JJL LP2 Post10: Step 4— Stop Your Weaknesses
Preface: This posting is part of our JJL Learning Project #2: Learn to Lead with your Strengths, a two-book read and learn project.
Links to all previous posts appear at the end of this article.
You may think that Step 4 is a potential downer, returning to talking about weaknesses after all we’ve done to THINK STRONG! Not at all ... Stick with us folks!
I don’t know about you, but in our hundred-miles-an-hour world of overwhelm, I love learning great reasons —too smart to ignore reasons—that explain exactly why I don’t have to do things I don’t particularly enjoy doing! That’s the gift of Step 4.
The subtitle for this part of MB’s book is, “How can you cut out what weakens you?” He offers us yet another acronym for us to make our week-to-week habit building sticky; predictably and appropriately this one is STOP:
- Stop doing the activities which are your weaknesses, and see if anyone notices or cares.
- Team up with someone who is strengthened by the very activity that weakens you.
- Offer up one of your strengths, and gradually steer your job toward this strength and away from the weakness.
- Perceive your weakness from a different perspective.
JJL Community, this week is one where I’ll be asking you to please share some of your personal examples: Watch for posts all this week on each of these four strategies.
What are the warning SIGNs?
First, we go back to those red pages at the back of our books where we had logged what we loathed doing, “those bitter reminders of the activities in your day that weaken and drain you,” and we create weakness statements that make them containing them a bit more proactive: MB coaches that we’ll “want to keep those pages close to you because stopping your weaknesses is just as important than freeing your strengths.”
So the warning signs become:
- S is for the lack of Success
- I is for the lack of Instinct
- G is for the lack of Growth
- N is for the lack of Needs
And we are coached to Clarify (remember those “Does it matter?” questions?) and Confirm again (there’s a Weakness Test to verify those 53+ scores) to box our weaknesses in.
Quit “Should-ing”
For me, the gem in this section is on page 161: Quit “Should-ing.” Love the example Buckingham gives there about Warren Buffet, admittedly because the parallel with one of my own weaknesses was just too obvious to ignore.
I love to speak and I do it often, and ever since I published Managing with Aloha I have attracted the attention of teachers who look for guest speakers in their classrooms. I’ve made it a practice to fit them in whenever I possibly can, even adding extra days to my travel to do so, because I’ve thought of this as “giving back” and I do love the thought of inspiring someone to find their ho‘ohana (passion for worthwhile work) before they even get their first job.
However the plain truth is that these types of speaking engagements do drain me, and they have yet to satisfy any need in me at all; I dread them. I am never happy with my presentations to those younger audiences, for while they are attentive, they don’t have the context of work experience yet, and thus MWA doesn’t make its maximum or immediate impact on them: it remains theory.
On the other hand, adult audiences already on the job repeatedly ask me, “How in the world did you know? I felt like you were talking right to me, and that you’ve somehow been watching me over my work career, actually seeing what I go through.” In fact, that reward comes to me before I’ve even finished my talk: I can see the lights of recognition and personal connection go on in people’s eyes as I’m mid-presentation. I know exactly when to say; “Let’s stop for a moment here. I see you are writing: Please, do not write down what I’ve said; write down what you’re going to do about it. I’ll grab a sip of water so you can capture your intention.”
Thanks to this project I know how I need to better qualify my audiences, and I’m coming up with a plan to give back to schools and teachers in another way that’s more effective for all of us. As for the time I would have done those presentations, I’m filling it up with something that makes me feel strong!
So tell me, what have you been “Should-ing” about?
What will you STOP doing this week?
Project Navigation:
Post 1: Project #2 – Learn to Lead with Your Strengths
Blaine Collins’ ALAWB book review on Go Put Your Strengths to Work
David Zinger’s ALAWB book review on StrengthsFinder 2.0
Post 2: 7 More Days for the Introduction of GO!
Post 3: Go’s Intro/ 1st Impressions
Post 4: Levers & Triggers
Post 5: Bust the Myths!
Trombone Player Wanted - About the film series for the Project
Post 6: Get Clear
Post 7: Sample Strengths Statements
Post 8: The Strong Week Plan
Trombone Player Wanted #2
Post 9: The FREE Interview
Trombone Player Wanted #3
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