Ok, which one do you focus on? Which one do you have a team member focus on? Conventional wisdom suggests, “You already excel at something. Put your energy into improving your weakness.”

That sounds good, except we need to put the question through the filter of “Where will I get the best ROI?” Because you have limited time. Your time is precious; we need to be careful where we invest our time.

Management guru Peter Drucker states, “Put your time and energy into your strengths; you will make your weaknesses irrelevant.” I subscribe to that thinking. I have learned we have the best opportunity for growth where we know the most.

Please know that I am not dismissing addressing areas that need improvement (weaknesses). They have to be managed. I do realize the temptation to fix what might be broken. For a leader, that is often intuitive because we are, by nature, “fixers.” However, I want to tell you, from my experience, to be careful of putting too much energy there at the expense of achieving mastery.

Perhaps someone on the team has expertise in the area that needs
improvement. It could be an opportunity for delegation. You may even want to
talk about this with your team. Seeking their advice—you may be surprised; someone on the team may jump right in.

The main point is, where will you and a team member apply energy and focus? The bottom line, let’s strive for mastery in an area where we are already promising. There are better dividends.