Leadership: Strenths Based, Not Perfection Based

Way back in my Xerox days I remember one of our high-ranking leaders telling us we wouldn't be able to score A's in all categories of our lives. "You can get 2 A's and a C, or all B's, but you can't get A's across the board." This was especially disheartening given we were a group of self-motivated, high achievers. Of course, we were ambitious and idealistic and thought "Well, maybe she can't, but we can." Little did we know....

The Gallup guys agree. I just finished, "Strengths Based Leadership" by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie (the same guys who wrote StrengthsFinder 2.0). They talk about how, based on their studies, they have not found a single leader, not one, who has "world class strength" in all categories. Matter-of-fact, "...those who strive to be competent in all areas become the least effective leaders overall."  Ouch! So much for my former idealistic thinking that I could do it all - I guess I could do it all, just not successfully!! The strongest leaders have an acute sense of who they are - strengths and limitations. It is the strong leader who has the courage to be true to themselves and strive for excellence in a select number of categories instead of all categories.

The updated message: know and leverage your strengths, build teams to be well-rounded, and know who you are - weaknesses and all.(I was relieved - the first book focused on strengths and basically ignored weaknesses.  Understanding your weaknesses and how your team compensates is as critical as knowing and leveraging your strengths.  Awareness and competency, not necessarily proficiency, are must-have goals.)


"Leaders do not need to be well-rounded, but teams do" is a concept supported by research indicating strong leaders who know who they are, and how to use their strengths, did a better job engaging their people. That's big! Leaders who leveraged their strengths were better able to drive organizational growth - albeit different strengths and different styles of getting it done, but getting it done none-the-less. If you've taken the Strengths Finder, you know your "Top 5". They are categorized  into: Executing; Influencing; Relationship Building; and Strategic Thinking. The most successful leaders build high performance teams by drawing on these four categories, and complementing their own strengths. Not a unique concept but a good one. Healthy teams are diverse, they appreciate "candid conversations" and "different perspectives" - leading to robust dialogue. Healthy teams are "high performance" because they understand how to productively leverage their individual contributions. 



After many year and lessons learned, I now understand where our Xerox leader was coming from. (isn't "wisdom" a beautiful thing??)  I work with leaders who bang their heads against the wall trying to be everything to all....or leaders who feel like failures for not being perfect...and sometimes the leader who figures out what their good at and how to use it to bring out the best in their people.   Getting clarity and perspective about yourself and the impact you have on others is one of the best things you can do for your career...and for those who chose to follow you. She was right, I haven't gotten straight A's - but I have gotten A's in my categories-of-choice...by leveraging my strengths, "knowing who I am", and having the courage to not be perfect!


What are your strengths? How do you leverage them in your career?  Let me know!

Football or Business: Are you being coached to reach your fullest potential?

Our local High School won their 4th consecutive state football championship Thanksgiving weekend (Go EGR Pioneers!). As we were watching a recording of the game the next day, I was noticing how much bigger the opponents players were...and how fast their offensive line was, so I asked my husband, "their players are so much bigger, their Running Back is so fast, why do you think we won? What was the winning factor?" His answer was: "Oh, that's easy, it's definitely the coaching - definitely!" (by the way - congratulations again Coach Peter Stuursma!)

Hmmm...I'm thinking there's an analogy here! (btw, I can't believe I'm using a sports analogy?!)

I often see talented, intelligent, "sharp" business people who are not reaching their full potential. You know where I'm going with this right....no, I'm not going to pin it all on the leadership, but I will say, having a corporate sponsor, mentor, coach, makes a big difference in a person's career...no matter what their position. Companies hire strong, capable people, let them loose, and expect them to perform non-stop without any "pep talks" - strength training - or new plays.  Whether you assign mentors from within the organization or hire outside coaches, your star players need to talk through the plays, gain perspective, continue skill development and strength training, as well as get the occasional pep talk! That's  why watching the playbacks, or "the films", is so important - perspective and feedback - no better way to adjust performance...and that's the job of the coach/mentor/leader/sponsor.

Get your high potentials to score big - make sure they are playing the right position, leverage their strengths, and coach them to victory!

Are you in a position to reach your full potential? Why or why not?  I'd love to hear your response!

Find the Silver Lining - Change Your Life

One of my clients suffered a devastating loss last week - a house fire. Yes, the family is safe. A few personal items were salvaged...but most of the house has been gutted. The furniture is gone, as is the roof over their heads. Unimaginable!!! I got a call from her yesterday and I was so inspired by her attitude!

She has chosen to handle the situation by not focusing on the uncontrollable aspects but instead focusing on the controllable - her attitude. She is focused on the "silver lining"...and moving forward. Huh?....silver lining??? Something she said really struck me "We are just so glad we are going through this with each other. We are bonding on a whole new level....our relationship is so strong right now". They had also sent out an email letting people know they were OK and how they were focused on dreaming about the rebuilt house! Wow!!

This couple's ability...no, "choice" - to re-frame their situation is incredible....and liberating...and healthy.

In the work I do, I encounter many people who are busy telling themselves "a story" - almost always limiting their potential outcome. These stories prevent them from moving on - prevent them from being the best version of themselves. We all have a choice. Often we have no control over the situation, but we can impact the outcome by choosing to change our perspective or reaction. In an excerpt from The Success Principles, author Jack Canfield uses an equation to illustrate this concept, E + R = O:

E (event) + R (reaction) = O (Outcome).

I love this! Whether sitting in traffic, looking for a job, or dealing with a house fire, you have a choice!! You can grumble about the cars and go home stressed out, or deal with it by looking forward to the traffic time by listening to a business book on CD. My client made a choice. She decided to change her "R" for a better "O" - looking for the silver lining versus letting this event define her. She will get past this, she will move on.

What's your story...and how is it holding you back?!

"To Lead" or "Be Led" - that is the question!

I recently facilitated a Conflict Resolution workshop for a U of M department's annual retreat (post doc program). This was a very activity-based program, and one of the exercise outcomes literally left me speechless (if you know me at all, this does not happen very often!). Some of the learning elements from this exercise are trust, leadership, and the one I was working toward at this particular event - hierarchical perspective on conflict. Basically you lead/move your partner around the room...no talking, the other person is facing you and they cannot see where they are going. Typically participants prefer to lead rather than be blindly pushed around (of course, right?). I was perplexed because this group was split (this never happens!)...many of the students preferred to be led/pushed/moved around the room. I couldn't understand it - why in the world would you want to be Person B?? The answer turned into a leadership "aha" for me - some of them really didn't want to be responsible for the other person; for some it was just easier to be led than to lead; and for most, if they trusted the leader, they wanted to be led/told what to do. Wow! This was a big message to the faculty - these students are craving your leadership. I’ve also had to re-check my perspective – I've always been a I'd-rather-be-a-leader type, so how could I make sense of this? Was this a fluke, was it a generational thing, or was it academia vs. business? Maybe it’s just life and business experience/maturity that leads us to lead??! What's your perspective?

p.s. the event was great - the faculty present (who preferred leading!) had amazing questioning skills, openness to change, and a desire to be better.  Lucky students!!