dont_let_your_strength_become.pdf

7/29/2019 Dont_let_Your_Strength_Become.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dontletyourstrengthbecomepdf 1/6

Don't Let Your Strength Become Your Weakness - Gill Corkindale - HarvardBusiness... of6<f \0

-HARVARD

~BUS.INESS, .. PUBLISHING

GILL CORKINDALE Letter from London

Don't Let Your Strength Become Your Weakness2'21 PM Wednesday October 21,2009

Tags:Leadership, Managingyourself, Personal effectiveness

One of the first things I ask my new clients to do iswrite down three of their key strengths and three of theirflaws. Typically, strengths might be attention to detCjil,focus, and drive; flaws can be delegation, lack of

creativity, and people-management skills. I then ask clients to look carefully at what they havewritten. Often,they will stare at the paper and then at me. They will ask me to explain. Rarely do they see the connection.

The fact is that our flaws are often the mirror image of our strengths, and it's important to realize that we

should not over-develop our strengths, causing them to turn into flaws. There is always an optimal point:confidence that doesn't border on arrogance, wit that doesn't slide into sarcasm, and diligence that doesn't

become perfectionism. I have observed many leaderswho have fallen into the strengths/weaknesses trap.Having been praised and rewarded for demonstrating particular strengths throughout their careers, theybecome blind to the shadow sides of these strengths. Often, this blind spot can derail a career.

I was therefore very interested to read about some new research that delves into leaders' dark sides. Theresearchers interviewed 18,000U.K. leaders over a decade (1999 to 2009) to discover what derailed them

under pressure. They identified 11 derailers - strengths which turned into flaws under pressure. Theseinclude shrewd-mistrustful; charming-manipulative; vivacious-dramatic;and diligent-perfectionist.These "DarkSide Characteristics" were present in 85 percent of the leaders surveyed, with 16 percent having three dark-side characteristics.

Interestingly, the most common dark side characteristic in the U.K. is dutiful-dependent, that is being too

appeasing and accommodating when under pressure. Additionally, a quarter of U.K. leaders also tended towithdraw from difficult situations and become remote.

The implications of these findings are significant for companies battlingwith the uncertainties of the neweconomic era. Consider, for example, a company whose senior executive team is uniformly dutiful: what

happens when they encounter a crisis or an all-powerful CEO drives their strategy in the wrong direction?Common sense dictates that they should meet the crisis headon or challenge the CEO, yet the researchsuggests they are more likely to jointly keep their heads down. This behaviour was revealed at the RoyalBank of Scotland as it came under severe pressure last year: it becameapparent that the senior team had not

properly challenged the strategy or called the CEO to account.

I am sure that we can all come up with examples of managers and leaders who are unaware of the shadowside of their enthusiasm (volatility), charm (manipulativeness) or focus, (passive aggression). All too often

they are aware only of the positive effects of their personalities, screening out the negative impact on thosesurrounding them. If they remain impervious to feedback - or the organizational culture doesn't supportindividual feedback - then senior leaders can be in serious danger of sabotaging their careers aswell as

their companies. A leader embarking on a senior role should remember that there are many things beyond hisor her control that can derail them: they should not add their own blind spot to that list.

So what can organizations and individuals do?

1. Look out for potential derailers at the recruitment stage. Don't be dazzled by outstanding performancein one area only to overlook a lack of basic competences in other areas. Tough, results-focused executivesmight be desirable, but these traits must be balancedwith some understanding of how to manage people.Similarly, recognize that success in one company does not necessarily mean guaranteed success in another

organizational culture.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/corkindale/2009/10/dont_let_your- strength_become....10/2612009



Don't Let Your Strength Become Your Weakness - Gill Corkindale - HarvardBusiness... of6

2. Ensure that careers are managed in a sustainable way. Manyorganizations fast-track highfliers beyondtheir real capabilities, ignoring their limitations and flaws until they emerge in times of pressure. This can behighly damaging to the individual, team, and organization.

3. Use feedback and psychometric tests to raise awareness. Regular 360 feedback surveys can helpexecutives and top teams (including the CEO) identify, understand, and analyze the real impact of their flaws.

