It's about the linkages, not the links !

The "weakest link" is a popular metaphor. The origin is in mechanics: a chain used to lift stuff can only lift something that matches the strength of the weakest of the links in the chain. Anything heavier will break this link, and therefore the chain. This nice image is used to think about teams, where the overall performance of the team is constrained or defined by the strength (or weakness) of the weakest team member.

Well, I disagree. First of all, what do we do with the weakest link once it is identified ? Train it ? Coach it ? Fire and replace it ... ? Whatever you do, once the weakest link is no longer the weakest ... another one has become the new weakest. And so we repeat at nauseam.

No, I don't think this way of looking at your team is all that helpful. What is helpful, is not to think how you can change this or that link (team member), but to work on the LINKAGES between these links (team members). You can have a team with super-powerful and highly efficient links (team members), but if link A doesn't communicate with link B, or shortcuts link B, or undoes what link B has done, or demotivates B, you have a group with strong links but no overall performance. If on the other hand, the different links (team members), despite their respective and individual strengths, support each other, motivate each other, step in when someone is struggling, your overall team performance will by far exceed the strength of its weakest, or even of its strongest member !

So work on the linkages. On how people communicate with each other. How they motivate and challenge each other. How they step up to help when someone's overloaded or absent. How they share and learn together. As a leader of a team, continuously working on these linkages is how you will strengthen your overall team, not by looking for which link is the weakest and then focusing your energy there.