involve presenting to customers then this lack of confidence in presenting is not a weakness.

But what if the organisation does require Carla to present to customers? Does that become a weakness that she will need to address? It depends.

If Carla is working in a strengths-based organisation, the chances are that they would recognise that Carla is excellent at the analysis but that it is better to use someone who has an ability to connect with customers and bring the data to life to present the insights to customers.

If that is not possible, then Carla can look at her strengths profile to see if she does have strengths that compensate for Communication being a lesser theme. For instance if she has Consistency she might be able to create templates to follow when providing insights and this could reduce the anxiety experienced when presenting to customers.

Also, she may be able to collaborate with someone in the organisation who does have Communication as a dominant strength. Together they could work on a set of “stories” that Carla could use in various scenarios.

Provided presenting to customers remains a small percentage of Carla’s role, it is possible that she can use these coping strategies to achieve success in customer presentations.

However Carla will be mindful that, even when she performs well, customer presentations are likely to drain her energies. She will need to create opportunities to re-energise by doing things that do play to her strengths.

If customer presentations become a significant part of Carla’s role, then she will want to start thinking about whether she is in a role that plays to her strengths sufficiently, whether it allows her to “be(come) her best self”.

But what if the organisation does require Carla to present to customers? Does that become a weakness that she will need to address? It depends.

If Carla is working in a strengths-based organisation, the chances are that they would recognise that Carla is excellent at the analysis but that it is better to use someone who has an ability to connect with customers and bring the data to life to present the insights to customers.

If that is not possible, then Carla can look at her strengths profile to see if she does have strengths that compensate for Communication being a lesser theme. For instance if she has Consistency she might be able to create templates to follow when providing insights and this could reduce the anxiety experienced when presenting to customers.

Also, she may be able to collaborate with someone in the organisation who does have Communication as a dominant strength. Together they could work on a set of “stories” that Carla could use in various scenarios.

Provided presenting to customers remains a small percentage of Carla’s role, it is possible that she can use these coping strategies to achieve success in customer presentations.

However Carla will be mindful that, even when she performs well, customer presentations are likely to drain her energies. She will need to create opportunities to re-energise by doing things that do play to her strengths.

If customer presentations become a significant part of Carla’s role, then she will want to start thinking about whether she is in a role that plays to her strengths sufficiently, whether it allows her to “be(come) her best self”.

I am an Executive Coach/Mentor and a certified strengths-based professional. If you would like to work more on your individual or team strengths, contact me on ad@annemariedurbin.com