Psychometric tests such as the HDS can also help executives understandwhere the fault lines lie in theirpersonalities. Using this information, they should work on a personal strategy to manage these flaws, either

through coaching or training programmes.

4. Understand how traits vary across generations. The research found, for example, that members ofGeneration Yare more compliant and dutiful than other generations,which could make them reluctant to take

decisions or challenge the status quo. Generation Xers, meanwhile, have more social skills, but can be

perceived as being superficial or manipulative if they overplay their hands.

What are your thoughts on the dark side of leaders? Haveyou any further evidence or experiences of how

strengths can turn into weaknesses? Doyou have any experiences to share of derailers - your ownor thoseof others? And have you come across any interesting ways to ensure that strengths are not overplayed?

* * *

Nevermiss a new post from your favorite blogger again with the HarvardBusiness.org Daily Alert email. TheAlert delivers the latest blog posts from HarvardBusiness.org and HBR.org directly to your inbox every

morning at 8:00AMET.

Comments

Your post drives home the importance of emotional intelligenceand self-awareness in leadership...often

overlookedordevaluedyet the gluethat helpsleadershipunderstandthe "faultline"betweentheirstrengthandtheirstrengthturnedinto aweakness.

- Posted by Deborah Exo

Excellent post. I think many people focus on how they can learn from good and bad life experiences, but toalso turn that inward to make sure that strengths do not becomeweaknesses is very important aswell.

Everything must be in moderation and the example where you write "there is always an optimal point:confidence that doesn't border on arrogance, wit that doesn't slide into sarcasm, and diligence that doesn't

become perfectionism" is a clear way of illustrating this. So glad I caught this post on Twitter.

- Posted by Trudy

So well written! So simple it is a bit scary. Easily discarded as trivial, we may pass over the thought without

pausing to digest and allow the internal arguments to ensue while looking on the other side for clarity ofpurpose.

Gerry Poe

- Posted by Gerry Poe

.9.g.t.<:>.~~.r...?!..'...?..9..Q~...f3..:.9.! ~.t0.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

An interesting article and it brings up a good point on strength based approaches. As with most anything,

there are trade ofts on pursuing one avenue versus another. An emphasis on developing and cateringwork tobe strength based may make it overdeveloped at the expense of the weak areas.While I've found successfrom strength based approaches, there are boundaries and moderations that need to be looked out for whileapproaching a project.

Here's a somewhat tangential inquiry.Where and what is the research that says Gen Y is more compliant anddutiful? What I've come across says otherwise.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/ corkindale/2009/ 10/dont_let_your _strength_become.... 10/26/2009



Don't Let Your Strength Become Your Weakness -Gill Corkindale - HarvardBusiness...Page3 of6

Thanks,-Whit

- Posted by Whit

October 21,20096:18 PM ,.........................................................................................................................

I liked very much your article. Congratulations.It's amazing how this pattern can beseen all over the world. I'm from Brazil and worked for large and small

companies from my country aswell as foreigner and on both I could see this pattern of behave

- Posted by Luis Otavio Ermel

Leaders are often unbalanced, meaning that some of their strengths can become 'overstrengths' and createweakness. As Deborah said, the mitigating factor is self-awareness at the EQ level.

In your #1 point, you are correct that the leader must be brought in with complete reference to the existingteam's individual strengths and weaknesses. There simply must be a complementary relationship, or theleader's strengths will fall flat.

I also completely agree with points #3 & #4. No further comments are necessary to reinforce your points.

Additionally, I appreciate your first paragraphwhich has the leaders evaluating themselves on both strengthsand weaknesses. The length of time between those answers and the answer to your question about what they

see relates directly to their own self-awareness. Haveyou found correlations between the amount of timebetween your question and their answers? I believe this could be a litmus test of self-awareness, if youhaven't conducted an assessment at the time of this question. I often ask a similar question, but typically afterI've conducted the assessment, at which point I am generally aware of their strengths/weaknesses and want

to ensure the self-awareness quotient.

Keep up this style of leadership guidance. It's spot on!

