<p><strong>Develop strengths.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Too much of development is focused on fixing weaknesses. By doing so, you are taking time away from focusing on developing or further leveraging&nbsp;<a href=”https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottedinger/2013/08/21/develop-leadership-strengths-by-building-around-them/#2b99dc9e1821)” target=”_self”>strengths</a>. You can’t approach developing a strength the same as overcoming a weakness. Developing strengths comes from thinking about how complementary skills increase the effectiveness of your strength. Don’t just focus on creating development activities that address your weakness.</p> <p><strong>Think &quot;yes/and.&quot;</strong></p>” readability=”51.738129496403″>

Like many of you, I’ve participated in conversations about hiring, developing and promoting leaders. The conversation often focuses, at least in part, on a set of leadership competencies that are considered success factors for any leader.

Several years ago, when I was building and managing a client’s leadership development process, talent review conversations started to include the questions like, “What type of leadership role are we developing this person for? What do we need in one leadership role that is different from what we need in another?” Those were great questions.

The advisory firm CEB has concluded, based on a three-year study of almost 10,000 leaders, that context matters. The research suggests that companies will be more successful if they hire and promote leaders — at every level — while considering leadership context. That is, what specific challenges and situations will the leader be facing in the role? Is the situation a turnaround? Is cost containment needed? Does the leader need to build a new function? Are they leading an experienced team or one made up of members who are new to the working world? The study found that the difference between leaders who underperformed and those who succeeded was how well the person’s personality, skills and experience meshed with the specific challenges of the job.

I’ve seen this happen with my life science clients. As a growing biotech reaches a point where it is ready for more structure, it will often bring in an executive from big pharma to help develop and implement processes and streamline decision-making. Too often, that executive lasts less than two years. Why? The environment in which they were highly successful already had well-defined processes and decision-making rigor. The individual didn’t have experience developing them but was able to perform well because of them. The biotech, on the other hand, had more ambiguity and an entrepreneurial culture that needed someone who had experience developing process. That executive’s personality, skills and experience did not mesh well with the job at hand.

What does this mean for how we develop leaders? If we focus on matching a person’s personality, skills and experience to the job, how do we help them develop new skills and have new experiences?

Develop strengths. 

Too much of development is focused on fixing weaknesses. By doing so, you are taking time away from focusing on developing or further leveraging strengths. You can’t approach developing a strength the same as overcoming a weakness. Developing strengths comes from thinking about how complementary skills increase the effectiveness of your strength. Don’t just focus on creating development activities that address your weakness.

Think “yes/and.”