Develop the Middle

  Career Development   New Practitioners   ProjectsAtWork  

Are you wasting time and energy trying to improve your weaknesses as a leader? Are you asking others to do the same in performance reviews? Instead, focus on “middle skills” — the abilities between weaknesses and strengths that are our most underdeveloped resource for long-term professional development and growth.

How many times have you given or received so-called constructive criticism at work, suggesting that you or a team member focus on improving weak performance areas? But does focusing on skills that you don’t do well really pay off in light of the time, energy and attention expended? The answer is simply "no."

Focusing either too much on your inherent weaknesses or relying too heavily on your strengths is a sure-fire way to stall your forward momentum as a leader.

Popular culture is obsessed with extremes, and this same attraction is prevalent in the world of leadership development. A great deal of effort is spent knowing and polishing one’s strengths while attempting to improve one’s weaknesses. This happens to leaders when they get their 360s or performance reviews. They immediately focus on their weaknesses and what they need to do to fix them. Where our minds don’t naturally go is the middle.

Organizations and leaders have been pushing more for leveraging strengths and ignoring weaknesses. While this strength-based approach is appropriate when we are …

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