Building Blocks and Stumbling Blocks: Managing the Paradox of Leadership Strengths

We all have Cornerstone Leadership Behaviors.  These are behaviors that develop from our own unique personal neuropsychology created by our brain’s wiring combined with our experiences that have shaped our leadership approach.  They represent our greatest leadership strengths.  They are unique to each of us, they got us where we are today, and we rely on them to get us where we want to go tomorrow. They are the building blocks of our success as a leader.

But there’s a dark side to these behaviors.  When we overuse these building blocks, they become liabilities that get in the way of our success.  And most importantly, we may not even be aware that the behaviors we view as strengths are impeding our effectiveness and results as a leader.  

Think about your own leadership strengths, and how when overdone they become liabilities.  Here are some examples of leadership strengths and how they might be perceived by others when overdone:

• Self-confidence can be viewed as arrogance.
• Competitiveness can be viewed as aggressiveness.
• Persuasiveness can be viewed as abrasiveness.
• Cautiousness can be viewed as skepticism.
• Flexibility can be viewed as unpredictability.
• Tolerance can be viewed an indifference.
• Principled can be viewed as stubborn.

And of course, these are just the tip of the iceberg for the universe of leadership strengths.  The point is, no matter what your unique leadership strengths are, they can be liabilities when overdone.

Doing an assessment of your own leadership strengths can provide you with great insights into how you might sometimes need to adjust your leadership actions to get better results. 

Here is an exercise to help you reflect on your own strengths and examine how they might be getting in your way:

• To begin, list out all your leadership strengths.  Break them down into one-word behaviors, like “persistent”, “competitive”, and “analytical”, as examples.  Don’t stop until you have at least ten behaviors listed.
• Next, rank order them in how much you rely on them.  Don’t over think this, just give each strength a gut level ranking from one to ten.
• Now, take your top three.  These represent your Cornerstone Leadership Behaviors.  Ask yourself, how they might they be perceived by others when you overuse them.  Consider these four areas in how they might be overused:

1. Used too frequently.  For example, the strength of being persuasive can be perceived as abrasive if every dialog is approached as an opportunity to persuade someone to your way of thinking.
2. Used too long in duration.  For example, the strength of being helpful can be perceived as smothering if used beyond the time needed or wanted by the receiver.
3. Used too intensively.  For example, the strength of being assertive can be viewed as domineering if done at an intense level.
4. Used in the wrong context.  For example, the strength of being trusting can be perceived as gullible when circumstances require strict monitoring and oversight.

• Now, with this new awareness of how your strengths might be misperceived, take note of when you are doubling down on those strengths, yet still failing to get the results you hope for.  Such doubling down typically happens in times of stress or conflict.  When you notice this occurring, consider shifting to a different strength further down on your list.  Or better yet, choose a leadership behavior that didn’t even make your list!  For example, shift from being persuasive to being curious about the resistance to your ideas.

Taking these steps will increase your leadership adaptability and effectiveness by prompting you to expand your comfort zone beyond overreliance on just your core Cornerstone Leadership Behaviors.