ARE YOU A FAULT FINDER OR A STRENGTH SPOTTER

“Great leaders look for what’s working, not just what’s broken. Fault-finders create fear, whereas strength-spotters build teams.”

I shared this with one of my teams this week, and it was too relevant not to expand on and share more widely.

It’s human nature, especially in leadership, to default to fixing what’s wrong. We want to improve, solve, optimise…but to the team, it can feel like we’re just looking for faults.

Here’s a real-world share:

I recently came across a company ready to scrap their “suggestion inbox” as it had become a dumping ground for complaints. Renamed by one of the execs as the “moaning inbox”.

What we proposed instead?

Rebrand it as an “improvement inbox”…with one twist…if you raise an issue, you must also propose a solution.

What does this change?

• It reframes the conversation.
• From what’s wrong, to what could be better.
• From criticising, to contributing, and ultimately a focus not on faults, but on progress.

So for the next while (like forever, actually), we’re going to work on being strength-spotters and not fault-finders.

Suggest you do the same.

And when you do…please share your wins.