How can you identify the strengths of individual team members to enhance team performance?

A great attitude is the biggest strength that differentiate high performers from the average. The humility to accept mistakes and learn something from them, a never say die can do-spirit and the ability to work collaboratively are some of the most valuable strengths. Strengths are not doing everything perfectly. Rather strengths are about making something even out of nothing and to continuously improve and innovate. Strength therefore is a journey and a rewarding one.

Everyone has a strength! As leaders, we have to learn that one size doesn’t fit all. We must lean into the strengths that each member brings to progress the work forward for the entire team. If we think about it, teams are ONE body with many moving parts. The functionality of all parts keeps the team moving to the cadence of success. Move with purpose friends!

An often encountered stumbling block in leveraging strengths lies with the individual and their lack of self-awareness of their natural talents. What comes naturally to the individual might not be recognized as a strength, because it is their default/natural/typical behavior. This is when it’s critical for leaders to recognize and nurture the deep-level diversity that exists among teams (Jansen & Searle, 2021). When this occurs, the individual can then leverage their ordinary talents for extraordinary performance creating a win-win for the individual, team, and organization. We should ask ourselves how often do we take individuals talents for granted, not providing an opportunity for them to mine and cultivate their strengths.

As a leader I like to share with my team that I am happy to lose a vote if it allows stronger ideas to rise. I find that this willingness opens opportunities for other team members to find the confidence to speak up and authentically contribute to the experience. I have found that when my team members feel safe to share, their strengths as a leader are able to shine.

I’ll always remember a former leader’s perspective on strengths, which she referred to as “super powers”. Everyone has at least one strength that contributes in a unique way to the team and the mission. As leaders, we have an amazing opportunity to learn both about and from those we support. Relationships matter. Strengths-based leadership is all about understanding the individual strengths of each team member and aligning them together to accomplish the mission. What’s the saying? “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.” Well if you want to go far fast, create relationships and cultivate strengths. Should you focus effort on cultivating strengths more so than areas with opportunity for improvement?

Make it safe enough for people to bring their full selves to work, and invite their input at every opportunity. As a leader, modeling openness to new ideas is key to drawing out the strengths of your team! Also call out the strengths you see so that they are encouraged to keep building on those.

The Gallup Strengths assessment is hands down the best, most research-backed tool for helping teams identify their strengths. I have used it with my teams, and it has dramatically improved my ability to support, coach, and develop these leaders. There just isn't a better assessment out there, and the report that comes with the results isn't just a bunch of fluff. It actually has actionable insights that people can use to improve their own performance, engagement, and relationship with others in the workplace. There are many valuable assessments out there, but I believe this one is the best.

Play Strengths Spotting with team members. My clients find this a useful, meaningful and impactful activity. For example, call out what you see as a strength in a team member when s/he presents during a meeting. Another use case is to call out each other's strengths and discuss how these strengths can be used in service of the meeting's agenda or to achieve the goals sought. Strengths can also be used to "legitimise" black hat challenges that add to diversity in thinking. If you have not tried this before, you may be amazed at how it can shift the tone and energy in your meetings.

Sometimes team members aren't very aware of their top strengths because they are so natural for them; they perform them without thinking about it. This is also true of work preferences and styles. It can help to not only identify strengths and styles in different ways as the article suggests, but it's also important to make a list together of concrete examples of these strengths and styles being demonstrated during the work day. This concrete information will help the team member become more aware of their positive contributions and support leadership development.

In executive coaching I use behavioural assessments that include values, we are not on’y strengths snd values Gard rail our decisions . I believe having a bi dimension or even tri dimension assessment provides a better assessment . Humans are complex. It also avoids labelling effect of dome test

One of my former managers was an excellent example of appreciating and sharing strengths of his team members. He did a yearly formal review with each person, including 360 data, his own evaluation, and each person's self-evaluation. His team actually looked forward to reviews, unless they were really not doing their jobs, which was rare. If he needed to share an area for improvement, he did it with such grace that no one minded. "You're doing such a fabulous job overall, but if there's one thing that would make you stronger, it's___."

End your team meetings with 90 seconds where a team member can call out the strengths or accomplishments of others is a means of communicating, and a reason to look forward to team meetings!

Communicating your strengths aligns with knowing your personal brand and how the world sees you. As a Fascinate Certified Advisor, I see people be most successful at communicating their strengths when they understand their Fascination Advantages -- how they fascinate others and communicate their strengths. Too often, even when people know their strengths, they are still boxed in to focusing on "weaknesses." Instead, flip the script. Focus on your genius zone -- where you make the biggest difference, where that success is as easy as breathing. Use the language that comes with your archetype to help you help others see your greatest value. There is no one like you on this earth. Different is better than better. Showcase it.

360-Degree Feedback: Gather feedback from peers, supervisors, and subordinates to identify strengths from different perspectives. Self-Reflection: Encourage team members to reflect on their experiences and accomplishments to identify what they excel at. Hold One-on-One Discussions: Schedule individual meetings with team members to discuss their strengths and how they can best contribute to the team's success. These conversations should be focused on their strengths, not weaknesses.

