People are made up of different strengths and weaknesses. It makes us who we are. The leaders who recognizes their weakness and overcome them with their strengths are resonant leaders. A weakness in leaders needs to be a part of the Real Self that leaders take into account during self reflection(Boyatzis & McKee, 2005).
During the assessment of my weakness and strengths, I found that it was easier for me to own my weakness. While assessing my strengths, I tried to put them off as not as strong as they need to be. The weakness that I know I don’t do well is my defense. Whenever there is a problem presented about one of my employees, I instantly go on the defensive. I always want to defend my employees and point the finger at others. I think this is a weakness because it causes a lot of tension between me and the person bringing the offence to my attention. To change this weakness, I want to listen more intently. I think that most problems are not about the employee with a problem, it’s the action or situation that needs the attention. For example, a production planner complained to me that a part sat on the quote rack for 5 days instead of being in production because my employee put it there. I went on the defense and said that the planners needs to have better accountability with parts and what is on their shelves. After reflection, I found the planner wasn't just complaining about my employee, the planner was seeking a solution to a problem. We needed to label the racks quote hold and production.
One of my biggest strengths is being able to own it. I have a strength that I own my faults, problems and weaknesses. Whenever someone says there is a problem and I did it, I instantly think it was my fault and how can I do it better. I use this tactic to get past the feeling of defense and resentment that most people feel when presented with a problem they caused or a fault. Being able to own my problems has opened a lot of doors for people to be able to come and approach me. When we own our faults first, people aren’t as slow to present problems to us. If we blame ourselves first and then with evidence present that it wasn't our fault it is easier to fix the problem.
I think that this exercise, for me, was more about how to identify my real self in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Before this exercise, I viewed my real self as a post reflection, while this exercise shows that we can pre reflect on actions by knowing our strengths and weaknesses(Boyatzis & McKee, 2005). For example, I need to step back before I send an email or text and reflect on what I am actually saying. Am I using my defensive nature in this email and if so what am I missing? If I can, how will I put some of my strengths into this email? I think that I need to reflect more in the moment and not post action.
References
Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant leadership. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
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