These are my ideas I would be interested in yours.
My version is that a weak manager will focus on your weaknesses and a strong manager will focus on your strengths.
A weak manager finds fault all the time, they put you down, criticise you, they have unrealistic expectations, and they focus on the negative.
Whereas a strong manager will focus on the strengths of their team and they will look for and identify the unique strengths of each individual team member, and help that person develop their strengths and talents.
Weak managers are constantly fearful, worried and attacking others or themselves – imposter syndrome flows deep in their psyche.
They might appear to be very confident and capable because they focus on results. But they only care about results so that they can achieve their kpi’s and get their promotion, so they look good, and cover up their deep underlying fear of not being good enough.
A strong manager creates a great environment to learn and grow and have great relationships.
The team has purpose, cares for each other and cares about getting results.
Everyone belongs, learns, grows and can challenge the status quo and innovate new methods and ideas.
Why – because there is no fragile manager-ego that everyone is having to deal with and waste so much of their energy protecting themselves from.
A weak manager is not psychologically safe to be around, because they keep hurting people and putting them down or will not let them grow because they are threatened by someone else’s strengths, someone being “better than them”.
Companies that only focus on results are not mentally/psychologically safe because the only people who fundamentally matter are the bosses who are focused on their kpi’s and bouses.
There are hundreds of senior executives and managers who are fundamentally afraid to commit to mental health safety and lead the way by being trained in mental health first aid.
I once worked for a company who hired me for my diverse experience but sacked me because I didn’t do things their way – weak management – not appreciating my diverse talents and certainly not including me!
Under a weak manager we generally don’t like our jobs because we are not appreciated for the gifts, talents and strengths that we all uniquely have, and nothing is ever good enough. A lot of people grow up in this type of toxic environment in their homes.
And these are the fundamental underlying mental and emotional health issues that the weak manager is dealing with in themselves, that continually get projected out onto others.
The weak manager has not resolved in themselves their own weaknesses, shortcomings and imperfections, and not learnt their own strengths and gifts.
Strong managers who can see the strengths in others are not insecure in themselves.
I used to be a weak manager
I hired people who I figured were less capable than me, so they wouldn’t show me up. But then, because they underperformed, I had to deal with their shortcomings.
Are you a strong manager or a weak manager – do you constantly find fault in yourself, and with people and circumstances around you?
Or are you a strong manager in which you see the strengths and gifts of others , and you know how to turn challenges into opportunities
If you are not a manager, are you a strong employee or a weak employee?
Are you a strong employee in which you see and communicate the strengths and positives in your team members and your boss and your company?
Or are you a weak employee in which you are constantly a fault finder, blamer, and complainer of other people’s weaknesses and shortcomings
Whatever your role – how are you showing up – strong or weak?
Are you focusing on strengths or do you focus on weaknesses – at work, at home and in life?
When you get really good at this you learn how to turn the weaknesses into strengths, and you also learn that often weaknesses are just over-used strengths.
