How CliftonStrengths Helps Teams Navigate Faultlines and Build Leadership

The composition and dynamics of entrepreneurial teams can make or break a startup. A recent study sheds light on a fascinating phenomenon: how personality faultlines—subtle divisions within teams based on personality traits—impact performance. It turns out, the strength of these faultlines can lead to wildly different outcomes depending on the context. Understanding this relationship is key to managing team diversity and leadership dynamics effectively.

Here’s a simplified look at the study’s findings:

What the Research Found

1. Weak Faultlines Lead to Strong Teams: When personality differences are evenly spread out, teams thrive. Open communication, diverse ideas, and a collaborative spirit drive innovation and adaptability. In short, a little diversity goes a long way.
2. Moderate Faultlines Cause Problems: This is the danger zone. As personality differences start grouping into cliques, conflicts arise. In-groups and out-groups form, leading to tension, reduced teamwork, and poor performance.
3. Strong Faultlines Bring Fragmented Efficiency: Surprisingly, when personality faultlines are very strong, performance can improve. Sub-groups form with strong internal cohesion, which can boost efficiency within those groups. However, this often creates silos and limits broader team coordination.

The study also looked at shared leadership:

• Done well, shared leadership helps bridge gaps in teams with moderate faultlines by fostering trust and collaboration.
• But in teams with strong faultlines, shared leadership can destabilize hierarchies, leading to more conflict and reduced cohesion.

These findings highlight two key challenges: managing personality diversity and choosing the right leadership approach.

The Utility of CliftonStrengths

CliftonStrengths, a tool developed by Gallup, offers a practical way to tackle these challenges. By focusing on individual strengths, it helps teams build a culture of collaboration, appreciation, and high performance. Here’s how CliftonStrengths can be applied to the study’s findings:

1. Navigating Faultlines with Strengths

Weak Faultlines:

• CliftonStrengths identifies and highlights each team member’s unique talents. This fosters mutual respect and ensures that diverse perspectives are valued and utilized.
• For example, someone with "Strategic" strengths can shape big-picture ideas, while another with "Achiever" strengths ensures those ideas turn into results. This creates a balanced and effective team dynamic.

Moderate Faultlines:

• CliftonStrengths helps bridge divides by promoting self-awareness and mutual appreciation. It shifts the focus from differences to how each person’s strengths complement the team.
• Tools like the Team Strengths Grid visually map how strengths fit together, helping teams overcome "us vs. them" challenges.

Strong Faultlines:

• Even in highly divided teams, CliftonStrengths can bring cohesion by identifying "bridge builders." Strengths like "Harmony" or "Relator" can help connect sub-groups.
• The tool also aligns teams around shared goals, ensuring sub-groups work together effectively.

2. Improving Leadership with Strengths

CliftonStrengths takes shared leadership to the next level by matching roles to natural talents. Here’s how it works:

• Strategic Leadership: Members with "Futuristic" or "Command" strengths drive vision and decision-making.
• Relational Leadership: Strengths like "Empathy" and "Developer" build trust and foster collaboration.
• Operational Leadership: Those with "Activator" and "Arranger" strengths excel at execution and coordination.

This strengths-based leadership approach ensures the right people take charge at the right time, reducing power struggles and boosting team performance.

3. Cross-Cultural Teams and CliftonStrengths

CliftonStrengths is especially effective for global teams with diverse cultural backgrounds. Here’s why:

• Universal Appeal: The 34 strengths apply across cultures, making the tool versatile for international teams.
• Individual Focus: Instead of relying on cultural stereotypes, CliftonStrengths emphasizes unique contributions, fostering respect and understanding.
• Shared Language: It gives teams a common way to discuss talents and goals, reducing misunderstandings.

For instance, a global team could use CliftonStrengths to:

• Leverage "Connectedness" and "Harmony" strengths to navigate cultural differences.
• Use "Learner" and "Adaptability" to embrace change and new ideas.
• Build trust with strengths like "Consistency" and "Responsibility."

4. Creating a Strengths-Based Culture

CliftonStrengths doesn’t just solve problems—it builds a foundation for long-term success. A strengths-based culture helps teams:

• Focus on what people do best, reducing conflict and increasing engagement.
• Align individual talents with team goals, enhancing collaboration and productivity.
• Foster a positive environment where everyone feels valued and empowered.

This culture can be built through regular workshops, strengths coaching, and integrating strengths into everyday team practices.

Practical Applications

Using Strengths to Bridge Faultlines

A startup with team members from the Singapore, India, Japan, China, and U.K. struggled with different work styles and communication approaches. By using CliftonStrengths:

• The team identified shared strengths like "Analytical" and "Strategic" to find common ground.
• Members with "Empathy" and "Harmony" strengths mediated conflicts, improving discussions.
• Leaders with "Futuristic" strengths aligned the team around a shared vision, fostering unity.

Within months, collaboration improved, conflicts diminished, and performance increased.

Steps for Implementation

1. Assess Strengths: Have all team members complete CliftonStrengths to identify individual talents.
2. Map Strengths: Use the Team Strengths Grid to visualize how strengths align and where gaps exist.
3. Run Workshops: Facilitate sessions to build awareness of team strengths and provide coaching for leaders.
4. Embed Strengths: Make strengths part of team rituals like planning and feedback sessions.
5. Measure Impact: Track improvements in team dynamics, communication, and performance over time.

Transform Personality Faultlines

Managing entrepreneurial teams with diverse personalities and cultural backgrounds is challenging but achievable. CliftonStrengths provides a framework to harness diversity, enhance collaboration, and improve leadership. Its universal applicability makes it especially effective for cross-cultural teams, offering a shared language and approach to navigate differences.

By adopting CliftonStrengths, entrepreneurial leaders can transform personality faultlines into opportunities for growth and innovation. This not only boosts performance but also creates a thriving team culture that stands out in today’s global business landscape.

Reference: Qian, S., Zhang, Y. and Kuai, P. (2024), "Entrepreneurial team personality-faultline strength and performance: the non-linear relationship and boundary conditions", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 529-545. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-05-2023-0180

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