Before we get to unlocking the power of focus, I would like to begin by dispelling a couple of myths from my own experiences as a business owner. It took me a long time to work out how to harness the personal and organisational power of focus. I’m not sure exactly why it took me so long, perhaps part of it was that I assumed two things about leadership that just aren’t true. Perhaps it took me so long because I don’t think anybody ever told me, or if they did, I was too self-absorbed to listen!
To begin with, I think I assumed that good leaders are good at everything. The good leaders I’d read about, listened to or watched, seemed to be good at everything they did. Everything around them went so well and looked, at least to my eyes, seamless and productive. I began to assume that you just have to be good at everything. Whatever someone asks you to do, you have to be able to do, and have the answer.
It took me a while to realise that’s not true. In fact, good leaders are rarely good at many things. They’re generally good at one or two things. And they have worked out how to focus on those one or two things, and surround themselves with others who are good at their one or two things.
The second myth is that I assumed that good leaders focused on their weaknesses in order to make them strengths. Traditionally, that’s what the SWAT analysis tool has always taught us right? Why focus on a strength when you could focus on your weaknesses and turn them into strengths. The problem there is that your weaknesses are just that – something you’re not good at.
That’s how I started, trying to be good at everything. Now don’t get me wrong, I know if you’re just starting up, you do have to do a little bit of many different things, but as your business grows and scales, you need to adopt a different approach or you will just stay stuck following these two, and other business myths.
I started out coasting through things I was already good at, and I would just work hard at getting better at something I was never going to be good at, much less great at. My weaknesses got marginally better, while my strengths didn’t get developed. And so, four or five years into my journey, I finally discovered this massively important principle that “My fully exploited strengths are of far greater value to my organisation than my marginally improved weaknesses”, because my weaknesses will only be marginally improved no matter how hard I work at them.
So once I got past the number one myth – I don’t have to be great at everything, not even everything I’m responsible for. And number two – I need to focus on my strengths because my strengths are the value add to whatever it is that I know and decide to do professionally. So that at last got me in the game of learning to understand the power of focus.
The power of focus lies in only doing what only you can do (read that again….).
In other words, if your fully exploited strengths are the greatest value add to the organisation, then the focus is to only do what only you can do. When I say ‘only you can do’, I don’t mean there are other people who can’t do it, but within your organisation, you are the best person to do it. You should focus on adding value where you add the most value and that’s going to be tied to your strengths.
I’ve already said that early on, you have to do a little bit of everything, it’s both natural and necessary. It’s natural, because early on you set the standards and it’s necessary because sometimes there’s nobody else to do it. What took me too long to work out was that what may initially be natural and necessary, would ultimately limit my effectiveness as a leader if I had stayed in those roles for too long, either because I was enjoying the drama, I couldn’t let go, I wanted to micromanage or I just couldn’t find anybody else to do it.
Stay in those roles too long and you risk dumbing down the whole organisation, and the IQ of the organisation never reaches maximum potential because again, you’re not focused on the things where you add the most value.
The first power of focus lies in understanding that “The less you do, the more you accomplish”. That power doesn’t mean you do less work, but less different things – you are more focussed. Not intuitive I agree, that’s why many get stuck and never break through to the next level of business ownership.
The second power of focus lies in understanding that “The less you do, the more you empower others to accomplish”. The basic premiss of leadership and organisational intelligence.
Putting it all together (and costs): What this means for you is that the less (different) things you do, the more you accomplish because when you’re working in your strengths zone, you accomplish more. The less (different) things you do means that you will create space for other people to do what they do best. These two points are far more than just nice to have. I would go as far to say they are mission critical for any organisation because there’s actually a cost to pay organisationally if you don’t get these right.
When an organisational leader or somebody within the organisation doesn’t understand principle number one, their perceived value to the organisation is diminished. And the reason their perceived value is diminished is because they’re not doing what brings the most value to the organisation – they are not working in their strengths zone. The second thing that happens if you don’t get this right, is the perceived value of other leaders in the organisation is diminished because they don’t get an opportunity to do what they do best. And thirdly, the ability of the organisation to keep great leaders is diminished because people won’t stay where they’re not able to thrive. When they’re not able to lead, manage or work in an area where they feel they are thriving based on their skill set, they will start to wonder whether an opportunity to work somewhere where they can spend most of their time doing what they do best, and where they can add the most value, becomes a lot more attractive. See Why Do People Leave
I hope you can see, this isn’t just an add on, this really is mission critical for organisations that want to thrive.
