Every great leader with strengths has weaknesses too.

Some examples of great leaders with weaknesses are Winston Churchill (excessive drinker and smoker), General George Patton (terrible temper), Jack Welch (too emotional) and Steve Jobs (impatient).

These leaders would not have been appointed if their organization was looking for “well-rounded individuals, who universally work well and make few mistakes”. Rather, these leaders have been appointed because of their strengths.

“Performance cannot be built on weaknesses, you can only build performance on strengths”

This perspective is highlighted by management guru Peter Drucker, who states the following underlying fundament for making people decisions:
“Performance cannot be built on weaknesses, you can only build performance on strengths.”

As a leader, you need to staff your organization on strengths. Of all the decisions that you take, none of them are as important as the people decisions, because your people determine the performance of the organization.

To enable staffing for strengths, here are 4 key principles:

  1. Think through the job requirements; what are the few requirements that are crucial to the job’s performance? A long list of requirements will not help in making excellent people decisions.
  2. Find a number of potentially qualified people; ideally you have 3 candidates who meet the qualification of ‘staffing for strength’.
  3. Discuss each of the candidates with people who have worked with them; all of us have first impressions, likes and dislikes, thus we need to be open to experiences of others, to enable outstanding decision making
  4. Making the people decision is the first step, your real work as leader starts thereafter; it is your duty as leader to make sure that your people perform.

If you want to accelerate the quality and speed of your (people) decisions, subscribe here to my upcoming workshop “The Power of the Strategic Mindset”.

Every great leader with strengths has weaknesses too.

Some examples of great leaders with weaknesses are Winston Churchill (excessive drinker and smoker), General George Patton (terrible temper), Jack Welch (too emotional) and Steve Jobs (impatient).

These leaders would not have been appointed if their organization was looking for “well-rounded individuals, who universally work well and make few mistakes”. Rather, these leaders have been appointed because of their strengths.

“Performance cannot be built on weaknesses, you can only build performance on strengths”

This perspective is highlighted by management guru Peter Drucker, who states the following underlying fundament for making people decisions:
“Performance cannot be built on weaknesses, you can only build performance on strengths.”

As a leader, you need to staff your organization on strengths. Of all the decisions that you take, none of them are as important as the people decisions, because your people determine the performance of the organization.

To enable staffing for strengths, here are 4 key principles:

  1. Think through the job requirements; what are the few requirements that are crucial to the job’s performance? A long list of requirements will not help in making excellent people decisions.
  2. Find a number of potentially qualified people; ideally you have 3 candidates who meet the qualification of ‘staffing for strength’.
  3. Discuss each of the candidates with people who have worked with them; all of us have first impressions, likes and dislikes, thus we need to be open to experiences of others, to enable outstanding decision making
  4. Making the people decision is the first step, your real work as leader starts thereafter; it is your duty as leader to make sure that your people perform.

If you want to accelerate the quality and speed of your (people) decisions, subscribe here to my upcoming workshop “The Power of the Strategic Mindset”.