imapMyTeam Blog

Fear Your Strengths

 This weekend I came across a business book titled Fear Your Strengths, by Robert E. Kaplan and Robert B. Kaiser.

The title immediately reminded me of the old adage that a strength overused is a weakness; however ‘fear’ is a very strong word so I had to look inside the book.  As the title suggests - the book is in part a cautionary tale. Their findings are based on assessing thousands of people in executive, leadership and managerial positions and their research clearly says that there are negative implications if you over emphasize your strengths.

I agree with their assessment, and you should too.

Virtually anyone is susceptible to taking their strengths too far.  And, the more well-defined and developed the strength, the greater the risk that you could take that strength to extremes that would be counterproductive.

Self-Awareness:  the critical key to “strength management”

You can’t really have too much self-awareness. I think self-awareness ought to be elevated to a super-power.  For you to handle the challenges that business throws your way, you must be able to read the situation and respond adeptly. This requires knowing your default strengths, the behaviors that kick in without even thinking about them.  These are the ones that may unconsciously go into overdrive.  For example, if your strengths are to be very task-oriented, decisive and assertive, then you may be predisposed to respond too forcefully, too quickly.

Self-awareness allows you to respond mindfully to the business conditions before you, rather than out of habit or instinct.   Managing yourself requires a willingness and discipline.   Learn to be more selective about what situations call for which strength and then calibrate how much is enough.

Use your imapMyTeam® Team Player report to fully understand your strengths. Evaluate recent situations and determine if you have used that strength appropriately or overused it. 

Make it a priority to work to adjust or adapt around the strength you may lean on too much. If you’re having difficulty assessing this, ask a colleague. Chances are they have a pretty good idea of where you are overdoing it.

Embrace a healthy “fear” of your strengths and look for opportunities to enhance your effectiveness by moderating your strengths so they better fit the situation.