“If you want to grow – if you want to be successful in any way in your career, your relationships, your life – you’ve got to focus on strengths, and manage around your weaknesses”. (Marcus Buckingham, Founder of the strengths revolution)
There is a strengths wave that has been building momentum for some time. Whether you work in business, health, education or the sports industry, the strengths-based approach has changed the way we see ourselves, our colleagues, our children and our world. The strengths approach is at the core of my Elite Thinking methodology which teaches that you learn very little about excellence when you study weaknesses. It is simply incorrect that a deep understanding of weaknesses will amount to a deep understanding of excellence. That is why we study successful teams and not unsuccessful teams in business and sport. It is why we analyze great leaders so we can discover what made them so successful. We move in the direction of our thoughts and as we lean more to looking at success, excellence, and productivity, so we will discover the ingredients, the characteristics, the paradigms, the actions and so on that will lead us to further success. The strengths-based Elite Thinking methodology advances players and coaches to levels previously unattainable. It gives teams a competitive advantage in sports, business and life. This methodology helps coaches know their own strengths, and have them be the guide for their lives, and to help players uncover, unpack and unleash their strengths. While the focus on the methodology is on strengths, we cannot ignore weaknesses. This article looks at the challenges of focusing on weaknesses and introduces the idea of the positive pivot.
We move in the direction of our thoughts and as we lean more to looking at success, excellence, and productivity, so we will discover the ingredients, the characteristics, the paradigms, the actions and so on that will lead us to further success.
Fixating on Weaknesses
We often hear the importance of playing to one's strengths, so why is there a deep desire to focus on weaknesses? Part of that desire comes from our upbringing and how we were led to focus on our report card flaws and improve those to become strengths. That may have arisen because our parents (and we can include teachers, coaches and managers) have two incorrect paradigms through which people are viewed. One is that we can become competent at anything if we put our minds to it. Two, each person’s greatest opportunity is in their area of weakness. Unfortunately, it is not only the report card conversation where we see evidence of this. Organizations typically fall foul of a strengths-based focus and are fixated on fixing weaknesses. Most organizations I go into have a deficit focus and have these characteristics. Performance reviews examine an employer’s weaknesses, and then designs training around how to fix them. Individual Development Plans are built around areas of weakness. Even the company-wide SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) has an area for weaknesses that is typically emphasized. And, since people operate from the paradigm that a person can be competent in almost anything, people are both hired based on competencies and potential, and promoted based on performance in their current role, not necessarily a strengths-fit for the new role. It is no wonder that the majority of employees across the globe do not feel engaged in their work and the financial, personal and health issues that result from this lack of engagement are severe.
Furthermore, people have so little understanding of their talents and strengths. Why? Because before the rise of positive psychology, the focus of psychology was on diagnosing and fixing issues and problems. This traditional notion of people being broken has ensured we spend most of our time fixing people when in fact we should be focusing on the potential within their strengths. The strengths wave backed by science shows us clearly that identifying what we are good at, those natural talents and gifts, and turning them into strengths is transformational. And, I would argue, a still-to-be tapped resource in the world of sports coaching. Weaknesses typically remain weaknesses, and so we spend so much of our time hiding these flaws from others. Self-confidence takes a hammering and the result is often less drive to learn, grow and improve. Stories of player burnout, addiction, mental illness, locker room fights and coach exhaustion abound.
Identifying what we are good at, those natural talents and gifts, and turning them into strengths is transformational
Strengths focus ignites talent
Coaches are tempted to fixate on weaknesses. It seems preposterous to focus only on the strengths of a player when there is so much to work on. Let’s examine this for a moment. Imagine if Steffi Graf, the brilliant tennis star, had forgone hours of practicing her devastating forehand to focus on her backhand. Her backhand was not a weapon, but her foot work and her ability to get around her backhand to unleash the forehand was exceptional. That is what got her to be ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and win 22 Grand Slam singles titles. What would it look like if players could focus on their strengths? Studies have repeatedly shown that a person is more engaged, productive, and creative when playing to their strengths. Furthermore, individuals exhibit better judgement. In the heat of battle, a coach needs their players to be able to make the correct calls. Coaches ought to know their players and be able to coach them so that certain skills are at competency level, and the natural strengths of players are focused on so that they become the best at their game in those talent-filled areas. The key lever for any coach then is to get each person to play to their strengths and in doing so their players become better performers. When strengths are the focus of a coach, they are on their way to building a high performance team.
In cricket, for example, we see lower order batters spending time improving their batting skills so they don’t get too easily dismissed and contribute to the team’s score, but they don’t spend that time at the expense of improving their bowling, the very strengths that got into the team. Or soccer goalkeepers who work on their dribbling and ground passing skills to reach levels of competency that add value to their core role of goalkeeping, but not to the expense of their ability to keep the ball out the net. We move further, faster and have more fun in our areas of strength.
It’s a ratio game
A coach cannot ignore a player’s weak technical skills. If a player is holding the ball or bat incorrectly, the coach needs to step in and correct that. You don’t let a player flounder. But it’s a ratio game. The coach needs to ask, “How much of my interaction time is spent fixing weaknesses versus highlighting strengths?” Coaches must be aware of the traditional deficit-type questions that are obsessed with problems and aim to remove or reduce impediments to success. There are absolutely times when a direct intervention is necessary; however, a coach who relies too much on this approach is failing to tap into the strengths of the players and missing the opportunity to create thinking players.
A player learning a new skill (like a knuckleball) needs some direct coaching, where to place the fingers, what the release point looks like and so on. This is coaching a skill or technique. I always ask, “What does it feel like when you play the shot/bowl the ball/pitch the ball perfectly?” “Describe what you are thinking, doing, feeling when you pitch at your best?” Players themselves begin to break down their technique on their own. They start from the best shot, best pitch, best throw. They begin with a perfect model in their thoughts and work out in detail what that looks and feels like and then work to replicate that on a near-consistent basis thus creating a strength.
The strengths-based Elite Thinking methodology advances players and coaches to levels previously unattainable.
Power of the positive pivot
The Journal of Change Management has an article on sport and positive psychology that states this strengths-based approach “poses an interesting challenge for sports coaches and business leaders, who often see themselves as problem-solvers who are expected to ‘fix what’s broken.’”(1) Yet, positivity literally changes how our minds work. By pivoting from a focus on fixing weaknesses to seeing strengths, coaches can ask positive questions that create a conversation that brings with it the opportunity for positive action, a positive environment, and the opportunity for players to play to their strengths.
Dr. Peter Dry
March, 2021
peterdry@thepdlearninggroup.com
Peter uses his Elite Thinking methodology to unleash the potential in teams across all sectors.
1. Martin Dixon, Sarah Lee & Tony Ghaye (2105): Strengths-based reflective practices for the management of change: applications from sport and positive psychology, Journal of Change Management.
Photo credit: https://100daysofa11y.com/2019/01/30/day-61-identifying-a11y-issues-for-users-who-magnify-their-screen/
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