How understanding your strengths will make you a great leader

How understanding your strengths will make you a great leader | Last week, an article popped up on my feed: The 28 Characteristics of a Great Leader. We’ve all seen these types of articles – a quick google search will turn up dozens of them, most of which include talents that directly contrast with others: You need to be a great communicator, but also introspective… you need to be empathetic but also data-driven… you need to be a great multitasker but also extremely focused… The list goes on. As business professionals we tend to measure ourselves against benchmarks like these, setting a very high (and unattainable) bar for what it means to be a great leader.

The reality: Being a great leader is not about being everything to everyone. Great leaders DO NOT possess all of the “most important” leadership qualities and even together with their team they still may not – but great leaders DO put in the work to understand where those gaps lie. Great leaders DO explore how their personal strengths contribute to their success, how they may detract from success, and how they ultimately shape their leadership style.

It comes down to this: Great leaders are self-aware. They have invested time and resources to build an understanding of what makes them unique and then they honor it.

Self-awareness, when rooted in strengths, unlocks three critical leadership characteristics:

Confidence. Confident leaders maximize opportunities and teams by realizing the value of what others bring to the table. Not to be confused with ego, confidence allows leaders to leverage their personal strengths and arrange the team around them to support their talents and match their effort. It's important to keep in mind that being a confident leader doesn't mean living in an altered reality where you believe you are good at everything, rather it’s the ability to boldly own where your strengths are and where they are not.

Inclusion. Inclusive leaders thrive on diversity – creating a space to hear and understand the voices and perspectives of others (regardless of rank or status), then act on those insights. This promotes idea-sharing and advances initiatives while strengthening the team and organizational culture. Inclusive leaders foster environments where people value one-another and seek out opportunities to collaborate and build ideas together.

Advocacy. Leaders who advocate shine the spotlight on others. They encourage their team to lead with their strengths, praise often and honestly, and influence important changes and behaviors. Leaders who master advocacy know the power of their voice and make mindful choices to amplify the ideas and viewpoints of others vs their own.

How-to: Self-awareness is a highly-desired trait for top leaders and executives but when rooted in strengths this becomes even more powerful. For my clients, this is a three-step strengths development process: self-discovery, self-expansion, and self-regulation. When leaders invest in understanding their personal strengths they don’t just become aware of themselves, they become aware of the strengths of others – naturally creating leaders who are confident, inclusive, and are advocates within teams and organizations.

The key take-away here: Being a great leader is within the reach of anyone willing to put in the effort to get there. Discover your strengths, build your self-awareness, and reap the benefits of becoming a great leader. Don’t give in to clickbait to chase competencies and stop trying to be everything to everyone - just learn how to be the best you.