Knowing your weaknesses does not mean you need to fix them

When doing any business plan or yearly review, we look at our strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Looking at our weaknesses, we often think about fixing them. But is this the right thing to do?

Good vs. Bad

All weaknesses are not built equal. Of course there are some that need to be fixed in order to run the business. For example if you don’t have a sales channel and this prevents you from growing the business, then you need to find a solution. But sometimes you have weaknesses that don’t really hurt the business (at least materially); for example a so-so customer support center. It could be better but you still manage and the business is successful.

When is it time to fix a weakness?

In order to answer this, I have two simple questions I ask myself:

• Can we continue to grow and be successful even with this weakness?
• Will fixing this weakness divert my attention from some of my strengths?

If the answer to these questions is YES, then I don’t look into fixing that weakness. If you still are determined to fix your weaknesses, you might create one of the biggest mistake in leveling all your strengths and weaknesses; losing at the same time any competitive differentiation you might have had.

Making your strength even stronger

One way to compensate for on-going weaknesses is to make your strength even stronger. Most of the time, it is easier to improve on what’s good than to fix things that don’t work. Having said that, I must admit that even myself struggle with this as I have a tendency to not only improves things but to fix the weaknesses. It’s a natural reaction but you need to pick your battles, to stay focused on what works.

Building the top 3

Another trick I have is to list all the key challenges that the company has. Priority is determined by the impact that this challenge has on your business as well as how much this problems troubles you (what keeps you awake at night). Of course, you need to make sure you are focusing on the right problems but if you do this exercise well, you will see how far (or how important) a given weakness needs to be fixed. If it’s not even remotely close to your top 3, then don’t even spend an additional minute on it …

In short, get stronger where you can, only fix the weaknesses that matter and yes, stay FOCUSED.