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Building a Team of Specialists: How Great Leaders Surround Themselves with People in Order to Build a Strong Organization
By JP Maroney | August 25, 2007
By JP Maroney
Great leaders know their personal strengths, and look for people who will offset their personal weaknesses. They surround themselves with people who are strong in areas where they are weak, knowing that in order to build a strong organization, they must build a team of specialists who can excel in their own unique area of expertise. That involves three important steps.
Identify Your Own Strengths and Weaknesses
We each have our own areas where we excel, and areas where we struggle. Great leaders know this and admit it. Conventional wisdom has been to try to improve in those areas where we struggle. Great leaders do the opposite. Instead, they identify their personal strengths and weaknesses, and then focus on excelling in the areas where they are strongest, knowing that they can find other people to compensate for their weaknesses.
Identify and Recruit People Who Compensate for Your Weaknesses
Once they have identified their strongest and weakest areas, great leaders identify and recruit other people who can compensate for their own personal weaknesses. This is absolutely the fastest way to successfully build a strong organization. Great leaders know the ultimate goal, and then pull together the people who can help them achieve that goal.
Great leaders seem to attract quality people like a magnet. Like seeks out like. Winners seek out winners. Losers seek out losers. Mediocre people seek out mediocre people. Great people seek out great leaders. They want to be part of something exciting. They want to be a part of a positive experience. Great leaders look for those quality people, especially the ones who possess talents in areas where they struggle personally. But they also realize that having great people is not enough.
Focus Each Person in an Area Where They Will Excel
Having the right people, and maximize the potential of each individual are two distinctly different things. Great leaders know how to identify where each person best fits in the organization and then allow them to excel in that area. They go beyond the initial job interview, and spend time with each of their people, helping them identify what they do best, what they love to do, and where they can make the greatest contribution to the organization. Great leaders realize that each person has a unique set of knowledge, skills and talents, and they do everything in their power to see that each person’s unique set of strengths is maximized to the fullest in a way that benefits the organization. The leader sees their responsibility as a casting director, placing each person in a role where they will shine.
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JP Maroney is a business growth strategist, best-selling author and award-winning speaker. Receive his FREE book, “5 Ways to Double or Triple Your Business” by visiting www.JPMaroney.com
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Topics: Business Growth, Employee Development, Leadership, Management, Uncategorized |
August 25th, 2007 at 3:44 am
Great piece, JP.
Emulating successes such as Carnegie’s MasterMind Groups and Reagan’s Cabinet to magnify strengths and mitigate weaknesses is an awesome practice to model.
You have to ensure you’re honest enough to cover ALL your weaknesses, however.
Again, great blog!
August 25th, 2007 at 4:14 am
Hi JP,
Your comments where right on target, and
information that is extremely useful and
valuable.
Kind regards
Arthur
August 25th, 2007 at 9:17 am
I just had a light bulb moment as I realized that’s what makes great families too. Except you don’t go and recruit. It’s my job to bring out the best in each member as we work together to succeed.
August 25th, 2007 at 9:43 am
“Excellent comments - and relevant to anyone in business.
This insight is true whether an organization involves a virtual team of subcontractors, one part-time employee, two people in a partnership, or a full staff.
Your ideas always get right to the key issues. Many thanks!”
August 28th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Well said JP.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:53 am
Right on, JP!
August 29th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Hello JP,
Yes I do agree with many of your comments. It would be advantageous for those with leadership/authority to select people who will not only bring their own strengths to various areas of the business; but also contribute to the goals of the company as well. Even if others are more fluent in areas leadership are weak in; they shouldn’t lose sight of what’s going on, and should make a point of maintaining a certain level of knowledge about what is happening within that sector of the business.
Thanks.
Sue Chartock
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:59 am
It’s called “TEAM WORK” and the leader is usually the one who knows everyones strengths and uses those stengths to the advantage of the whole group, while keeping the final goal in mind.