‘Develop your strengths – the results will follow!’

Recently, I was walking along a corridor in the British HQ of a relatively large and successful software manufacturer. As I walked past the glass bowl of their large meeting room, I could see an intense meeting was taking place between 15 of their most senior staff. Masses of PowerPoint slides, a mass of A2 sized paper stuck across all walls with bullet points, scribbles and arrows on, animated debates and huddles happening and curled up sandwiches on the table. ‘So – what is going on there?’ I asked the CEO, as we walked swiftly by. ‘Oh – that is the all day meeting to understand why we did not win the latest bid to a potentially important client.’ Clearly a lot of blood sweat and tears was emanating from such a meeting. ‘So what do you do when you win a bid?’ I asked. The CEO stopped and thought for a while, then looked sheepish and said ‘Uhm, good question. I guess we just go to the pub and celebrate!’

Very interesting I thought, and probably not that unusual in many organisations. The focus here was quite rightly, to understand why we did not do something, and to bring it up to scratch. However, how much effort do we put into building on our strengths, in comparison to correcting our mistakes? How often is this reflected in our society and not just work? Your business probably started up based on an idea, a strength, a niche that you did/made better than anyone else. But once established, we tend to focus on the weaknesses rather than the strengths on a day to day basis. What opportunities are we missing out as a consequence?

Have a quick check and ask yourself:

X How often have you complained about a meal that was not up to par, in comparison to calling the chef to say how brilliant a meal was?
X How much time have you spent with your children to get them up to an acceptable level on a subject, in comparison to making them shine at their best topic?
X How much time do you focus on below standard products, or people, and bring them up to an acceptable level? How does this compare to increasing your best people or products?
X How many meetings are about correcting things, as opposed to making something good even better?
X Your performance system in your organisation – is this based on exceeding at strengths, or bringing everyone up to an acceptable level?
X What is your biggest plus point of your company? – how much time do you spend on using this to be even more successful?

In our society, there is a deep seated behavioural trait to correct things, to make weaknesses acceptable, to spot people’s mistakes. It is important not to ignore clearly unacceptable behaviour etc., but my question is how much effort goes into this, in comparison to improving what is already a winning strength?

Indulge yourself for a moment and think about something that you are really good at and enjoy doing. It maybe anything from playing golf, to speaking to the team, to cooking or driving – whatever. Imagine that you are doing it right now…. How does it feel? Are you smiling, are the hairs on the back of your neck standing up, are your shoulders relaxed? – does it feel good? People are at the best when they like to do something, when they know they are doing it well, when they use their strengths to achieve greater things. So can you use this knowledge and maximise people’s opportunity to feel like this? – the results will follow!

So – some questions for you to consider and act upon;
X What are the business’s top three strengths?
X What can I do differently that will use the strengths of our company to win more business?
X What are my top strengths – how can I use these actively on a daily basis?
X In developing our people, what is the balance between encouragement of strengths, and correcting weaknesses?

Try this too: As you walk into to your office, or a café, restaurant or home, focus on just the strengths of that environment and not the irritations – what do you notice that perhaps you have not allowed yourself to do in the past? How can these be adapted for use elsewhere?
In people, what are the best things about the people around you, at home and at work? Do you make the most of these?

If you look at elite and successful people, from Lance Armstrong, to Mozart, to Richard Branson, their success has been on identifying a unique strength on honing it to an excellent level. That is not to say that they don’t focus on correcting some inefficiencies or bad habits – but their emphasis will have been on the positive – to become even greater. It takes courage.

So – be courageous and start with yourself. What is your greatest strength and how are you going to maximise its use today?

Until next week,

Kate Tojeiro is an Executive Performance Coach at Xfusion; www.the-x-fusion.co.uk