By now many people are aware that as a leader, merely fixing your weaknesses will not make you great. However, for some, the message has not quite taken hold. So today I am sharing some research that should give you pause when you’re tempted to focus on your faults instead of building upon what’s going right.
A few years ago, several groups of executives went through our company’s program, The Extraordinary Leader, at a large bank. A few months later we asked them to participate in a follow-up survey. We found that 88% of the participants indicated they were focused on building strengths. We then compared the responses of those focused on building strengths to those who were fixing weaknesses and found some interesting results.
When asked if they had created a strong development plan to guide their efforts, we found the following differences between those building on strengths versus those fixing weakness:
Next, when asked if they had taken the time and made a real effort to work on their personal development plan, we found the following differences:
When asked as a result of our feedback process and tools if they felt they had improved in their overall leadership effectiveness, we found this:
Finally, we looked at the impact of improved leadership on the business results of the team:
The results are inarguable. Those who direct their efforts toward developing strengths create better plans and make more concerted efforts to improve. In this study, they also felt they’d made more improvement in their leadership effectiveness and were making a greater impact on their business.
There is a time, however, when it is necessary to focus on weakness. When leaders have a fatal flaw, addressing that weakness before going forward is the right thing to do. But the message to remember is this: when leaders focus their development efforts on building strengths, their motivation is much higher and their perceived impact is significantly greater.
The data is in. If you are interested in further information on this topic, our article Leadership Under the Microscope will provide you with additional research and details.
