See your weaknesses as other’s strengths
I was recently speaking to a group of CEOs and was asked a question every executive team needs to ask:
“How do we manage each other’s strengths and weaknesses to get the best out of the leadership team, especially when some leaders do not acknowledge their weaknesses?”
It an important question because no leader brings everything required to fulfill their responsibilities nor the team’s goals.
Every leader brings strengths. Every leader brings limitations. Some leaders have blind spots. The issue is not whether weaknesses exist. They do. The issue is whether the leader and the team know how to work with them.
One of the traps leaders fall into is that they assess other people’s weaknesses against their own strengths:
The leader who values speed may see consultation as indecision.
The leader who values detail may see big-picture thinking as a lack of discipline.
The leader who values relationships may see directness as insensitivity.
The leader who values action may see reflection as hesitation.
Leaders also assess their own weaknesses against other’s strengths. We look at someone who is more strategic, more commercial, more courageous, more structured, more relational or more analytical, and conclude that we are lacking.
This is where leaders and teams begin to asess difference as deficiency.
Instead of asking, “What strength is this person bringing that I may not naturally bring?”, we ask, “Why don’t they see it the way I do?”
Instead of asking, “How could their strength complement mine?”, we ask, “Why are they making this harder?”
To become a high-impact team is not about every leader being equally good at everything. Rather, high-impact teams understand what each team member brings, where each is limited, and how to combine those strengths in service of what the team is required to achieve.
Remember, your weakness may be another team member’s gift:
If strategic perspective is not your strength, who can help you see the wider context?
If courageous challenge does not come naturally, who can help you name what needs to be named?
If execution discipline is not your strength, who can help you convert ideas into commitments and accountability?
If you move too quickly, who can help you and the team pause long enough to think more?
If you hold back too long, who can help you and the team move from conversation to action?
This is where leadership shifts from “I” to “WE”. It’s the “WE” that enables teams to access the collective capacity.
But this requires trust. If weakness is used as a weapon, leaders will hide it. If feedback is experienced as judgement, leaders will defend against it. If difference is treated as incompetence, leaders will protect themselves rather than contribute openly.
High-impact, collaborative teams create the conditions for it to be safe to say:
“I do not see this as clearly as you do.”
“This is not my natural strength.”
“I need your help thinking this through.”
“You bring something here that I do not.”
These are not signs of weak leadership. They are signs of courageous leadership.
Courageous leaders move from proving their value to contributing their value. From protecting their function to creating organisational value. From hiding what they are not good at to accessing the strengths of others where they are stronger.
INVITATION
Stop judging difference. Start using it.
The opportunity for leadership teams is not to all become the same, it’s to access the diversity and become more complete, together.