Robert E. Kaplan and Robert B. Kaiser, "Stop Overdoing Your Strenghts" (Harvard Business Review, February, 2010)
The book "Now Discover Your Strengths", the ICMA Workshop on this subject, testing and other articles and workshops etc. made sense to me and I try to use the concepts of "suing your strengths" both as a Manager and also I encourage personnel to utilize these concepts.
Since the concepts of using your strengths rather than concentrating on trying the improve my weaknesses is a major change in my thinking in recent years, this article with the theme that you can "overdo" your strengths was interesting and educational.
The Article basically states that we need to be careful to not overuse our strengths to the point that they are become "weaknesses through overuse". While this may appear to be common sense, I appreciated some of the points of the article.
The article stated that research indicated that the effects of overuse of strengths could have negative impact on team performance, especially in the areas of vitality and productively and ALWAYS in performance. While I always realized overdoing strengths could be harmful, the article states even a "little" overdoing could be harmful.
The article basically states that a manager needs to find "balance" by acknowledging the strengths overused and redirecting strengths. Some techniques suggested included co-worker ratings (a "5", or whatever top rating is used may indicate overuse of a strength), making a list of qualities I want in a leader and analyzing the list to see if I am overdoing any of them, and checking for "lopsidedness" (by getting feedback) and simply checking with a trusted colleague, counselor or friend or spouse.
"Redirecting Strengths" is the next, and most difficult step, to become more balanced in leadership style.
The article also provides several sources for helping self-analysis.
While I haven't started the through analysis, I have thought of several areas where I need to become more balanced, and the article has already had an effect on my management and relationship style. This is an article I am going to keep and reflect on in the future to measure my progress.