What’s the goal: The goal is to build a well rounded and intelligent organisation by focussing on people’s strengths, including your own, and not to become a ‘well-rounded’ leader who is great at couple of things and marginally good enough at other things. All the while you think you have to be great at everything, you are never going to be great at anything because you are not focussed. Again, one of those key secrets it took me too long to learn.
Let’s dig a little deeper: Every leader, at some point, has authority over areas within their organisation in which they personally have little or possibly no expertise. This means they are responsible for getting things done that they themselves don’t know how to do. When a leader can’t distinguish between their authority and their core strengths, they often find themselves making decisions in areas where they don’t have expertise. Which, in turn, undermines the decisions of other people. It effects efficiency, it effects morale, and it effects the value of your team and yourself, and things get worse, they don’t get better.
So the tip here is “Leverage your authority as little as possible, and leverage your strengths as much as possible”. That will help you unlock the power of focus.
The next point I want to make today is about self-awareness. I see this happening a lot in organisations as they grow and scale – the owner/leader is not aware of what they are best placed to do, they don’t know their strengths. As discussed already, they may have done a SWOT analysis, found their weaknesses and tried to fix them, but have missed that success comes leveraging their strengths. It could be that leaders are forced into roles and tasks because they have always done them, assumed they are good at them but missed that delegation could unlock growth in yourself and others.
Lack of self-awareness is a problem. For all the leaders out there, let me take some pressure off – It’s okay not to be good at something. It’s not okay to keep doing something you’re not good at. It’s okay not to be good at things. It’s not okay to keep doing the things you’re not good at. Admitting a weakness does not diminish your effectiveness. Refusing to admit a weakness diminishes your effectiveness. When you acknowledge a weakness to others and seek help, it’s never new information for the people you work with. They already know your weaknesses. Nobody is going to be surprised, they’re actually relieved when you acknowledge what you don’t know.
You feel guilty delegating things you don’t enjoy because you assume nobody else will enjoy it either. Just because you hate doing something, doesn’t mean everybody hates doing it too. I hate admin, I’m not good at it but my PA loves it. I hate accounts but my accountant loves it. I hate marketing but my marketing department loves it, same for my sales department – I think you get the idea. So in your effort to be a good example, you do things that you know and let other people do what they enjoy. My weakness is somebody else’s opportunity. Keeping that in mind keeps us from falling into that trap of losing focus.
You don’t take time to develop other leaders.
The power of focus lies in taking the time to develop other leaders. Typically in a growing organisation, no one has time to stop doing what needs to get done, to teach somebody to do what you’re already doing. That becomes a problem, because you stay in roles you shouldn’t stay in and it becomes a barrier to the development of others because they don’t get the opportunity to thrive in their strengths.
At some point, if you are committed to growth and progress, you have to get up out of those chairs and teach somebody else to sit there. Of course, there’s some truth to the adage if you want something done right, do it yourself, but that again, becomes a barrier to your leadership and to the health of your organisation. See more about Organisational Health
Leadership is not primarily about getting things done right. Leadership is really about getting things done right through other people. It’s about multiplying your efforts through others, not using others, but empowering other people by positioning them to do what they do best. No doubt it is time consuming and inefficient to start with but the pay-off is massive.
By working to your strengths, you can unlock the power of focus, and your organisation will become more intelligent, more productive and more profitable.
To sum up; we said earlier that your fully exploited strengths are of far greater value to your organisation than your marginally improved weaknesses. So focus on strengthening your strengths and look for ways to delegate your weaknesses.
Remember, asking for help is not a weakness, it’s your way of delegating what you are not good at, to someone who is. Get help here
This is a series of four articles to help you get ahead of the competition.
See – Make it better before bigger – part 1
See – How to get recruitment right first time – part 2
See – The key to organisational health – part 3
See – How to unlock the power of focus – part 4
Work with me:
I help owners, founders and leaders create a scalable business that works without them, build a world-class team, and 10x profitability. Book a call with me here to see if we could work together.
Remember, there are only three types of people – those who make things happen, those who wait for things to happen, and those who talk about why things don’t happen for them. Which one are you?
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