The Career Advantage of Knowing Your Strengths

Research & Sources / Personal & Career Development

Imagine a brilliant left-footed footballer whose coach insists on playing them on the right wing. Every pass needs an awkward turn. Every cross is half a second late. They work twice as hard and look average. Move them to the left wing, and suddenly they are one of the best players on the pitch. Same person. Different position.

The weakness trap

From school onwards, most of us are trained to fix weaknesses. The report card highlights the bad grade, not the excellent one. Performance reviews spend most of their time on “areas for development”.

Working on weaknesses has its place, especially when a weakness really gets in the way. But a career built mainly on fixing weaknesses usually ends in mediocrity: lots of effort, average results, little energy.

What research shows

Gallup has studied strengths at work for decades. One of its clearest findings: people who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged in their work.¹ Engaged people perform better, stay longer and are more resilient.

Anders Ericsson’s research on expertise adds an important point. Excellence comes from deliberate practice: focused, repeated work on getting better with feedback.² It is much easier to sustain that kind of practice in an area you are naturally good at and enjoy.

How to find your strengths

Look at what energises you. Which tasks make time fly? Which leave you more energetic at the end than at the start?

Look at what others ask you for. If colleagues always come to you for a certain thing, that is a strong hint.

Look at what you learn fast. Skills that came easily, almost without trying, often point to natural strengths.

Ask people who know your work. “When have you seen me at my best?” is a powerful question.

Using strengths as a career strategy

• Shape your role. Most jobs leave room to do more of what you are good at. Researchers Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane Dutton call this job crafting.³
• Choose roles that fit. When considering a move, ask how much of the new role uses your strengths daily.
• Partner with complementary people. Find colleagues whose strengths fill your gaps.
• Name your strengths clearly. People who can describe what they are great at are easier to place in the right role.

Don’t ignore real weaknesses

A strength-based career does not mean ignoring every weakness. If something really holds you back, for example a fear of speaking in meetings, it deserves work. The goal is to bring weaknesses to “good enough” and invest most of your effort in what can become excellent.

What this means for you this week

• List five activities that energise you and five that drain you.
• Ask two colleagues when they have seen you at your best.
• Count the hours last week that used your strengths.
• Find one way to add more strength time next week.

Play on the wing where your best foot is.

Sources

1. Sorenson, S. How Employees’ Strengths Make Your Company Stronger. Gallup. gallup.comPeople who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged on the job.
2. Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T. & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363-406. doi.orgExpert performance grows through deliberate practice: focused work on specific weaknesses with feedback.
3. Wrzesniewski, A. & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a Job: Revisioning Employees as Active Crafters of Their Work. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 179-201. doi.orgPeople actively reshape their tasks, relationships and view of their work, and this changes how meaningful the job feels.