#6 - Turn Weakness to Strength

The online journal bringing to life the real experiences of a Project Professional.

We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. None of us can be good at everything. Surely we can all agree to that.

If we acknowledge weakness does this make us a lesser person?

Contrary, if we approach it in the right way it can make us stronger.

By recognising your weaknesses you have actually said to yourself 'it's OK, I'm only human' and therefore enabling yourself to find ways of countering your weaker points.

Until we do this it is more likely that we will hide behind it, ignore it and worst of all avoid it.

We need to find ways of turning weakness into strength. This is not easy but it begins with acknowledgement and doesn't happen overnight. It takes time, we need to work at it. We may even fail at first but persevere because the reward will come in time.

Example

Meet Bob, he is a very analytical person and his greatest strength is his ability to analyse. He is however by nature not very innovative or creative therefore struggles to develop innovative solutions outside of the data in front of him.

Bob recognises this so he draws on the thoughts and ideas of those around him (think how many specialists there are around you in the project delivery team), he then uses this as data to support his greatest asset, his ability to think and analyse. By combining the creative thinking of others with his own analytical skills, Bob provides innovative solutions to the challenges that come his way.

Bob has turned his weakness into a strength.

I recently had a team member approach me about a dilemma he had, and as he did so acknowledged his weaknesses to me. Regardless of whether the outcome will ultimately be positive or negative for me, I really respect that he has made the first step to converting those weaknesses to strengths through his acknowledgement of them. Therefore in the longer run will become a greater asset to the business.