- Posted by Joseph SkurskyOctober 22,200912:17 AM

This is such an interesting perspective. There have beenwell meaning instructions that during interviewswhen asked to mention weaknesses, one should present his/her strengths as weaknesses (e.g. Paying too

much attention to details). Now with data to show that overplayed strengths could be detrimental, it would

make things more challenging for the prospective employer to figure out where the strength ends and whenthe weakness commences.

My opinion is that strengths should be allowed to develop without limits and the individual should additionallybe sensitized/trained for situational flexibility and response. A stickler for details during accounting should be

aware that during routine interactions he shouldn't come across as prying, even though he might feel that he

is just getting the facts right.

As a logical extension of the point made in this article one cannot help but wonder if weaknesses could be

potential strengths. Could a non-conformist be actually used to openly challenge newly proposed ideas and inthe process weed out the non-productive ones?

- Posted by VS

October 22,20091:16 AM ,..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Your well written article raised an interesting point - strengths and weaknesses are relative to contexts.

Tactically, leaders need to place the right people in appropriate contexts. All sorts of tools and instruments

can help in such decisions.

However, I believe that we have to, in the longer term, build self awareness and flexibility among people so

that they can adjust their behaviors and be able to perform in different contexts.

What do you think?

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/corkindale/2009/1O/dont_let_your_strength_become....10/2612009



Don't Let Your Strength BecomeYour Weakness -Gill Corkindale - HarvardBusiness... of6

- Posted by Catus Lee

Fascinating article!

When I coach CEOs and other senior execs, one of the things we do is a non-corporate type of 360 that is

about personal branding, is focused around reputation rather than performance, is anonymous, and is sent to

colleagues, peers, friends family, etc.

The assessment has an area for "strengths and weaknesses" and the interesting thing is that often the same

things that some respondents identify as strengths, other respondents identify as weaknesses.

For example, a CEO who is seen as "a focused driver" as a strength is also seen as "too focused and driving"as a weakness. Or a CEO whose strengths is identified as "consistent process driven execution of a vision" isalso identified as "often too structured."

The "outside in" feedback of this type of 360 gives executives new insights that, if acted upon, really ramp up

their effectiveness, especially with their teams.

Your article shines a spotlight on a topic that is often overlooked. Really useful information for the C-suite.

Thank you!

- Posted by Deb DibOctober 22, 2009 8:29 AM

Nomatter how self-aware someone is, their assessment of themselves will always be slightly biased.

Weaknesses often remain underdeveloped because positive attention is always awarded to peoples'

strengths. What happens when the strengths begin to mirror the weaknesses? Employee assessmentsenable employers to determine people's strengths and weaknesses without a personal bias. With thisinformation, employers are able to interpret what their employees think of themselves and compare it to the

results of the assessment. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of an individual allows for a candidconversation about professional development. We studied the impact of this concept among management:http://bit.ly/3vg8Aj

- Posted by AshleyDawnOctober 22, 2009 10:22 AM

This is exceptionally well-written and thoughtful. My first reactionwas how much the Brits are like so manyofthe managers I work with in U.S. nonprofit organizations. The reluctance to challenge the boss is one of themost derailing behaviors an executive team can have. While I don't agree with the comment that leaders "areoften unbalanced," I do believe that any of us can becomeunbalancedwith out honest feedback.

After 30 years as a nonprofit CEO, I became a certified coach to my former colleagues. The pattern is clear.Those who voluntarily obtain a coach are usually the most self aware--and the most motivated to change.In addition to asking for my new clients to list their strengths and flaws, I also ask them to list the three

activities/roles that are the most energizing and the three that are the most draining. The insight that comesfrom that exercise makes the assessment more meaningful and intriguing. (By the way, I strongly prefer theWorkplace Big Five Profile (tm) 4.0 as a tool to assist clients to set goals in the context ofwho they are and

the choices open to them. Thanks for a great article!

- Posted by Judy NelsonOctober 22,200910:31 AM

Great article with suggestion to take regular audits and 360 degree feedback. I will remmember yourcontribution, always.

v s kumarIndia

- Posted by vskumar

Great article. It is so true your strengths can quickly become yourweaknesses. I have seen it in others as well

as in myself. Thank you for the tips!

