ebernick A child returns from school with their school report. The report reflects good results for all the subjects except one? What do most parents focus on? You got it, the “weakness” on the report. So off to extra lessons we go…
A sales manager notices that one of his sales people is not as competitive as some of the other sales people. He has tried to motivate her to strive to be more competitive, and tells her he has confidence in her being able to be “number one”. He plans his sales management training around helping her “fix her weakness”.
The burning question is, can you fix a “weakness”?
Decades of research by Gallup has revealed that you cannot fix a weakness. You may improve it from, but at best it will always be an average score for the person, never brilliant.
When analyzing successful people the results always confirmed the same pattern for these successful people – they achieved outstanding results when they spent their time working only with their strengths, and managed their weaknesses.
For example, when successful sales people were studied, it was found that they were remarkably dissimilar. Some were competitive, some were not. Some were great communicators, some were not. Some were very disciplined, and some were amongst the most disorganized people ever met. This observation held true even within the same industry or company.
What the research also uncovered was the fact that successful sales people used their respective strengths to perform at a very high level, because they were utilising their natural talents themes.
For example, the task of prospecting was achieved differently by different sales people according to their natural talents or strengths (A strength is a talent which has been developed into a strength by applying knowledge and skills to the talent, much the way a person with a talent for music will develop it into a strength by the application of the required skills and knowledge of developing that talent).
Sales managers who prescribe a “sales system” for their sales people are thus inhibiting them from using their natural strengths to achieve peak performance. They will often focus on “fixing the weakness” by sending them on training programmes aimed at helping them improve their weaknesses.
When people spend most of their time on doing what they love doing, and doing those things that come effortlessly and produce the biggest rewards and income for them, their performance is greatly enhanced.
How easy is it for a person to identify their natural talents and strengths? Actually, this is not as easy as one may believe. Whist there are tell-tale signs in our lives which may hint at our strengths, this is a lot more complicated than one may realise.
Some people may in fact confuse a strength with a weakness (because a strength can also get in ones way if not managed correctly). Sometimes we see only the downside of a theme and so fail to recognize the specific talents it holds. Walt sees himself as negative. He constantly contrasts himself to several other members of the sales staff who are overflowing with Positivity. Sometimes he finds himself wishing he were more like them. But Walt is not like them; he is quite different. Deliberative (one of Gallups 34 talent themes) is one of Walt’s natural talents. Instead of bubbling over with enthusiasm, Walt thinks things over carefully and thoroughly. He is quick to see the downside and is usually direct about communicating possible pitfalls. Walt, without question, looks before he leap, and this quality has saved many of Walt’s customers from making expensive mistakes. Walt’s customers have come to trust his recommendations. It’s a tremendous strength, but he doesn’t see it. Like many of us, Walt is blind to his most pronounced theme.
Another reason we find it hard to identify our strengths is that we lack objectivity about ourselves.
If you want to understand your Top 5 strengths, visit the following link to do your online assessment ($9,99):
You will immediately receive a report with your Top 5 Strengths, as well as an explanation of each.
If you would like to learn more about how to use your strengths to have an impact on other people for better results, as well as enhancing your performance by focusing on using your strengths and manage (not fix) your weaknesses, please feel free to contact Eberhard Niklaus ([email protected])
“Contact Eberhard TODAY for your FREE 30-minute Zoom CONSULTATION to learn more about how to unlock your potential and accelerate the results you want in your life.”
