How can feedback be used to identify employee strengths?

An employee's strengths are demonstrated by feedback they receive from colleagues, supervisors, and clients that highlights their performance and is consistently praised. Seeing particular situations in which a person does exceptionally well provides information about their special skills. 360-degree feedback sessions and structured assessments offer a comprehensive picture by highlighting an individual's strengths from multiple angles. Employee strengths are identified when self-reflection is encouraged, and these findings frequently align with outside assessments. Finding and fostering an employee's core skills is made easier by combining various kinds of feedback.

1. Be specific on letting them know when they exihibit the stregnth. For example, in review our IT executive on project abc, during the strategy framework page, you used xyz method to explain it clearily to get buy in. We need to let people know what they are good at in a more specific way so they can harness their strength over and over to maximize it. 2. Pull employee with different strength to invovle in work that can fully utilize their stregnth, for example, when having a new year planning session, you might want to get the people who have more furturistic or forward looking stregnth to join. When having a postmorterm on a program/project, it will good if we can have talent with context or retrospect that type of strength.

I would highlight the importance of discovering hidden strengths. In my career, I've met only a few leaders who can really bring out the best in people, finding those hidden talents. It's not an easy job, but it's incredibly powerful in boosting both team and individual performance.

Ask employees what they most and least enjoy doing at work, and where they most want to grow — and how this might align with their personal mission and life priorities. Identifying strengths and growth areas, how work fits with life goals, and receiving tangible support towards achieving their missions helps employees feel valued and seen — not just as workers, but as whole people. Support them to lean into their growth edge —?in areas that energize them and are aligned with their visions of their future. Help them create conquerable, measurable sub-goals that you can jointly check in on every few weeks. Lead with vulnerability and talk about mistakes you've learned from, making employees feel safer to make mistakes and ask for help.

Great leaders should spend significant amount of time to create and provide opportunities for their employees to demonstrate their abilities and strengths through everyday work. Those opportunities should also beyond their usual roles. For example, chance to present ideas and learnings to a peer group, managers, and/or senior leadership would be a great opportunity to demonstrate softs skills, such as communication, presentation skills, ability to engage audience, etc. Through observing and regular check-ins to listen to employees' experience, leaders can identify various strengths include those that are not as obvious when they work outside of their role and function.

What individuals do well naturally they don’t value as much. And they also don’t notice that easily. Because it comes naturally to them, it happens almost magically. Others are able to notice and see the flow much more vividly. And if the trained eyes of others are able to spot such natural talents and provide feedback at the moment to the individual, the natural strength can be honed and developed into excellence. That’s why feedback is so critical to developing of strengths.

Feedback is a two street and should be used as a tool. When you give feedback as a leader you should encourage honest responses to that feedback good, bad, or indifferent. From those honest responses we can ascertain strengths and weaknesses. This practice will allow for stronger team continuity and more efficient overall operation.

Certainly, I concur; feedback not only affords employees the opportunity to articulate their preferences and strengths but also provides a platform to deliberate on areas of potential enhancement and requisite support. This constructive dialogue encompasses challenges encountered and identifies prospective opportunities to optimize the employee's contributions to the organization.

Feedback plays a crucial role in the communication process (involving the sender, receiver, message, channels, and feedback). Without it, communication becomes incomplete or broken.

Feedback shows the employees areas that they need to improve. It also can give insight into new things to consider implementing.

End as many 1:1 meetings or updates on what can you do more or less of. Often themes emerge and you concurrently create space for authenticity. I like to act on themes provided as an extra add for my yearly goals to learn, grow, or fill in a gap.

As part of a larger feedback conversation, I like to reflect on what to do if faced with a similar problem in the future. With guidance, this may help the employee identify how their strengths can be leveraged and where they may need to adjust their typical approach in the future.

Implement a continuous feedback loop rather than relying solely on annual reviews. Utilize digital platforms that facilitate real-time feedback from multiple sources. This agile approach allows employees to recognize and leverage their strengths promptly, leading to ongoing professional development and a more adaptive, dynamic workforce.

In a previous role, I introduced a simple yet effective way to spot our team members' strengths. We started a Peer Recognition Program where everyone could give shout-outs to their colleagues. This was really helpful because sometimes, your coworkers see things that bosses don't. We also began looking closely at how each person did on different projects. It was like putting a magnifying glass on what each person brought to the team, especially when we all worked together. This wasn't just about who did what task, but about the special skills or ideas they added that made the project better.

Imagine feedback as a mirror reflecting the multifaceted brilliance of employee strengths. The best types are like rays of sunlight, each casting light from a different angle. Positive feedback acts as a spotlight on achievements, illuminating the path of excellence. Strengths-based feedback is the magnifying glass that brings into focus specific abilities, aiding in fine-tuning and refining skills. Then there's appreciative feedback – it's like a warm, encouraging glow that acknowledges and celebrates contributions, fueling motivation and fostering a sense of worth. When used skillfully, this triad of feedback types can reveal and amplify each team member's unique strengths, turning potential into prowess!

Clearly defining the employee's reach by identifying each 'bucket' of their responsibility, is a methodical way to approach defining the employee's current strengths and areas they wish to become strengths.

Incorporate feedback seamlessly into routine goal-setting discussions. Rather than exclusively pinpointing areas for improvement, design feedback sessions to harmonize individual strengths with the overarching organizational objectives. This approach guarantees that employees not only acknowledge their strengths but also grasp the direct impact these strengths have on propelling the company towards success.

