3 tips for understanding the 'strengths' and 'shortcomings' approaches to growth

During your life you will encounter many different approaches to working with people. You will meet teachers, leaders, managers, coaches and others who believe in different ways to help people grow. They may all believe in encouraging people – but the way they express this will take different forms. They will probably come from one of two traditions. They will adopt the strengths approach, the shortcomings approach or a maybe combination of both. Let’s explore how you can spot a person’s philosophy for working with people.

1) You can recognise the strengths approach.

People who use this approach start by looking at your strengths. They focus on who you are - your assets - rather than who you are not. Building on your successful style, they encourage you to set specific goals. They then enable you to superb work, find solutions to challenges and achieve ongoing success. They say things like:
“This is where you can deliver ‘As’. Let’s focus on what you do best and enable you to do it brilliantly. If you are ever interested, we can also provide some practical tools for managing the consequences of your ‘Bs’ and ‘Cs’.”

Looking back on my life, I have known many people who followed this model, such as my parents and several key mentors. These included Alec Dickson, the founder of VSO and CSV, Tony Manocchio, a family therapist, and George Lyward, who ran Finchden Manor, a remarkable community for troubled teenagers. They each created a ‘garden of encouragement’ - but they also drew the lines clearly if anybody over-stepped the mark. Everybody knew what behaviour was and was not acceptable. ‘Students’ who met these people emerged with at least ‘take aways’: a) They knew their own strengths; b) They knew, in some cases, how to make a living doing what they loved; c) They knew how to manage the consequences of their weaknesses.

Looking back on your own life, who have been the people who used the strengths approach to helping you to grow? Perhaps it was your parents, a teacher at school, a sports coach, a particular leader, a manager or whoever. What effect did these people – and this approach – have on you? Try completing the following sentences.

The people I have known in my life who
have used the strengths approach have been:

*

*

*

The effects this approach had on me were:

*

*

*

2) You can recognise the shortcomings approach.

People who use this approach start by looking at your weaknesses. They focus on who you are not - your deficits – and what you lack. They then go deeper to analyse your shortcomings. They say things like:

“This is where you deliver ‘Bs’ and ‘Cs’. Let’s analyse these in depth and explore why you fail. We will also consider all the barriers that prevent you performing. Then, when everything is sorted out, we can move onto where you may deliver ‘As’.”

Such an approach is adopted by certain kinds of managers, teachers, coaches and therapists. It is also used by some of the ‘newer’ psychology movements. They claim to build on people’s potential – but quickly move into getting people to identify their internal barriers to growth. The new psychology claims it can remove these barriers – at a price. Older style organisations also adopt this approach. Performance development plans can encourage people to build on their As – whilst also learning tools for managing the consequences of their Bs and Cs. Some ‘development plans’ ignore people’s talents, however, whilst spending masses of time analysing their weaknesses. Certainly it is important to minimise the impact of your shortcomings, but not at the expense of ignoring your strengths.

Looking back on your own life, who have been the people who used the shortcomings approach? What effects did this have on you? Try completing the following sentences.

The people I have known in my life who have
used the shortcomings approach have been:

*

*

*

The effects this approach had on me were:

*

*

*

3) You can clarify which approach you want to follow in the future.

“Certainly I wanted to pursue the strengths approach – but the key was making it real in my work,” said one manager. “So I asked my 8 team members to highlight: a) Their strengths – and how they could use these more to help the business; b) Their shortcomings – and what they planned to do to manage the consequences of these weaknesses. We also devoted 70% of the personal development sessions to developing their talents.

“The effects were interesting. Two people were promoted and four re-crafted their roles to focus on what they did best. Two people left the team but, in a way, that was good. They had spent years trying to adapt to roles where they would only ever achieve a 7/10. Both moved onto positions that they found were a better fit. Fortunately we recruited several hungry people and have gained a reputation as an incubator of talent. This brings its own challenges, but I prefer it to the old method of working with people.”

Looking to the future, which approach would you like to follow? How could you adapt this in your own way? Can you think of a specific situation where you can translate it into practice? What do you hope would be the effects? Try completing the following sentences.

The approach I want to follow the future is:

*
The specific things I can do to
translate this into practice are:

*

*

*

The effects I hope this will have on people are:

*

*

*

There are many models for that are dedicated to helping people to succeed. Suffice to say, there is no ‘perfect model’ – each has pluses and minuses. The keys are: a) To be true to yourself and find an approach you believe-in; b) To be clear with people and explain the model you will be using; c) To be super-professional and enable people to achieve ongoing success.