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Managing yourself. Stop overdoing your strengths.

Robert E Kaplan1, Robert B Kaiser

  • 1Kaplan DeVries, USA. bkaplan@kaplandevries.com

Harvard Business Review
|March 10, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Many leadership development tools fail to identify overused strengths. This research offers strategies for leaders to recognize and recalibrate excessive positive attributes, preventing them from becoming weaknesses.

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Area of Science:

  • Organizational Psychology
  • Leadership Studies

Background:

  • Traditional leadership development tools, like 360-degree surveys, often categorize traits as strengths or weaknesses.
  • These methods may not effectively identify when a strength is being overused or applied excessively.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose strategies for leaders to identify and address overused strengths.
  • To help leaders avoid the negative consequences of excessive positive attributes.

Main Methods:

  • Reviewing high ratings on 360-degree feedback reports.
  • Self-assessment of desired leadership traits and potential extremes.
  • Soliciting targeted feedback from others on specific leadership qualities.

Main Results:

  • Overused strengths can transform into weaknesses (e.g., decisiveness becoming impatience).
  • Excessive focus on certain strengths can lead to lopsided leadership, diminishing opposite capacities.
  • Leaders can identify overused strengths by critically evaluating feedback and self-reflection.

Conclusions:

  • Leaders must actively seek methods beyond standard assessments to recognize and correct overextension of strengths.
  • Recalibrating leadership behavior is crucial for balanced and effective management.
  • Self-awareness and external feedback are key to preventing strengths from becoming detrimental.