100 Posts in 100 Days
As I wrote about constructive anecdotal feedback yesterday and my own experience receiving information that I could be hard to read, I recalled a time early in my career when I attended a training and received a handout with 2 parallel lists. The list on the left was one of possible strengths and the list on the right was one of a weakness that could result from taking the strength too far.
Thinking about this idea of paradox and strengths-gone-too-far, I was curious to see if I could quickly find a list similar to the one I had seen years ago. It didn’t take much work to find that this general topic, strengths-gone-too-far, is well documented in literature on leadership. I didn’t find a list, per se, like I recall, but I did find other variations and information that I synthesized into my own list.
Note: These are lists of ideas that I culled from other sources. The items are in no particular order.
Strength |
Weakness |
|
Grasp of details |
Micromanaging |
|
High standards |
Perfectionism |
|
Relationship-builder |
Avoids conflict, fails to hold people accountable |
|
Results-oriented |
Domineering and demanding |
|
Strategic thinker |
Good ideas/poor execution |
|
Decisive |
Controlling/non-collaborative |
|
Confident or Assertive |
Arrogant |
|
Persistence |
Stubbornness |
|
Loyalty |
Favoritism |
|
Patience |
Inaction |
|
Curiousity |
Indecisiveness |
|
Taking Initiative |
Ignoring Boundaries |
One particularly thorough guide I came across is the Strengths Cross-Reference Guide from Clifton Strengths-Finder.
The main two articles that informed this list are:
Leadership Strengths are Weaknesses When Taken Too Far
When Strengths Turn In To Weaknesses
Even from this short list, I can see myself in at least 4 of these items. I can use these ideas to prompt further self-assessment and to actively solicit feedback by asking some of my co-workers how they see me on the 4 areas I’m thinking about. I sense some personal action planning for the next school year coming on.
This is very helpful. I see myself quite clearly in at least 3 of these.. As I reflect I can see where I may have let them creep in the past and impacted my effectiveness as a leader. As leaders relationships are important and you want people to like you and the nature of the position puts you in a position where you have to make some difficult decisions that might not always be popular. This I know has led me to not hold people accountable when perhaps I should have in order to preserve the relationships. I try to live by “Soft on the person and hard on the problem.”