Leaders can sometimes feel the weight of the world on their shoulders as they face pressure to manage both the present and the future. They must perform and deliver short-term results in the present while prioritizing transformation and reimagining the company’s forward growth.
As a leader, it’s important to develop your team to both succeed in the present and prepare for the future. By adopting strength-based leadership, you can cultivate your team and lead your company toward growth and success.
Strengths-based leadership is an approach to leading people that focuses on identifying and cultivating the existing talents, skills, and resources of individuals to help them thrive. It’s based on the principle that people are more engaged and perform at their peak when they can leverage their natural abilities.
The emphasis is on positive psychology, empowerment, and possibility thinking to drive individual and collective success. It's about lighting a spark that fuels growth and achievement. Strength-based leadership aims to create a positive culture that draws out the best in people, where strengths are nurtured and utilized for the greater good.
Strengths-based leadership impacts everyone– employees, leadership, and the company. Focusing on strengths cultivates employees’ skills and ability to perform at a higher level, but how does this approach benefit various aspects of an organization?
With the strength-based approach, you don’t focus on “fixing” areas where people have less natural ability. Instead, drive results by transforming what’s already great into what’s extraordinary. This turns the workplace into a more positive environment.
When you notice someone’s inherent strengths, they feel empowered and recognized. It also increases their confidence and motivates them to do their best, leading to increased satisfaction, motivation, and retention.
Bringing together people with complementary strengths fosters collaboration. Team members can learn from each other’s abilities and better complement one another on projects, leading to less competition and more cooperation.
Cultivating strengths builds trust between employees and employers. Employers build trust in their team and their capabilities as they become experts in areas the employer may not have known their employee had a natural inclination for. Employees feel valued and gain trust that their employer is investing in them meaningfully.
Here are some tips on how to use this leadership style:
The first thing leaders need to do is uncover each employee's strengths and interests. Some can be evident, while others may be challenging to identify. Certain assessments are helpful in this case: Gallup’s CliftonStrengths (formerly known as StrengthsFinder) and VIA Character Strengths are two examples.
Each assessment uncovers a unique rank order of strengths that leaders can use to develop their employees further. Research has shown once employees build on their strengths, they become more engaged at work, productive in their roles, and happier and healthier.
Leaders should continuously develop employee strengths, identifying opportunities to apply them and shaping their roles and career trajectories accordingly. The key here is to develop people instead of focusing on what they’re lacking.
Be careful not to limit employees’ development in other areas! Building on strengths shouldn’t come at the expense of their learning. If they want to learn something new or you want to fill a knowledge gap, encourage them to continue learning in areas that aren’t based on their strengths.
Your team’s collective strengths and skills support leadership and the company in meaningful ways. Their effort, commitment, and behind-the-scenes hard work allow you to do what you love – create a vision for the future and grow. Lean on your team and focus on their strengths!
By cultivating their strengths, you can accelerate your company’s growth and enhance your team’s ability to perform. Once you achieve this, you can take some weight off your shoulders and return to growing and transforming the company's future.
Content provided by Q4intelligence
Photo by lightfieldstudios