Building Strengths – Making Weaknesses Irrelevant

In Session Two of our leadership series, my participants took the DISC assessment and learned about their natural tendencies toward certain behavioral styles. Learning about personal style is vitally important, immensely interesting, and quite fun. Yet, the most important lessons are the insights gained that can instantly improve relationships with coworkers, peers, bosses, even family.

It is exciting to watch people as they review their personal assessment. It’s even more fun when the confessions begin! My favorite quote of all time regarding DiSC came from a highly educated scientist who was so taken with the accuracy of her assessment that she declared: “This is the scariest thing I have ever read.” Classic.

I applaud organizations that make this type of investment in their employees. As a leader, it’s no secret that much time is spent resolving petty conflict between employees. I have read data that suggests that as much as thirty percent of a manager’s time is spent managing employee relationships. In management sessions, when I ask if thirty percent seems about right, I am usually told the actual percentage is much higher.

Spending money to allow employees to identify their personal strengths and to learn how to improve relationships is money well spent. The potential savings is huge – and the value is priceless. In the end, it really shouldn’t be about overcoming weaknesses, it should be about strengthening teams by making individual weaknesses irrelevant.