Ask! Listen. Teams change, projects evolve, people are in different phases of engagement regardless of their training and experience.

Aligning strengths means accepting failure. Make failure an acceptable measurement without being punitive. These are teachable moments and should be that. True strength is learned through growth, and failure, allow for both.

Strengths not only show you if you can do something well or not, these also create pathways on how you will complete your tasks. Are you likely to collaborate or research alone, look for past precedents or jump in to find solutions. Coaching is a fantastic way to ensure : ?? How strengths are moderated, you need to know when to dial it up and when to dial it down. ?? How strengths can create conflicts if you can't find ways to collaborate ?? How strengths can create deep intrinsic motivation and drive for individuals.

Be sure to allow for growth! Employees may be strong in one area, but desire to grow- so allow for it, and foster that desire as their leader. This will create satisfaction within their role on the team and in the organization, and usually leads to greater retention rates.

Encourage Skill and Strength Sharing: Foster a culture of knowledge sharing within the team. Encourage team members to share their expertise and strengths with each other, creating a more well-rounded team. Assign Roles Based on Strengths: When assigning tasks or roles within the team, consider each team member's strengths. Match their strengths with the responsibilities that align with those strengths. This helps ensure that everyone is working in areas where they can excel. Provide Development Opportunities: Offer training and development opportunities to help team members further develop and leverage their strengths. This could include workshops, courses, or mentorship programs.

Imagine your team as a rowing boat gliding across a serene lake. To align strengths effectively, leaders should assign seats in the boat based on each team member's strengths. Much like a skilled coxswain placing rowers strategically, identify roles and responsibilities that maximize each team member's potential. Aligning strengths involves fostering collaboration and synchronization, much like the rhythmic stroke of rowers propelling the boat. Leaders should promote a sense of unity, clear communication, and mutual support among team members. Like rowers pulling together in perfect harmony, the team's combined strengths should lead to exceptional performance.

To develop strengths requires developing awareness. By utilizing verified instruments like the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) that helps you with identifying bias for both individuals and across a group or team, making a plan to counteract negative impacts on teams becomes a strength.

As a Gallup Strengths Coach, I've seen experienced and also witnessed how my clients have 'aha' moments, it is as if it all falls into place. I straightly recommend coaching as means to lasting, transformative and reflective development practice.

There must be mutual agreement with the employee on strengths and development actions. I have found employees may have strengths that benefit the team; however, it is not a growth point for the employee. In addition, a growth environment must tolerate failure.

Recognize and Celebrate Achievements: Acknowledge and celebrate individual and team achievements that result from leveraging strengths. Public recognition can motivate team members to continue utilizing their strengths. Regularly Review and Adjust: Periodically review the team's performance and the effectiveness of leveraging strengths. Adjust roles and responsibilities as needed to optimize the use of strengths within the team. Provide Constructive Feedback: Offer feedback to team members on how they are using their strengths and suggest ways to further enhance their contributions.

Once there is clarity about growth objectives, list levels of competencies and essential knowledge. Take inventory and fill gaps with experiences for growth asap.

I suggest an unpopular but realistic way to find one's strengths. Go and find out what people say about you when you are not in the room. This exercise can lead you towards discovering both your dominant strengths and lesser ones called weaknesses. This is the first step I ask all my clients to take even before they take the Gallup Strengths assessment. The second step is To give an empowering context to this discovery. To have a conversation with a person who can be your confidant and a sounding board to dig more into the root cause of such behaviour. If you can do with a certified coach; it would be life-changing.

I think it’s important to remember that strengths are supposed to be the intersection between talent and interest. I’ve seen many managers mistake talents for strengths even when the strength is not an interest/ passion of their direct report. Imagine I am great at statistics so I always get asked to run statistics. It is a talent of mine. But imagine if I hate running stats. I can become very disengaged if I keep getting asked to run stats all day. How would you know? The only way is for mangers to get to know their people. In other words… ask!

"Strength" is clearly the focal point here, but I would challenge everyone that there is more growth in weakness. I know it is not a popular term, but we need to get over that. Your growth potential is far greater in failure and identifying weakness than piling on your strengths. Leaders need to find a way to roll that into their culture...how do you build that growth mindset? Success is not it. Failure is. Failure is good if you harness it correctly. You want people willing to tackle challenges they aren't sure they'll succeed at but know you will help them to learn and grow from when they don't. Are you willing to accept that risk? If you aren't, be willing to accept stagnation and the status quo.

Consider developing a gift registry for people's talents/gifts. Take the time to ask the team member, "what's a gift that you have not been able to give here YET?" As a can-do leader, I did this every year. I learned that we had a songwriter on board. Yes. He wrote the song for the next annual meeting. We had a person who didn't want a full-time job as a researcher, but they could contribute to a research project now and then. Done. Your gift registry can be as simple or complex as you like. A journal. A spreadsheet. Or software. The important thing is to have the conversations and tap the talent. Cna-do.

Consider that people change over the course of time. Life events, work experiences, health, family, and motivations can drive change in any of us. As a leader, make that Ok.