Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength, not my weakness. ~Amos Bronson Alcott
I could just look at these reports and think that I know what is wrong with these organizations and in all honesty I would be wrong and that would be short sighted. In every society, organization, or group, something works.
We are not our wounds or our weaknesses.
Too many organizations assume that they and their employees need to be good at many things, rather than excellent in the key areas.
Tom Rath author of Strength Finders 2.0 says that focusing on what works in your organization — transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much time and energy as taking something that is average or below and making it slightly above average.
He is correct….and brilliant.
What we focus on becomes our reality. Focus on strengths. Seek them out. Nurture them. Push your organizational strengths boundaries. Acquire new knowledge.
This is not to say that you ignore your organizational weaknesses,-not at all- that would be crazy and you are anything but that! Seek out partners, create a system that will offer support, or use one of your stronger talents to compensate for one of your weaker ones.
Just know that you are more than those weaknesses.
You just want to focus on, study and learn from success. You want to spend time learning from organizations that have discovered their strengths and leverage them. The more you understand how utilizing strengths leads to success, the more likely you will be to create success in your own organization.
Don’t create an organizational culture that focuses on what you lack. Capitalize on the gifts with which your community is blessed.It is more demanding but also its more productive.
Rooting your organization in strength based values and learning will prepare you for long term success and greatness.
If you want to build core nonprofit management skills crucial to your organization’s success you can schedule some 1:1 time with me here or learn about other ways we can work together here. You can also get inspiration, ideas, resources tools and freebies by signing up for my newsletter