Why Great Leaders Focus on Strength, Not Weakness

 We’re proud to let you know about “Working from a Position of Strength,” an article by Bravetta Hassell in Chief Learning Officer®. Why are we proud? Because the author interviewed our founder Evan Hackel for the article and did a fine job of presenting a leadership concept that he considers very important . . .

Working from a position of strength is always more effective than working from a position of weakness

Putting the Concept to WorkHow can you use that big idea to be a better leader? Here are some strategies from the article . . .

• Remember that strength-based coaching is far more effective than weakness-targeted coaching. In today’s fast-paced world, coaching people to capitalize on their strengths produces better results faster than trying to get people to improve what they don’t do well.
• Consider whether staff members are in the right roles. If they aren’t, it is generally more effective to move them into jobs where they can excel . . . then fill their old jobs with people who have the strength to perform them well.
• Align your team around strengths. It’s important that everybody is working with the same definition of strengths, translated into criteria like the ability to turn more current customers into repeat customers, to sell more, or to carry big projects through to completion on schedule.
• Get to know and understand each other’s strengths. Doing so might mean moving some staff out of demonstrated areas of weaknesses toward strengths. Or it might mean helping them take their impressive work in a particular area to the next level.
• Fine-tune your staffing. With an understanding of the strengths best suited for a given job, your hiring process can assess whether candidates’ demonstrated strengths are a good match for the position.