{"id":109,"date":"2008-03-05T15:00:55","date_gmt":"2008-03-05T04:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/05\/weakness-and-leadership\/"},"modified":"2008-03-05T15:00:55","modified_gmt":"2008-03-05T04:00:55","slug":"weakness-and-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/weakness-and-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Weakness and Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat does weakness have to do with leadership?\u201d I can hear you ask.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, the answer is quite a lot! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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You see we all have weaknesses, even exceptional leaders.\u00a0 So as a good leader you need to know your own weaknesses so you can deliberately overcome them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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We will always have gaps in our knowledge or experience, our understanding of another culture or even our customer\u2019s reality.\u00a0 We will always have better skills in some areas than others.\u00a0 Sometimes the very habits or attitudes that have allowed us to succeed in one situation can become a weakness in a different situation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Have you given thought to what your personal weaknesses might be?<\/span><\/p>\n

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When we interview an applicant for a new position we often ask them what they consider to be their greatest weakness.\u00a0 Someone who has considered the question and has a reflective answer that explains how they have overcome it, is likely to be a good employee.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Similarly, as a leader you need to consider what your weaknesses might be in different situations and how you might overcome them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you have been appointed to a new leadership role, it may be that the skills that won you your promotion are no longer enough for you to succeed in your new role.\u00a0 You may need to develop a whole new set of leadership and management skills. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you are good at some things but have other things that you only do under sufferance, you may neglect the tasks you don\u2019t like when you get busy – unless you ensure someone else on your team has responsibility for them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you are male you will want to ensure that you appoint some women on your leadership team to understand their perspective. If you are selling to people from a different culture you will want to go out of your way to listen to your customers, respect their perspective and include people who share their culture in your team. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Diversity of background, culture, skills, attitudes and experience in your team will overcome many leadership weaknesses if you value and respect everyone\u2019s input and their strengths. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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As soon as we accept that everyone – even an outstanding leader or manager – has weaknesses, we can begin to look for the strengths that compensate. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Exceptional leaders recognize and work on their own weaknesses, and they ensure that someone on their team has the strengths that compensate. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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———–<\/span><\/p>\n

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More on how to address weaknesses in the Quick Tips<\/span> below:<\/span><\/p>\n

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———–<\/span><\/p>\n

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QUOTE OF NOTE<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cLeaders are learners.\u00a0 They learn from their failures as well as their successes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>James M Kouzes and Barry Z Posner, 1995<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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———–<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Leading Well Bottom Line:<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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You don\u2019t have to do it all on your own.\u00a0 Join us in the Leadership Coaching Club and leverage off all the wisdom, insight and experience of dozens of guest experts, other participants and your mentor Kerrie Mullins-Gunst. See http:\/\/leadershipcoachingclub.com<\/a> for details.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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———–<\/span><\/p>\n

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QUICK TIPS FOR ADDRESSING WEAKNESSES<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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* \u00a0 The important thing is not to torture yourself (or anyone else) over weaknesses, but to work out how to address them.\u00a0 A weakness only becomes a problem if it isn\u2019t addressed. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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*\u00a0 Weaknesses are often the flip side of our strengths.\u00a0 So a highly productive creative worker who works best with a \u2018Do not disturb\u2019 sign, may never be good at training someone else or talking to your customers. If you force them to do it, you may lose your productive worker and still not gain a good trainer or customer service person. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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*\u00a0 Even though we can do something, it doesn\u2019t mean we will enjoy it.\u00a0 When we get busy or face pressure from change or deadlines, we naturally put off the things we like doing least.\u00a0 Unless we have recognized this weakness already, and worked out how to compensate, a small weakness can quickly become a major problem.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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* Acknowledging our own weaknesses and encouraging others to do the same can help avoid weaknesses becoming problems. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat does weakness have to do with leadership?\u201d I can hear you ask.\u00a0 Well, the answer is quite a lot! \u00a0 You see we all have weaknesses, even exceptional leaders.\u00a0 So as a good leader you need to know your own weaknesses so you can deliberately overcome them. \u00a0 We will always have gaps in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leading-well"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadershipskillcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}