You almost certainly can’t be brilliant at everything. Pretending to be brilliant or the expert in everything is only going to get you into trouble and inevitably you will make some poor decisions along the way. The role of a leader is to lead a business, a group or organisation, to achieve the best outcome. Each problem, solution or action requires different types of thinking and falling into the trap of thinking that you are the leader so you must come up with all the answers is dangerous.
For example, setting a vision, mission or goal requires big picture thinking, remaining open, curiosity and prioritisation. Those with logical, analytical minds will struggle to see future possibilities and to visualise what is possible. Once the goal is defined, a decision needs to be made on the approach, strategy, structure and standards required to achieve it. This requires organised and realistic thinking. Getting the goal delivered requires action, momentum and most certainly monitoring and feedback. No one person excels in all of these areas, so humility is critical in the leaders ability to lead effectively. Most critically you need humility to get what you need from others, your team.
Everyone has weaknesses and they show up in patterns and mistakes that are habitually made. Diagnosing your weaknesses is a powerful step in taking control of your business and finding the right people who can compliment you. Everyone has at least one big block or barrier that stands in their way of success. Trying to cover it up will only expose you and lose respect from your followers. Working to overcome it can focus your energy, both emotional and mental, in the wrong direction. Identify your strengths and work with them and face up to your weaknesses and find a solution to working with them. You can either fix it, or you can get the help of others for who your weakness is their strength. The latter is quicker, more efficient and ultimately more successful.
Using my 5 step model, step 1 is always diagnosis. How can you become more effective in business or performance if you don’t really know what the blocks and barriers are. Then we move to step 2, which is “Myself”. This step is all about self-awareness and enables the leader to gain total clarity on their vision and goals, and then understand and create strategies to achieve them. I am not saying it is easy, but taking responsibility for your intentions and the impact you have is critical to the role of a leader. Before you can lead your business, you need to lead yourself.
So where to start?
There are many ways you can identify your weaknesses and strengths. You can simply ask your peers. In the right environment this is the quickest way to get feedback, on time and when it matters most. Depending on your relationship and the level of trust within the team, you may not really hear what you need to hear. You could do a mental mind map, and plot mistakes that you’ve made, and successes that you have had. Then identify what you did or didn’t do to make the outcome happen. Some people are better at self-reflection than others, but often there is still the ego talking to you during this exercise. If you do both it will help you identify the blind spots. If you can’t see the full picture, how can you really make informed decisions? You can get a coach or mentor who will help you to identify them. If you haven’t already got a coach, then that should really be a top priority for you.
A tool that I always use is the Everything DiSC personality profiling tools. It takes the subjectivity out of it. Sometimes I use the Five Behaviours of a Cohesive Team profile to help leaders to really see how well the team is performing and what the team strengths and blind spots are, to ultimately achieve results. The scorecard is there in red, amber, green and shines a light on exactly where your development areas are. Another great tool I use is the Work of Leaders profile. This helps the leader to understand their strengths against best practice and gives a self-development roadmap for clients. Which ever approach you decide to use, be open minded and curious without judgement. The purpose is to help you become a better leader and to take responsibility for yourself and the impact you have on others.
