A recent corporate exercise brought about a discussion around the importance of strengths. Many of us tend to focus on the things that we do not do well. This leads to us wasting valuable time and energy trying to become better at those things or simply knocking ourselves for not being as good as someone else. This comes back to our desire to constantly seek praise and acceptance from our peers for “knowing it all” and being “well-rounded”.
What may be the best use of our time and energy, however, is to focus on our strengths. Here are a few simple steps you can take to shift your focus and continue growing:
Steps to Shift Your Focus and Continue Growing
Step 1: Accept the fact that you are not perfect.
No one is. We are strong in certain areas of life and not as strong in others, and that is OK.
Step 2: Gain an understanding of what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Some are very strong strategic thinkers, being able to understand existing situations and use available resources to determine the best path forward to achieve target future situations. These same people may not have the strongest interpersonal skills, which limits their ability to build and grow the relationships needed to successfully move a project or plan along.
On the flip side, some people have very strong interpersonal skills and are able to communicate effectively to establish relationships, earn trust and respect and eventually get buy-in from the key stakeholders of a project.
Spend some time thinking about where you have achieved success in your life and this may help you to identify some areas of strength that you can focus on.
Step 3: Gain an understanding of what your team’s strengths and weaknesses are.
A team may be any combination of people coming together to achieve a common goal. A family, sports team, corporate group, band, etc. How do the strengths and weaknesses of your team complement yours?
Step 4: Allow the members of your team to focus and build upon their strengths.
Just like you, the members of your team will not be perfect in every aspect either. However, if each is allowed to focus on what they are good at and you all work together as a team, this will greatly increase everyone’s chances of achieving success.
A shared understanding of the skill sets of your team will also better allow the team members to communicate effectively, assign and take ownership of required tasks and complete them in a timely and effective manner.
Step 5: Never stop growing.
It is important that we try to continue getting better every day. Observe your life. Spend time reflecting on it to better understand out what is working and what isn’t. Document your thoughts. Revisit them later and always keep adjusting.
Growth is a marathon and the race is much longer than 26.2 miles. Don’t try to do everything in one day but start with your strengths and build from there to try and achieve your goals.
P.S. Our corporate exercise was based on the CliftonStrengths program by Gallup. I strongly recommend checking it out as it was a fantastic way to learn more about the power of focusing on our team and personal strengths as we seek success in our personal and professional lives.