Strength Beyond Strength

I came across a passage in Peter Drucker’s “The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done” that describes the best way to evaluate employees. It recommends that you do not evaluate your team based on the traditional approach towards identifying and coaching strengths and weaknesses, but rather focusing on strengths only. He writes, “for a superior to focus on weakness, as our appraisals require him to do, destroys the integrity of his relationship with his subordinates.”

I could not agree more. In my own approach to leadership, I look for an employee’s strength first and foremost. I see strength as something I can build on. I most likely will not be able to help you with a weakness you do not recognize in yourself, but I can help you use your strengths to overcome what I think they may be. In fact, if I bring up a weakness you do not see in yourself you may feel offended, or feel hurt, or not care. I believe this erodes trust, and I need trust with my team and my manager. It’s even worse when the manager phones it in. It is just too delicate of a situation to gamble upon.

I remember a past evaluation that included a supposed “weakness” section. I had a banner year, smoothing out a financial reporting process that was a mess when I came on board and I felt good about what my strengths would be. I was excited for the review as I felt my pay was under market. However, the evaluation did not go how I expected. What surprised me wasn’t what the weakness mentioned, but that the weakness involved a minor incident that didn’t involve me and was outside of the evaluation period itself. This told me either the manager was not paying much attention or more disappointingly, didn’t really care. When I challenged the assessment, she admitted that the weakness was not really relevant, but she “needed something” and she was not allowed to give out a five (out of five). The average raise I received made me feel like the entire process was a checkbox and meant nothing for my development.

The best managers, in my opinion, identify strengths and help the employee lean in on them. Otherwise, when you try to improve the weakness of a subordinate, what you are essentially doing is making them average at best and at worst, eroding trust.