“Playing to your strengths” may lead to success in certain roles if you have the knowledge and skills required to complete the task at hand. However, it isn’t necessarily going to produce effective leadership.
Leaders should have a strong desire to learn and grow, and they need to model that desire in order to motivate their team to do the same. When one recognizes this, the concept of a leader who only plays to their strengths suddenly seems oxymoronic.
Below, 10 professionals from Forbes Coaches Council share their best advice for leaders who think playing to their own strengths will suffice.
Forbes Coaches Council members share their best advice for leaders who only play to their own strengths.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Develop A Learning Organization
If you’re only staying in your comfort zone, you’re unlikely to learn and grow. Worse, you’re modeling this behavior for your team. Instead, strive to develop a learning organization and be the poster child for it. Practice making it okay to not know how to do something well yet, take risks, get feedback or ask for help and input. Counterintuitively, your team will be more inspired by you. - Amy Logan, Coach Amy Logan
2. Develop Your Strengths Proactively
Although strengths are developed, honed and deserved over time, with many resulting benefits, they can also become weaknesses if you slide into the habit of automatically turning to personal strengths to solve every problem that comes along. My advice is to develop your strengths proactively to become a thoughtful and creative actor versus a complacent reactor. - Andreas von der Heydt, Andreas Von Der Heydt Coaching & Consulting
3. Play To The Strengths Of Others
An overused strength can become a weakness. As a leader, you can play to the strengths of others. Not every situation will require your strengths. Recognize the strengths that others on the team carry and let them use these to the team’s advantage. As a leader, also remember that you will not always be available to “play to your strengths.” Play to the strengths of others. - Dupe Lanre-Akinsiun, CareerDev Ltd
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4. Remain Aware Of The Needs Of Others
Every strength has the potential to be overused, which turns it into a derailer. Use your strengths while being aware of the needs of others. For example, communication can be so warm and friendly that the recipient does not hear the message buried within. Or leaders can be so imaginative and creative that they don’t focus or communicate priorities. - Kristy Busija, Next Conversation Coaching, LLC
5. Get In Touch With Your Own Blind Spots
Leadership, like anything in life, is about balance. If you just play to your strengths, it will trigger a fixed mindset, and the ego will get the better of you. No one wants to be led by someone who is self-centered. Being in touch with one’s blind spots triggers the growth mindset. Knowing and sharing weaknesses means being vulnerable, and who doesn’t want to work for a humble leader? - Alex Draper, DX Learning Solutions
6. Tone It Down And Provide Learning Opportunities For Others
I believe that every strength has a threshold point, and that overutilization beyond that might be limiting or detrimental to the larger team. For any leader, using your strength is great, but the key is to be aware of how others might view it and its effect on the larger group. Toning down a personal leadership strength can provide teaching and learning opportunities for others. - Rittu Sinha, The Balanced Bandwagon
7. Leverage The Collective Strengths Of The Organization
A leader may find greater success not in limiting the organization to the leader’s strengths but in leveraging the collective strengths of the organization. A sports team would not go far if all the players shared the same set of gifts and weaknesses—if all could jump high, but none could run fast, for example. Instead, the most effective teams include an optimal mix of complementary strengths across the membership. - Angela Morrill, Angela Morrill Leadership & Life Coaching
8. Develop The Ability To Flex And Adapt Your Style
Playing to your strengths may have gotten you to where you are today, but your future will require different leadership capabilities. That’s why the ability to flex and adapt your style is important for senior managers with one eye on the next rung of the ladder. I call this “leadership agility,” whereby leaders assess the situation and then “dial up” the most relevant strength to achieve success. - Gabriella Goddard, Space Leadership Academy
9. Recognize Weaknesses And Improve On Them
Being a good leader involves recognizing weaknesses and improving on them. Being safe by only playing to one’s own strengths may result in short-term success, but team growth will be hindered if leaders don’t step outside of their comfort zone to challenge themselves. Improve leadership skills by taking on challenging obstacles and finding ways to overcome them. - Michael Timmes, Insperity
10. Listen More And Allow Others To Talk More
A leader may be a great speaker, and so they may consider utilizing that strength often. However, a leader becomes a better leader by listening more and allowing others to talk more. This can only come about if the leader is more mindful, has self-awareness and develops their emotional intelligence. - Dr. Rakish Rana, The Clear Coach