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/corkindale/2009/1O/dont_let_your_strength_become.... 10/26/2009



Don't Let Your Strength Become Your Weakness - Gill Corkindale - HarvardBusiness... of 6

- Posted byJourdanOctober22, 2009 11:42AM

The DarkSide of Leadership in CorporateAmerica is actually the overall lack of training on how to bea

Leader. Many executives are unfamiliar with their skill level in the ability to persuade and influence others.This lack of "Influential Leadership" often leads to frustration and an executive that can actually damage the

organization. Many executives feel they do not require additional training but managing people is both a

profession and a skill and like any good Doctor, the Executivemust be involved in a program of constantlearning to maintain the highest standard of professionalism and skill.

- Posted by J.P. WhalenOctober 22,20093:18 PM'."..".""."""..".".""""'"".".".".."...'."'."'.".".'."'..""..."'.""."..""".".".........................................................................................................................................................................

I concur that more often than not, our weaknesses are our assets on steroids.

But, I think there are two other influencers at play:1. intention -- two actions or behaviors can look identical but have very different intentions; and

2. context -- sometimes a strength displayed to an extreme is appropriate in an extreme situation.

Being "awake" to one's nature and knowing how to flex seems to be a key to organizational effectiveness.

- Posted by Leslie Lannan

.<?~t.c:>.~~.~..???..?.9.9.~...~.:.?..?...F.'.f0 '."""."""""""."'."

Another wonderful article.

Behavioural patterns of managers do not seem to have any bearing on Board of Directors or the fundinvestors behind them,until it is too late.

Quite often the Board and managers are well aware of their behavioural patters but as long as they deliver

often(short term) results all is OK.

Good examples of this are consultants who join a company and continue to behave in a way that broughtthem success in the previous role but now hinder them.(one size fits all trap)

These ego and testosterone hostages are often under internal pressure to perform, this sets of a behaviourset which leads to fight or flight mentality and thus adrenalin takes over, often chronic.Another is allowing talented people to run riot in case they are offended and change company.

Until those who pull the strings decide it is time for a behavioural change nothing happens(remembering thepeoplewho pull the strings will look bad as it reflects on their choice.Time for HRnot to pander to all departments but to give some alignment, sadly missing.Your four suggestions are certainly a start.

- Posted by Carl Rodgers

.<?~t.c:>.~~.~..?.~.~..?.9.9.~...~.:9.~..!.\f0 "...'...'..."."".""." ''..''.''''''' '..''...''...''.'' , "".""""." ''''''''

Good article. Well thought out and written. Basically:The intangible traits of a person that can't be qualified ormeasured but are the razor thin edge between success or failure.

- Posted by BernieWalko

.<?~t.c:>.~~~..?~?..?.9.9.~...~.:.?..~..!.\f0 ''''''''.''.''.'''''...''

I'm sorry, I'm a bit flabbergasted. You mean to tell me that the "smart people" are onlyjust figuring this out?

oy.

- Posted by mick

October 23, 2009 2:08 PM".....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Interesting perspective. As someone who believes in the "develop your strengths" approach, this serves as a

good reminder to make sure those strengths are developed appropriately, not with unchecked, recklessabandon.

This "Icarus Paradox" is evident in people, I believe,who have lower levels of self awareness and

introspection. Frequently, esteem issues are at the core of abherrent behavior, whether manifesting from

previous "strengths" or not.

But that's just me...

http://blogs .harvardbusiness. orgl corkindale/2009 1101dont_let_your_strength_become....10/26/2009



Don't Let Your Strength Become Your Weakness -Gill Corkindale - HarvardBusiness... 0f6

KB

- Posted by Kevin Berchelmann

.<?gt<:>.~E3.r...?'~~.?'QQ~...?'.:?'9...f.>.f0............................................................................................................................................

Good post that weighs costs/benefits of over-weighting strengths. This point is another reason that a CEO's

Job #1 is to assemble the right team. One with complementary strengths that balance one another and

provide a check should one individual's strength(s) become dominant to the point they damage an

organization.

http://pivotpointsolutions.wordpress.com

- Posted byAndrew McFarlandOctober 24,20099:11 AM........................................................................ ..... .......................

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/corkindale/2009/1 O/dont_let_your _strength_become.... 10/26/2009

dont_let_your_strength_become.pdf

Documents