Don’t use the sandwich method mentioned here, it doesn’t work. It leaves workers feeling confused about the message & damages trust because they end up thinking “ah, you didn’t mean the nice things, you just wanted to butter me up for the thing you really wanted to say”. Instead, use a simple model (AID, SBI) to deliver both positive and constructive feedback, just make sure each conversation is separate. That way your message will be clear each time. Also, aim for a positive:negative feedback ratio of about 5 or 6 to 1. That has been shown to be the most effective in teams and results in more engagement and productivity. Don’t make positive things up of course just to attain the ratio but make sure you are giving positive feedback often.

Specificity is key. Observe the details that make the difference. When praising ability, praise the effort they put in, but also highlight the areas where they don't have to graft as hard to perform well. These are not only strengths but these are aspects of work that can create joy or motivation for the colleague, and when you enjoy a task, it is significantly easier to put the extra effort in.

An example of this done right was when I was in grad school. At the time, I thought my mentor, Mike, had the most unique way of questioning me when things didn't work out the way he would have intended or expected. Little did I know that his method was the one described here. I'd mess up on something, and instead of blowing up on me like most people, he'd ask if he could be frank with me about something. I'm like, "Sure, Mike! Anytime." Then he'd use the sandwich approach as described. His mannerisms, this included, really helped me adjust my attitude as a recent engineering grad. I believe it helped me see the world differently. You never know what kind of effect you can have on people. It really is the simple things!!

I think it’s crucial to begin the conversation by setting the intention for the feedback up front. Tell the employee what you believe their potential is and then outline what aspects of their performance they need to work on in order to capitalize on their strengths and reach their goals and grow within the company.

Getting honest feedback that helps identifies your strengths means building the kind of environment where you are open and regularly get feedback on your opportunities. While this may seem counterintuitive, if you aren’t fostering relationships where you get feedback on opportunities, there’s a good chance any feedback on your strengths isn’t genuine. Instead, you’re likely hearing generic platitudes or what people think you want to hear. This is because honest feedback requires trusting relationships with people who know you well enough to not only see your behavior but also know enough about you to understand what is underneath that drives it. It also means they know you well enough to share what you want and don’t want to hear.

My experience is as follows First be open to feedback, if we approach feedback with defense then it does not help either party Second- be direct on what can be improved thrid - volunteer to take up challenging tasks

Watch for themes to emerge. Keep track of the feedback you're receiving, both positive and constructive, and pay attention to what's being shared and where it's coming from. Others may more easily notice your strengths because they are often things you take for granted. If you find brainstorming an enjoyable and easy activity, you may not even consider it a strength. However, it may be something that brings great value to others who may be more analytical and task focused. Research shows it's more productive to capitalize on our strengths, rather than focus on our weaknesses. Instead of waiting for feedback from others, ask people you know to share their observations of what you do well. Their answers might surprise you!

When I receive feedback I try to remember not to take it personally. Some people are just not skilled in giving effective feedback. So, I must look past the delivery and listen to the words. I'm glad I'm part of Toastmasters. It has helped me to learn how to give feedback in a way people are more apt to receive.

One of the best gifts I was given early in my career by my then manager and life-long mentor was learning to 'run to criticism.' By seeing constructive feedback as a challenge to sink your teeth into, rather than something to fear or become defensive about, dramatically changed by professional trajectory.

Managers must be trained in giving constructive feedback effectively and ensure that feedback is in real-time. Feedback should be actionable, with regular follow-ups and integration into personal development plans, helping employees use their strengths effectively and grow continuously. This requires frequent, regular communication, often on a weekly or monthly basis, moving beyond the traditional annual reviews. The focus is on specific goals, with feedback highlighting how employee strengths contribute to these objectives.

Let's consider two sides of the feedback - as a feedback giver and as a feedback receiver. As a feedback giver, it is important to have a keen observation skills to identify which are the tasks /activities that are being done in an excellent manner by the individuals. Try to understand where the individuals are putting their efforts voluntarily and with interest. It is highly important to have good listening skills and questioning skills to understand the individuals strengths during the conversations. Consolidate all these points and give feedback to motivate the person by highlighting the strengths. As a feedback receiver, ask your manager explicitly about what he,/she observed about your strengths so that you can leverage your strengths.

Give on the spot Non verbal feedback to your employee. When your employee is in a state of peak performance - for example giving a great presentation in a high stakes meeting, acknowledge that by a thumbs up, a nod, a wink, a smile. They know that you know. It creates a powerful connection and immediate recognition.

Feedback can be used as a tool to sharpen strengths of individuals as well as to help them overcome their weaknesses. With feedback, we can identify what individuals enjoy doing, what they are interested in, what challenges them, what motivates them & what do they want to be doing more of. This helps us as managers/leaders to align the tasks in a way that their contribution is maximized to their potential. We can find opportunities for them based on this feedback. As a receiver, feedback helps individuals know what they did well, what they can do well based on their skills & personal traits & what is expected out of them. This helps them to have clear picture of what needs to be done, helps them up skill & perform. Feedback is critical.

Regular performance reviews are vital in identifying and leveraging employee strengths within an organization. The key word here is regular. Most managers think a year review is enough when, in reality, if you regularly access and plan throughout the year, managers can highlight specific instances where the employee excelled, demonstrated exceptional skills, and showcased their strengths. Incorporating one-on-one feedback sessions into the review process creates a constructive environment for open dialogue. This allows employees to discuss their strengths, receive constructive feedback, and collaboratively develop plans for further skill enhancement and professional growth.