Converge

I've always thought you can learn a lot about a leader by paying attention to the questions they ask when something goes wrong. One leader asks, “Who's responsible?” Another asks, “Why wasn't this done?” Another immediately starts looking for a solution. But every once in a while, you'll hear a leader ask, “What are we missing?” I like that question because it creates room for information that may not yet be on the table. It assumes the leader doesn't have the whole picture, which is a pretty healthy assumption for anyone sitting in a leadership role. Curiosity doesn't get enough credit in leadership conversations.

One of the interesting things about strengths is that we're often the least impressed by the things that come naturally to us. If something feels easy, we assume it must not be particularly valuable. But that's not necessarily true. The way you naturally organize information, build relationships, solve problems, spot possibilities or bring energy into a room may feel completely ordinary to you because you've been doing it your whole life. Someone else may look at that same ability and think, “How do they do that?” Don't overlook a strength simply because it doesn't feel difficult. Sometimes the things we take for granted are the things we should be developing the most intentionally.

Here's a question I've been thinking about lately: Who on your team is better because you lead them? Not because they attended one of your training sessions or because they hit their numbers, but because your investment in them helped them grow into something they weren't yet. Leadership leaves fingerprints. Sometimes we don't get to see the full impact of those fingerprints because the person moves on, takes another role or succeeds somewhere we aren't watching. But that's part of the job. The best leaders aren't just producing results. They're leaving people more capable than they found them.

There's something about September that makes the calendar feel different. January feels like you have all year to get things done. September reminds you that you don't. We're heading into the final quarter, which means it's a good time to take another look at everything sitting on your team's plate. Instead of asking, “What else do we need to accomplish before December?” I'd suggest asking, “What deserves our best attention between now and the end of the year?” That small change in the question can lead to a very different conversation. Sometimes finishing well isn't about doing more. It's about being more deliberate about what gets your attention.

Most organizations have someone who is incredibly dependable. They're the person everyone goes to because they know the job will get done. They say, “I'll take care of it,” and they usually do. The problem is that dependable people can quietly become overloaded people. Responsibility is a wonderful strength, but it can become a trap when someone starts believing that being valuable means being responsible for everything. I've had to remind leaders of this more than once: being dependable doesn't mean you have to carry the entire organization. Sometimes the next step in your development isn't learning how to take on more. It's learning what you can trust someone else to carry.

I think we've made leadership more complicated than it needs to be sometimes. We have frameworks for conversations, models for trust, formulas for engagement and enough leadership books to fill several libraries. None of that is inherently bad, but there are moments when leadership is simply having the conversation you've been avoiding, making the decision you've been postponing, apologizing when you got it wrong or giving someone enough room to solve a problem without rescuing them. Not every leadership challenge needs another framework. Sometimes it needs a little courage, a little honesty and a willingness to do the uncomfortable thing.

Here's a question I wish more organizations asked when someone is struggling: Are we developing this person for the role they're in, or are we simply asking them to survive it? Those are two very different things. We sometimes assume that if someone isn't thriving in a particular position, the answer is more coaching, more accountability or more training. Those things can help, but sometimes the bigger issue is that we're asking someone to spend most of their time operating in areas that don't naturally bring out their best. CliftonStrengths can make that conversation much more interesting. Instead of only asking what someone needs to improve, we can also ask where their natural talents could create more value. That's not lowering the bar. It's getting smarter about how people contribute.

One of the most important things a leader can do is create space for people to become more of who they are. I've seen leaders spend an enormous amount of energy trying to correct someone's weaknesses while completely overlooking the things that person does exceptionally well. Development isn't always about taking someone who isn't naturally good at something and making them average at it. Sometimes it's about recognizing where someone has real potential and giving them more opportunities to use it. That's one of the reasons I continue to believe so strongly in strengths-based development. People don't need leaders who spend all their time looking for what's wrong with them. They need leaders who can see what's possible in them.

Here's a simple question I've started thinking about after meetings: Did everyone leave knowing more, or did everyone just hear more? Those aren't necessarily the same thing. We can spend an hour in a conference room, cover every agenda item, share a mountain of information, and still walk out without much clarity about what actually happens next. Good meetings aren't about how much information a leader can put into a room. They're about whether the conversation moved the work, the people, or the decision forward. As we head into a busy fall, it might be worth looking at your calendar and asking which meetings are actually earning their place on it.

One of the things I appreciate about CliftonStrengths is that it doesn't ask us to pretend our strengths are always strengths. They can be incredibly productive, but they can also get a little out of hand. Someone with Responsibility can become the person who feels like everything has to be theirs to carry. An Achiever can have a hard time slowing down. Someone with Harmony may keep the peace long after a difficult conversation is needed. Someone with Command may make decisions quickly but unintentionally leave little room for other voices. None of those things mean the strength is bad. It means we're human. Knowing your strengths is only the beginning. The more interesting question is whether you're using them intentionally or whether they've started using you.