For many young people, stepping into the workplace is like stepping into a new world full of challenges and opportunities.
For example, Xiao Zhang, a newcomer in the workplace, has recently faced an important choice in his career
Do you focus on improving your strengths, or do you try to make up for those shortcomings?
In fact, Xiao Zhang was a "math genius" when he was a student, but his communication skills and teamwork skills were mediocre. By chance, he joined an entrepreneurial team and was responsible for data analysis. Everyone in the team has their own strengths and weaknesses, but Zhang soon found that those colleagues who excelled in his longboard field were often more appreciated by their leaders.
He began to reflect on whether he should devote more energy to his own longboard, as they did.
Obviously, at this stage, Xiao Zhang's longboard, that is, his mathematical and data analysis skills, is undoubtedly his competitiveness.
As the "barrel theory" says, how much water a barrel can hold depends not only on the shortest plank, but also on the quality of each plank.
In the eyes of Xiao Zhang, who is just starting out in his career, his longboard is the key plank that can make the whole bucket hold more water.
But the workplace is an ever-changing battleground, and a single skill set alone doesn't guarantee long-term success.
As time passed, Zhang gradually felt that it was difficult to meet the growing demands of work with data analysis alone. Because the shortcomings of teamwork and communication skills began to be revealed, it increasingly affected my career development.
As a result, Xiao Zhang began to realize that although the long board is his advantage, the short board cannot be ignored.
Since then, Zhang has been trying to change, signing up for communication skills training courses and actively participating in team-building activities to improve his performance in teamwork.
Gradually, he found himself not only more adept at data analysis, but also more influential in the team. This change not only makes him more comfortable at work, but also brings him more opportunities for career development.
Xiao Zhang's story tells us that in the workplace, we must not only give full play to our strengths, but also not ignore the shortcomings to make up for our shortcomings. Only by combining the two can you gain a firm foothold in the highly competitive workplace and achieve your career goals.
And this balance is the essence of continuous exploration and growth in the professional life.
It can be said that in the workplace, this challenging stage, every young person is trying to find their own position.
For example, Xiao Li is an IT engineer with outstanding technical skills, but his interpersonal skills are weak. He found that although he was ahead of his colleagues in technology, he repeatedly suffered setbacks in the process of career advancement.
He began to wonder if he should devote more energy to improving the shortcomings of interpersonal communication.
But the rules of the workplace are not so simple.
Each person's abilities are like a mirror, reflecting our strengths and weaknesses. Xiao Li's longboard is technical, which is his core competitiveness. As the "barrel theory" tells us, the capacity of a barrel does not depend entirely on the shortest plank.
In the workplace, our longboard is like the longer plank in a barrel that supports our careers.
Therefore, Xiao Li realized that his longboard was the key to his professional career. He began to focus more on his technical field, deepening and expanding his expertise. As time went on, his technical superiority became more and more apparent, which not only made him more comfortable at work, but also earned him the respect of his colleagues and superiors.
Of course, this does not mean that he completely ignores his shortcomings.
Outside of work, Xiao Li also began to work hard to improve his interpersonal skills. He attends training courses, takes the initiative to communicate with colleagues, and tries to work more with people at work.
Although this part of the improvement did not happen overnight, as time accumulated, his interpersonal progress began to gradually appear.
Xiao Li's story tells us that in the workplace, we can't simply choose to focus on the long board or the short board. The key is to find a balance between making the most of your strengths and working on your weaknesses when necessary.
Because reality tells us that different stages of the workplace need to do different things.
For Xiao Li, his longboard is his core competitiveness and the key to him standing out in the workplace, and making up for his shortcomings is to make himself a more comprehensive workplace person.
To sum up, everyone in the workplace is like a unique wooden barrel, we need to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses, and continue to work this basis to find our own position.
In this way, we will be able to move forward more smoothly, both personally and professionally.
In the workplace, the debate between strengthening the long board and making up for the weak board is actually a debate about optimizing the allocation of resources.
Digging deeper into this discussion, we can find that whether it is to strengthen the long board or make up for the short board, the essence of it lies in how to efficiently use the limited time and energy to maximize the development of personal career.
We often say that people have limited energy, and how to invest in ourselves in the workplace becomes the key to our success or failure.
Delving into the "barrel theory", it does not always guide us to only fix our shortcomings.
In the workplace, if a person only mechanically makes up for his shortcomings and ignores the further development of his own strengthboard, then he may lose the opportunity to stand out in the workplace competition. Like in a forest, the fastest cheetah does not survive by increasing its maximum running speed, but by constantly increasing its running speed to keep its prey supplied.
This tells us that individuals in the workplace should also find their own "running speed" - that is, their own longboard, and constantly strengthen it, and use it as a lever to leverage the development of their careers.
On the other hand, it's not useless to make up for your shortcomings, especially when they become a bottleneck that prevents you from playing to your strengths and achieving greater breakthroughs in your career.
For example, if an expert with profound knowledge in the field of technology lacks basic communication skills, it will be difficult for his technology to be widely recognized and applied, no matter how advanced his technology is.
In this case, properly making up for the shortcomings of communication will make his longboard more effective, so as to go further in the workplace.
In actual cases, we see that many successful people have their own distinctive longboard characteristics, they not only continue to cultivate in their own fields of expertise, but also make up for their shortcomings in a timely manner through continuous learning.
This strategy is actually an art of dynamic equilibrium - while strengthening the long board, not letting the short board become the Achilles heel that limits self-development.
So, what should we do in the workplace?
First of all, be clear about your longboard, which is your most competitive capital. Then, based on that, identify the shortcomings that may be holding you back from playing this longboard and improve them in a targeted manner.
Actually, this doesn't mean making up for all the shortcomings perfectly, but making them not an obstacle to your success with the longboard.
Finally, it is worth emphasizing that whether it is to strengthen the long board or make up for the short board, the most fundamental thing is to continue to learn and grow.
In this process, we may need to use various tools and platforms that can not only improve the efficiency of our work, but also help us quickly supplement our knowledge and strengthen our capabilities in certain areas.
Because the workplace is like a marathon, not a sprint, and only by constantly adjusting your pace can you run farther and more steadily.