Great post on All Things Workplace about strengths. Read it! I agree, it’s important to focus on strengths, and it makes sense to hire people to do the things they are best at. However, sometimes we all have to do things that we aren’t best at, and sometimes we all have to learn to do new things (and get better at them.) But for an employee or manager to use “Sorry, that’s not my strength. Can’t do it,” or “Not my strength, deal with it” as an excuse is simply a cop-out. Especially when getting along with others, just being civil, is “not my strength.” Especially in a public library, or any other kind of library for that matter.
Bosses and managers who let staff get away with this excuse are doing everyone a disservice. Demand certain minimum standards of behavior and performance.