3 steps to identifying your professional kryptonite

At some point in each of our lives, we’re bound to be asked about our professional strengths and weaknesses – whether in a performance review with your manager, or in a job interview in the future. While these types of questions can seem daunting and vague, in our final segment of Plan for Success, we’ve outlined 3 steps to help identify your attributes (be it your strengths or your “kryptonite”), so you can confidently demonstrate your value – no matter what the conversation.

1. Summarize your talents:
   Your most valuable strengths may not necessarily be your education, professional experience, or list of certificates. Dig a bit deeper and see if you can identify strong suits that may not be so obvious – perhaps your creativity in finding solutions, your empathy and listening skills, or even your ability to diffuse a contentious situation. Look beyond your surface skills to see what you can find.
2. Ask for suggestions:
   Asking colleagues and friends for input on your flaws doesn’t have to be as awkward or sensitive as it sounds. Often times, hearing another person’s perspective on your strengths, may actually clue you into another set of aptitudes you hadn’t thought of.
3. Be honest with yourself:
   Look back to your past jobs, successes, failures, regrets, and wins – can you identify any common threads between situations? It’s easy to take credit for successful projects and deflect blame for ones that failed, but to uncover insights about your talents, it’s important to be honest with yourself.

Each of us has our unique set of talents that come easily to us. Yet demonstrating your value means not only highlighting your fortes, but also managing your opportunities for growth through your weaknesses.

Interested in learning how to leverage these steps in becoming a better leader? Click here to read our article about being an effective leader, regardless of your title.