Just as you can use your own talents in a complementary manner, you can develop complementary partnerships that will make use of the talents of others. Imagine for a moment a manager who is very talented as an Achiever, as an Arranger, and as an Activator. She will be driven to accomplish things — that’s Achiever; accomplish them right now — that’s Activator; and she’ll work on several things almost simultaneously — that’s Arranger. At the end of the day, you literally have to wade through what she did, because she worked on so many things, not necessarily in an orderly fashion. To help her keep organized, she partners with a highly focused and disciplined administrative assistant.
But there’s a problem. Every five minutes, she runs to her administrative assistant and says, “Here’s another thing I want you to do.” Because she’s an Activator, she’s going to delegate the tasks as they occur to her. She could drive that highly disciplined, highly focused person nuts, because every five minutes she has a new idea or something new she wants done. And the way she presents it is, “Do this now, too.” The best way for them to work together is to “own” or claim their talents, to be honest about their weaknesses, and to respect the other person in the relationship.
Managing Your Weaknesses
How making the most of your strengths can play a key role
by Kenneth A. Tucker
https://www.k-state.edu/strengths/resources/Managing_Your_Weaknesses_20021010.pdf
A highly organized and time-efficient person would be likely to have significant talents in the areas of Discipline and Focus. But let’s say you don’t. You lack Discipline or Focus, but instead, you have many talents as an Achiever. You want to accomplish things. You may even be driven to make a mental or physical note of the things that you plan to accomplish, then go back to check those things off when you have accomplished them.
For example, I work with a manager who is driven by talents in his Achiever theme. Now, he knows he needs to interact with his people every day, but he isn’t naturally inclined to go out and meet people, greet them, and be friendly with them. So he puts this task on his list of things to do every day. Four times a day, he goes out to the coffee pot that’s across the hall from his office and talks to colleagues on the way. Yes, he makes sure he does this four times daily. This strategy works for him because he’s an Achiever and because he’s put it on his list of things to do.
So if you’re not naturally organized, but you’re driven to achieve, you could make up for your lack of organization by drawing on complementary talents. This is very powerful, because the flip side of that is conventional wisdom, which would send you to a time-management seminar to learn organizational skills.
Just as you can use your own talents in a complementary manner, you can develop complementary partnerships that will make use of the talents of others. Imagine for a moment a manager who is very talented as an Achiever, as an Arranger, and as an Activator. She will be driven to accomplish things — that’s Achiever; accomplish them right now — that’s Activator; and she’ll work on several things almost simultaneously — that’s Arranger. At the end of the day, you literally have to wade through what she did, because she worked on so many things, not necessarily in an orderly fashion. To help her keep organized, she partners with a highly focused and disciplined administrative assistant.
But there’s a problem. Every five minutes, she runs to her administrative assistant and says, “Here’s another thing I want you to do.” Because she’s an Activator, she’s going to delegate the tasks as they occur to her. She could drive that highly disciplined, highly focused person nuts, because every five minutes she has a new idea or something new she wants done. And the way she presents it is, “Do this now, too.” The best way for them to work together is to “own” or claim their talents, to be honest about their weaknesses, and to respect the other person in the relationship.
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When you’re challenged with a weakness, clearly define the outcome you’re trying to accomplish. A case in point: Let’s say I am trying to close a sale. Now, I am a person with Woo and Communication, and I make my best sales using these talents. I’m faced with a potential customer who is highly Analytical — which I’m not — and she is somewhat cautious any time she’s confronted with Woo. She doesn’t want any sales hype. What she wants is to walk away knowing that she made the best decision, that she’s chosen the best product or service — she just wants the facts. So I have to manage that sale differently.
One of the ways in which people are most effective is when they are intentional in how they use their talents. They understand what their talents look like to others. They understand how they can use their talents to influence others, positively or negatively. In that situation, I should consider how I could use my talents without allowing them to interfere with the other person’s talents. I need to think about how I can use my Communication talents to articulate the product benefits in a way that meets the customer’s needs — not mine.
(So managing around a weakness not only requires me to know my talents, it requires me to be very conscious in how I use them.)
That’s right, and that’s why I use the word intentional. A person greatly talented in Command, for example, might want to rush into her boss’ office and have a face-to-face every time there’s a problem. In fact, her coworkers know she will do this, so they tell her everything they think is wrong because they know she will rush into the boss’ office, saving them the bother of a confrontation. To avoid this, she needs to become intentional in her use of her Command talents and understand how to use them appropriately.
The thought that really excites me is how absolutely liberating talents are. Our talents are our greatest potential — our opportunity for strength. When people come to know who they are and learn how to use their talents intentionally, it’s an amazing combination.