What do you do if your professional strengths aren't translating into enhanced performance?

Conducting a self-assessment is essential for understanding where your strengths lie and how they align with your current role's demands. However, self-reflection alone may not provide the complete picture. It is equally important to seek feedback from colleagues, mentors, and supervisors, as they can offer valuable insights that you might overlook. By incorporating their perspectives, you gain a more holistic view of your performance and areas for improvement. To bridge the gap between your strengths and performance effectively, regularly solicit feedback from your peers and supervisors. This ongoing dialogue fosters a culture of continuous improvement and helps you stay aligned with your role's requirements.

First, make sure you clearly understand your strengths. Then evaluate if your current role truly aligns with your skills. If there's a mismatch, discussing your job duties with your supervisor could lead to changes that better utilize your strengths. Additionally, obtaining regular feedback can provide critical insights into how others view your performance and suggest ways to apply your strengths more effectively. Sometimes, adjusting your approach or even considering a shift to a new environment where your strengths are more in demand can make all the difference in achieving the performance levels you aspire to. This process of introspection and adjustment can unlock your potential and lead to significant career advancements.

When your professional strengths don’t seem to enhance performance, it’s key to reassess and align them with your tasks. Start by identifying whether your strengths are being fully utilized or need updating to match your current role’s demands. Talk to mentors or colleagues for insights on how you might adapt or further develop your skills. Also, consider additional training or projects that could better showcase your capabilities. Remember, continuous learning and adaptability are crucial in leveraging strengths effectively in any professional setting.

Your strengths are undoubtedly valuable assets when it comes to accomplishing work. However, it is possible to become overly reliant on these strengths to the point where they become counterproductive or overused. Your strengths are usually based on personal preferences, but it is essential to recognize that you have access to a variety of strengths depending on the situation or task at hand. It is about being more adaptable and flexible in identifying the right strength for the right situation to achieve the desired results and build strong relationships. Where there are discrepancies, decipher where you can opt to leverage and refine a different combination for impact.

What is the point of being a great swimmer, if I have to run a track event! Strengths are not really strengths if they dont allow you to perform better. The first thing to assess always is that are your strengths what the role and organisations need. A lot of people maybe extremely meticulous and detail oriented but they maybe in a role that requires them to take quick decisions with limited information. Their meticulousness in this space becomes more a liability than a strength. Also, sometimes what WAS your strength is no longer relevant for the role you are have been promoted to. Thus, without this assessment, you will be continue to spend more time building your strength, which in this scenario may do you more harm than good!

An overused strength can quickly turn into a weakness! A strength applied in one organization may have led to success, but in a new organization, with a new culture and different norms of behavior could lead to a serious CLE (Career Limiting Event!). Get help! 1. Skills Assessment - Seek out assessments in the competency in question. Even LinkedIn offers free assessments in numerous areas to get you started. 2 . Ask for Feedback - Speak colleagues (direct reports, peers, and your boss!) to get a full picture of what you do well and where you can improve (listening to understand, without interrupting!). 3. Train - Athletes train, Skilled workers train, High-risk jobs require training, and you can benefit from training too! Practice!

It can be really valuable to take a step back and instead of looking at strengths and weaknesses, look at what gives you energy and what takes it away. When do you feel energized, like your work is really fuelling you? What are you doing at those times, what are those situations, who are those people? Those might be great strengths that you haven’t fully tapped into. Remember that sometimes the professional strengths you have developed aren’t really your innate superpowers. You’ve shaped yourself to the environment that you’ve been in. What really creates performance is what gives you energy… that’s when you are bringing your best to work and those are great strengths. Try to incorporate more of this into your day to day.

If your strengths aren't improving your performance, don't rush to analyze what's wrong. Be patient; sometimes results take time. Keep using your strengths to achieve your goal. Next step realign your goal and make adjustments to it. And only after giving it multiple tries with patience, then consider looking into other factors and seeking feedback etc. Success often needs time and persistence father then assessments, advice or uncovering discrepancies. If you don't have fear, if you believe in what you are doing, you will get it sooner or later!

When professional strengths don't directly translate into enhanced performance, it's a signal to reassess not just where those strengths are being applied, but also how they can be better aligned with organizational goals. I encourage professionals to first conduct a thorough self-assessment in conjunction with feedback from peers, mentors, and supervisors to identify discrepancies between their perceived strengths and actual outcomes. Understanding the “why” behind these gaps is crucial for effective adaptation. Once you have identified the areas needing adjustment, the next step is to strategically realign your strengths to the demands of your role. This might mean seeking opportunities outside your comfort - a good formula for growth.

It is important to do a strength mapping exercise. What are your current strengths and what is needed for the role. The ones that overlap are areas you must start with immediately. The ones that don't overlap are areas you need to develop. Are these areas - technical skills, people skills, organisational skills etc. The approach to upskilling in each of these areas is different. You need to pick the method that is relevant for that space.

This is a great way to quickly uncover if your skills are aligned with your goals as well as those of the organisation. If you find there's a delta, the realigning can be of your goals towards the organisation, or your goals being aligned outside of the organisation. In short, never dismiss your gut - there's a reason why you're feeling some incongruence. Find where your skills are valued and aligned with an organisation (even voluntary) and see what happens. Remember, you are capable of generating the conditions for you to succeed, and you're accountable for taking action.

When you find that the strengths you have professionally are not translating into more successful performance, lean into your network. Where are your biggest challenges? What have you tried that didn't work? What have you NOT tried and why? What strengths are you relying on - and where is there over-reliance? Talking through these challenges with more experienced, successful mentors and peers who know you well can provide insights that you may have missed. Even if you don't agree with their perspective, thank them for their feedback and give it time to simmer on the back burner. Look for common themes in the feedback. You might be surprised at what you learn and how it bouys you toward your goals.