What's Right with You?

I recently had discussions with a couple of leaders on 360 reviews that they received. Each one of them shared that, upon receiving their 360 report, the first thing they did was looked at the "negative stuff". Human nature for sure. For the better part of our lives our growth and development is focused on how we can improve, what we need to fix, what's wrong. In the process we learn to do the same thing with others. High performers are very often drawn to critical feedback first and too often ignore the stuff that has the greatest potential.

This is deeply rooted in many of us and I'm no different. The Enneagram is one of my favorite personality / leadership assessments and in it I'm what they call a "One". Ones are labeled "The Reformer" and are often focused on what needs to be fixed with themselves and others. (If you haven't taken the Enneagram it's one of the more humbling assessments :-). As such, it's pretty deeply ingrained in me to find "what's wrong".  But even for those who aren't Enneagram Ones, there is a tendency to see the flaws in ourselves and in others first and it's the wrong place to start.

The reality is when we spend so much time seeing what's wrong (in ourselves and others) we fail to see what's right. And it's what's right in people (ourselves and others) where the magic lies. There is greatness in every indivdiual - and it's rooted in their strengths.

Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman did extensive research around leadership competencies. They have a well-researched leadership competency model that identifies 16 major competencies. While I don't think the specific wording of the 16 competencies is critical, there are three things I really like about their model and research that I think are insightful for all of us. The first is the well-researched fact that you don't need to be good at every competency. In fact developing profound strengths in just 4 or 5 competencies is the key to great and impactful leadership. Improving from being average to above average on everything else has little impact. Real impact comes from being great at a few things.

The second is the idea that development is done in a very intentional and focused way: pick one area and build it out. Too often we try to become good at everything and subsequently want to work on everything at once. How often in our growth and development plans do we identify 6 or 8 things we want "to improve". In the process, we don't really focus on anything and we become a bit better than average at many things but not truly great at anything. Stop it! Pick something you're good at as a leader, and then amplify it. Doing so will lift up all your other strengths as well.

The third and important idea is that of a fatal flaw. While very poorly named (for most of us, no one is going to die because of our leadership deficiency), the concept behind it has merit. That is, your profound strengths are often made impotent when a glaring ("fatal") weakness holds them back. So yes, fix the fatal flaw if you have one as it will render your strengths impotent...then go back to working on the strengths.

All of this suggests we even understand what our strengths are though, and many don't. We take strengths for granted. One of the most impactful opportunities we have to lead is to help people see what is right with them; to surface strengths, develop them into profound strengths, and put them in situations where those strengths are prominent and amplify the strengths of those around them. We don't do nearly enough work here. And part of this starts with ourselves. Committing to focusing on and developing what's right with ourselves - and having the humility and grace to accept and let go some of the rest of it - helps us become more impactful leaders and build higher performing teams.

The bottom line is as a society, in organizations, in leaders, and in ourselves, we focus way too much thought, attention, time and energy on what we want to get incrementally better at and too little thought and energy on what we are already good at that we have the potential to be great at. The more we are able to use our strengths each day, the more accomplished we are, the more fulfilled we are and ultimately the more impactful we will be. Starting with what's right with you - and others - will lead to higher engagement and higher performance.

"Points of Impact" is a publication expressing thoughts on how we might approach our work differently to have a better impact on others and the world. For more related perspectives, check out the book Impact with Love: Building Business for a Better World - now available on Audible!