Let colleagues see the weakness you are covering

Name one weakness you usually keep out of view to someone whose help you need, then let them respond to it.

Pourquoi ça marche

Kegan and Lahey argue that much of the energy people spend at work goes into covering weaknesses and managing impressions, and that hiding a weakness also means less chance to overcome it. In the companies they describe, people surface their weaknesses in meetings, in one-on-one sessions and in everyday work, and get help overcoming them. The Harvard GSE summary of the authors’ 2014 article says the purpose is for both the person and the organization to get better.

Comment faire

1. Write down one weakness at work that you usually keep out of view.
2. Choose one colleague who sees your work regularly and whose help would matter for that weakness.
3. Tell them the weakness in one or two plain sentences, and ask one specific question about how they see it.
4. Listen to the answer without defending yourself, then ask what would help.

Données probantes

The argument that hidden weaknesses limit growth comes from the SSIR excerpt of An Everyone Culture (2016). The description of people surfacing weaknesses in meetings, one-on-one sessions and daily work comes from the Harvard GSE summary of the authors’ 2014 Harvard Business Review article. The SSIR excerpt describes three companies; the 2014 article summarized by Harvard GSE covers two. Both are the authors’ observations, not measured outcomes. (anecdotal)

The companies described had built cultures the authors call safe enough and demanding enough. The sources read do not show that disclosing a weakness helps in an ordinary workplace without that kind of culture.

Sources

• Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2016, April 6). An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization [excerpt]. Stanford Social Innovation Review.
• Anderson, J. (2014, April 1). On Deliberately Developmental Organizations. Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Erreur fréquente

Disclosing a weakness in a room where it will be held against you, or presenting it as a confession rather than as a problem to work on together. The sources describe the practice inside cultures built for it.