While most everyone wants to do her job better, did you know that doing more of what you already do well will only lead to incremental improvement? A better approach is to improve skills that complement your core strength, a practice called “business cross-training,” according to John H. Zenger, Joseph Folkman and Scott K. Edinger in Harvard Business Review.

To get from good to much better, the experts advise to first identify what you do well, then focus on the complementary skills. For example, if you’re known for “driving for results,” try improving on innovating, being quick to act and establishing stretch goals.

Or, perhaps your core strength is integrity. The cross-training approach asks you to assess whether you lack assertiveness or decisiveness or trust to build on your core strength.

For a slide show on core strengths and their complementary skills,
http://hbr.org/2011/10/making-yourself-indispensable/ar/1.