Strengths-based leadership

“What will happen when we focus on what is right with people rather than fixating on what is wrong with them?”??Donald Clifton

Donald Clifton was an American psychologist, educator, author, researcher, and entrepreneur. He founded Selection Research, Inc., which later acquired Gallup Inc., where he became chairman, and developed CliftonStrengths, Gallup's online psychological assessment. Clifton is often regarded as one of the key leaders of strengths-based psychology and had a huge influence on the science of positive psychology.

According to Clifton, psychologists typically studied what was wrong with people, not why they excelled. He researched strengths and how these impact performance. He also identified that successful people had certain personal attributes that benefited them in their work. His research is used in strengths finding tools, and selection processes. Many useful insights can be obtained from the Gallup surveys and findings.

Research from Gallup found that building on the strengths of group members is much more effective in raising performance than trying to improve weaknesses –

1. Employees become 7.8-per cent more productive when they become aware of their strengths
2. Teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5-per cent greater productivity
3. Individuals who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged on the job and are less likely to leave their company

Taken together, these results are powerful drivers for higher levels of performance, profitability, and productivity.

What are strengths?

• A strength is a skill that produces excellent performance consistently and effortlessly
• An activity that drains emotional and intellectual reserves is not a strength – even if through effort it can now be performed competently
• The difference is the intrinsic satisfaction or joy, that is experienced whilst performing the activity
• Strength-based management focuses on and seeks to increase the strengths of team members
• This management style is supported by research showing that it’s better to spend time, energy and money growing strengths rather than focusing on and developing weaknesses
• Any investment into a strength will grow that trait tremendously and uplift performance in weaker areas
• Investments into weaker traits do not yield the same level of growth and can lead to reduced performance in strength areas

Strengths and impacts of performance

Many research studies allude to strengths-based development's links to engagement and productivity, but a very comprehensive Gallup study showed that strength-based development leads to -

• 10% to 19% increased sales
• 14% to 29% increased profit
• 3% to 7% higher customer engagement
• 9% to 15% increase in engaged employees

There's a connection between strengths and engagement that's fundamental to the employee experience.

Based upon decades of research on human behaviour in organizations, Gallup recently concluded: Strength-based management works. Employees who are encouraged to develop and use their strengths –

• are more engaged and loyal
• perform better
• produce more
• learn their roles quicker
• positively impact profit
• are more enthusiastic
• have higher commitment levels
• put in greater effort
• have stronger work ethics

Tips for applying strengths-based leadership

To create and lead a high-performing team, you need to do more than direct and delegate work. Truly effective managers recognise the unique strengths of individual team members, optimise all those natural gifts, and adapt their leadership style to suit the performance needs of each team member in each situation.

The first step is to identify each person’s strengths, including your own and then manage around those essential skills. Extensive research and evidence show that playing to people’s strengths increases performances in ALL areas, whereas seeking to rectify a person’s weaknesses can increase performance in those areas at the expense of decreased performance in areas of strength.

Here are some simple steps to focus on strengths and improve performance –

1. identify team member strengths
2. provide opportunities for each team member to use their strengths
3. assign tasks and deliverables based on strengths
4. incorporate strengths into performance conversations and reviews
5. design roles and responsibilities based on strengths
6. align expectations for performance according to strength
7. seek out strengths assessment and strengths-based training
8. provide opportunities for team members to become strengths champions to support development
9. allow job role design based on strengths

Find out more

Here’s the link if you want to find out more or take the CliftonsStrengths assessment CliftonStrengths Online Talent Assessment | EN - Gallup

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