Utilising your team’s strengths is a win-win-win. Win for the company, win for the employee and a win for the customer.
Do you know what your strengths are? Often times we don’t know what our strengths are as they feel natural to us and as a result we often take our strengths for granted.
Positive Psychologist, Alex Linley, a world leading expert in strengths, defines a strength as ‘a pre-existing capacity for a particular way of behaving, thinking or feeling that enables optimal functioning or performance and is authentic and energising to the user’.
Can you recognise the strengths of the people you work with?
Having worked in several mining operations and as an emergency services officer, I became rather good at using the strength of Prevention. This strength is defined as being able to think ahead and anticipate and prevent problems before they happen.
So, when I changed jobs, I was well practiced at this sort of work resulting in always being delegated the task of completing safety observations and audits.
The thing is, although I could effectively complete the task I hated doing it. I would come home at the end of the day feeling exhausted. I was happy to do these tasks as part of my job role, however, it started to become an expectation that I would always do it and I felt I was carrying the team in that area.
Maybe you have you had a similar experience?
I’m sure if you asked one of my bosses, they would classify this as one of my strengths, but, in fact, it is actually a learned behaviour. It is something that I can perform well, however I find it draining.
You can see how it would be tempting for a boss to continue to delegate a task to someone who is good at something. They get a job done with wonderful results.
You can also probably see that if the employee is constantly given work that they don’t enjoy and feel exhausted from doing, while they watch their colleagues doing the things that they really wanted to be doing instead, this could potentially lead to burn out, resentment and the loss of a wonderful employee.
So, what is the solution?
How do you get the job done well, maintain employee wellbeing and engagement whilst reducing the risk of staff turnover and tapping into unlocked potential?
Find the person in your team who has a strength for that particular task or, even better someone that has an unrealised strength that could be utilized. That is someone who performs the task well, gains energy from it and yet doesn’t often get the opportunity to use that strength.
Imagine if you knew your teams’ weaknesses, strengths and learned behaviours. This could help you with strategic planning, employee development, performance reviews and recruitment.
Research shows that by utilising strengths employers are able to increase employee engagement, customer satisfaction, production, profit, and staff wellbeing whilst improving relationships, reducing staff turnover and absenteeism.
As an individual using your strengths you experience more energy and vitality, are more confident and are happier than someone who doesn’t.
Utilising your team’s strengths is a win-win-win. Win for the company, win for the employee and a win for the customer.
How do you Identify your Strengths?
There are a number of scientifically validated strength identification tools available on the market such, as the VIA (Values in Action), Gallup’s Strengths Finder and the Strengths Profile to help you uncover your strengths.
I recommend the Strengths Profile as it is primarily designed for the work place (although I also coach individuals to successfully incorporate it into their personal life). It has 60 recognised strengths and is the only one on the market that takes into account the dimension of energy. The Strengths Profile includes a detailed report on your results including tips on how to use your strengths and things to watch out for. It also includes a debrief by an accredited strengths profiler which helps you effectively integrate this information to get the most value out of your strengths journey.
The VIA strengths survey identifies 24-character strengths which don’t always translate into the work environment as effectively with strengths such as love and appreciation of beauty and excellence. The good thing about it is that you can do the survey for free and it can be a great way to start to introduce strengths in your life. Click on this link to take you to the free survey www.viacharacter.org.
Another way to start exploring strengths is to do strengths spotting exercises such as…
- Pay attention to what lights people up around you. Does someone get really excited about a particular task that they do?
- What is it that you always have to push a particular person to get done? Chances are that is one of their weaknesses or learned behaviours.
- Another fun way is to ask someone to tell you about a time when they were at their absolute best. Watch as they recall the situation and see if you can pick what strengths they were using.
You can download a free top 10 Strength Spotting Questions here to help you.
Bringing an awareness to Strengths in the workplace is the first step in creating a win-win-win and building a business that attracts desirable people who want to work with you, employees and customers alike.
