The Tug of War: Strengths vs. Weaknesses

What is your greatest strength?

What is an area for development?

These are two additional interview questions I ask EVERY candidate I interview- no matter the position or industry. You may be thinking- hey great Julie. I'm not in interview mode.

That's fine.

BUT... what if you received a call out of the blue from a recruiter tomorrow who asked you questions along these lines.

Are you ready?

Now, let's take this a step further. No matter if you currently hold the position of CFO, CEO, VP, Entrepreneur, Director, Senior Director, or individual contributor - it is detrimental to your organization, the individuals you manage, your team members, and your clients if you lack the self-awareness required to answer those questions.

Ask yourself these questions to assess your strengths:

1. What are you really great at?

2. What comes naturally to you?

3. When does time fly by?

4. What doesn't feel like work to you?

Assess your weakness:

1. What is last on your list?

2. What seems to take you additional time?

3. What don't you enjoy, aka you dread?

We need to be authentic in our work and in our positions. To not do so, is a disservice to those we work with and serve.

Not excelling at everything is not a weakness; rather, it demonstrates strength and authenticity to be self-aware, genuine, authentic, and ready.

For instance, are you a leader of a function but really don't love leading people? It will show.

Leading a function can have multiple looks: you can provide input, coach and guide employees or you can be responsible for the day to day supervision.

These are 2 different ways, for instance, to tap into different leadership strengths.

• Are you an influencer?

• Are you a controller- making sure i's are dotted and t's are crossed?

Often times people are not good at both.

Do you run from conflict or does a good discussion invigorate you?

• Building rapport is a skill set - not just for sales positions.

• It's about taking the TIME to listen, demonstrate empathy, care and understanding.

***It takes time to build trusting and authentic relationships. If you are always tight on time and/or know you are more task-focused, building relationships just might not be your thing and that is ok. It's ok if this isn't you and you'd rather deal with analyzing a client or employee situation instead. Perhaps that's your magic? Again- both are valuable skill sets.

Try this exercise:

1. Write down a work situation that really took more time than it should have this week.

   1. Who was involved?

   2. What could have been avoided?

   3. How would you have handled it differently?

   4. Would you have pulled in other resources?

   5. Were you frustrated? By what? By whom?

      
      

2. Write down a person with whom you continually 'but' heads so to say.

   1. Why?

   2. Have you taken the time to dissect the situation?

   3. Are you holding a grudge?

   4. Are you both striving toward the same goals?

   5. Do you both put in equal effort?

   6. Is there mutual respect?

Having a similar work style or approach can be fine or even easy. But, it doesn't make it the only way to achieve a goal.

Working on a team with diverse personalities, strengths and/or work styles? Curious what type of team you have/are? Take this quick 7 question survey now.

Being willing to look in the mirror and evaluate periodically your strengths and weaknesses so you can focus more on your strengths will enable you to get further faster in your work, your teams and your deliverables.

Download this survey here now to learn more what type of team you have.

Been struggling in your current role or with a team member? We should chat. Proactive career development is a gift to yourself, your family and your team.

What are you waiting for? Here is a link to schedule your Complimentary Career Strategy Session here NOW.