Student Worker Or Student Leader [5 of 7]

A student worker tries to work on his or her weaknesses.
A student leader focuses on his or her strengths.

Marcus Buckingham, in his book, Now, Discover Your Strengths writes the following:

"This fixation with weakness is deeply rooted in our education and upbringing.  We presented parents with this scenario: Say your child returns home with the following grades: an A in English, an A in social studies, a C in biology, and an F in algebra.  Which of these grades would you spend the most time discussing with your son or daughter?

Seventy-seven percent of parents chose to focus on the F in algebra, only 6 percent on the A in English, and an even more miniscule number, 1 percent, on the A in social studies."

Buckingham later writes, "Many of us avoid the exposure of building on our strengths.  Instead, we stay in the workroom patching up the cracks.  It is diligent, it is humble, and society respects it.  Unfortunately...patching up your weaknesses will never lead you to excellence."

The student worker will soon discover that he or she can't do everything well.  This realization will push the student worker to try and shore up those areas where he or she feels weakest.  Perhaps, it's in the area of communication - "I can't speak well in front of a crowd, I must spend more time trying to get better at that!"  While it's important to develop good communication skills, not everyone is gifted as a public speaker.  In fact, a student worker may come to the end of the time in his or her position and find that he or she is only an average speaker.

But what if the student worker is an outstanding organizer?  Rather than focus on gaining greater momentum in the area of organization, a student worker will spend more time on the area of communication because that appears to be the most glaring weak spot.  Thus, the student worker spends hardly any time at all on organizing.  And this is where the organization could most benefit from the student worker's expertise.

The student leader, on the other hand, understands that the position that he or she holds is more than one person.  It calls for leadership.  That means additional people - people who have different gifts, abilities, and strengths then the leader.  So the student leader focuses on the key strengths that he or she can bring to the table.  Then (and this is KEY!) the student leader delegates and manages others in the areas that the student leader is weak.

If the student leader isn't good at public speaking, but he or she has strengths in the area of organization, then the student leader spends the majority of his or her time on organization.  They find people that have strengths in the area of public speaking and get them on their team.  Because when  student leaders focus on their strengths...

1. They give their best to the organization.
2. They make room for others to exhibit and operate out of their strengths.
3. They lead with confidence.
4. They recognize that they can't do everything.
5. They do excellent work.

A student worker often operates out of the notion that he or she must become well-rounded in order to be effective.  Unfortunately, this is a false notion.  A student leader realizes that there is no such thing as a well-rounded leader, there are only well-rounded organizations.  That is why a student leader seeks to operate out of his or her area of strength and places people on the team that add complementary strengths.
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Previous Posts In The Student Worker Or Student Leader Series
• Student Worker Or Student Leader [4 of 7]
• Student Worker Or Student Leader [3b of 7]
• Student Worker Or Student Leader [3 of 7]
• Student Worker Or Student Leader [2 of 7]
• Student Worker Or Student Leader [1 of 7]