It is no longer adequate for leaders to simply know what each team member does. Knowing the assigned tasks and job titles is not enough, especially as it relates to high-performers. Regardless of industry or organizational type the most effective manager understands the why behind the do. Focusing on this connects leadership with key elements of intrinsic motivation. In that knowledge lies the power of effectively leveraging that information to tap into the unique talents of each team member.
🔯 THE WHY
Essentially, the following are true and necessary to team motivation, inspiration, and engagement:
The best leaders shape and constantly review employees’ roles to ensure that they are using their strengths every day.
The best leaders tune into unique individual talents to energize and empower employees to perform their best.
These leadership competencies are required to understand and describe in detail, each team member’s unique talents — the why.
Leaders who adopt a strengths-based approach to leading their employees to understand what motivates them; how each person naturally thinks, feels and behaves; and how they build relationships within their own team and across other teams.
It is not enough for managers to know this information. The employee needs to also understand their natural talents and abilities. The organization should provide tangible support for employee development in these key areas and position team members in positions and on projects that allow them to increase their competencies in these areas. The Clifton Strengths Assessment is a scientifically proven tool gives employees the opportunity to feel empowered, energized and engaged in their work.
🔯 IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE
In their first large-scale study of employee strengths, Gallup evaluated 49,000
business and work units, including 1.2 million employees in 45 countries. analytics prove teams and organizations that take a strengths-based approach to development and culture outperform those that don’t in key performance outcomes such as profit, customer and employee engagement and turnover. This deserves serious leadership consideration.
Businesses that engaged in strengths-based leadership enjoyed the following success factors:
✔️ 7% increase in customer engagement
✔️ 15% increase in employee engagement
✔️ 29% increase in profit
✔️ 59% reduction in in safety incidents
✔️ Low-turnover organizations saw a16-point reduction in turnover
✔️ High-turnover organizations saw a 72-point reduction in turnover
🔯 GO BEYOND THE BOSS-BADGE – COACH THE TEAM TO SUCCESS
Acting on this knowledge involves leadership investment and support of employees in discovering and developing their talents. If employees do not feel energized and empowered to be successful in their roles, they need their manager to help them find ways to use their strengths at work.
The result is that employees:
Energized and ready to tackle their responsibilities.
Enjoy and find their jobs meaningful, even when off-duty.
Aspire to high productivity.
Develop a pit-bull focus on goals, and creativity in overcoming obstacles
🔯 5 STRENGTHS-BASED PREGAME STARTERS
Take a few moments to engage with your team members. Go beyond the obvious by asking:
Is there something you love doing that you haven’t had the opportunity to do in this position?
When was the last time that, after an accomplishment, you thought, “I can’t wait to do that again” and what was it?
What was it inside your work
What was it outside of work?
What do you do with excellence without even trying?
What do other say you a good at?
What engrosses you to the point that you are oblivious to how much time passes?
Congratulations! You just engaged with your team and got answers that form the foundation of energizing and empowering your team and transforming your organizational culture.
Linda F. Williams is a Certified Executive coach who shows exhausted C-Suite executives how to Increase the bottom line with less stress, less conflict and plenty of time for personal and family life. She is a trained psychotherapist, nationally recognized behaviorist and Management Consultant. She is the founder of Whose Apple Dynamic Coaching & Consulting, and the Award-Winning author of the Best-Seller, Whose Apple is it, Anyway!
Dr. Linda F. Williams, DSW 