Embrace continuous learning to grow as a leader.
We often get conflicting advice about leadership development. “Focus on your strengths” OR “focus on your weaknesses”.
Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter are almost classics in the employee and leadership development genre. At the core of Now, Discover Your Strengths is the idea that you should focus on your strengths rather than waste time on improving weaknesses. A key premise in What Got You Here Won’t Get You There is that growing new skills and addressing bad habits will unlock the door to increased success.
So, which advice should you follow?
My experience is that the best leaders maximize their strengths while seeking ways to continually learn, expand and grow. It’s not focusing on either strengths or weaknesses, it’s focusing on both that gets you the furthest.
As leaders’ roles change and they take on more responsibility, the leadership requirements also change. In the The Leadership Pipeline, Charan, Drotter, and Noel show how the skills needed for success change as leaders advance in their careers. The skills that are required for success as a manager of a team are different from the skills required for success as an individual contributor. The skills required for success as a senior leader are different from those required of a frontline or mid-level leader. Each of these transitions also requires spending time in different ways. Moving from one level of leadership to the next requires learning new skills.
You should also put some things on the shelf when you move to a new level of leadership. If you’re like most of the leaders I’ve worked with, you’ve built your career around an area of expertise. You put in a lot of hard work to acquire that expertise. You take pride in it, and you’ve become well known for it. You’ve used it to add a lot of value. Taking on greater leadership responsibility brings a new set of challenges and requires a new set of skills. It also brings different needs for how you spend your time on a day-to-day basis. While you don’t need to give up your expertise, the way you leverage it to be successful changes.
It’s hard for leaders to shift from leveraging their expertise to contribute as individuals to leveraging their expertise to contribute as leaders. The shifts don’t get easier as you progress. Managing a team of hundreds of employees is very different from managing a team of ten. If you aren’t able to make these shifts, you will become limited in your success and unable to move forward.
At the same time, some of ‘what got you here’ will ‘get you there’. Four qualities that fueled your success so far, will be critical for your future success. Most important is humility. To grow, it’s critical to be aware that you need to grow and be open to learning from others. You don’t have all the answers, and you need to learn from others in order to achieve growth. Your learning ability is also important. Learning is a skill in itself. You mastered this at an earlier stage in your career, and now you need to tap into it again. You have a strong work ethic. You will need to work hard to learn new skills. Discipline is also key. It’s important to do something every day, consistently to drive your growth forward.
To 10X your growth, leverage your unique combination of strengths more fully and in new ways. Are you great at visioning? How can you use that strength to add even greater value for yourself and your company? Do you have superior analytical skills? Mentor or teach others to multiply the value of those skills within your organization. Great relationship skills? Build a strong team and motivate them to high levels of performance.
What should you do to move forward on this? Get clear on both your strengths and areas for growth. In what areas of leadership are you thriving? In what areas do you have room for growth? You probably already have a good idea, but it can help to ask others as well. Get 360 feedback from direct reports, peers, and your manager. Identify your competence in each area of leadership. For each are you:
Unconsciously competent - You are so skilled in this area that you do it well without even thinking about it.
Consciously competent - You’re skillful, but it requires great thought and energy.
Consciously incompetent - You’re aware that you need improvement in an area.
Unconsciously incompetent - Are there places where you need improvement, but aren’t aware? This is where 360 feedback and other assessments can help.
Create a development plan to focus on your top priority growth areas. Put in place a consistent approach and routine to make progress.