There are many ways to co-ordinate people’s talents in a team or organisation. Whatever approach is used, it is good to start by doing a proper Strengths Inventory.
The following pages describe an approach you can use to focus on people’s strengths, successful style and specific contribution towards achieving the picture of success. Let’s explore how you can make this happen.
1) You can clarify people’s strengths.
Imagine that you want to put together a Strengths Inventory for a team or organisation. One approach is to begin by clarifying where people deliver As, rather than Bs or Cs. For example:
As
These are the specific activities, tasks or other projects where the person consistently produces fine work. They have a strong feeling for the activity. They deliver the goods and sometimes add that touch of class.
Bs
These are the activities where the person can deliver reasonable work. They may once have actually been good at these tasks, but now get bored and this can lead to mistakes.
Cs
These are the activities for which they have little feeling or aptitude, nor do they have much desire to improve.
So how do you clarify a person’s strengths? One way is to start by interviewing them. (You can also get feedback from other people about the person’s strengths – even if this is simply to do a reality check.)
Below are some questions you can ask the person during such an interview. Where appropriate, ask them to give specific examples. This helps to bring the themes to life and also provides more concrete information. So here are the questions you may invite them to explore.
“What are the deeply satisfying activities where you deliver As, rather than Bs or Cs? What are the activities that you find stimulating? When you do feel in your element – at ease yet able to excel? What are the specific situations in which you quickly see the destination: you go A, B ____ then leap to ___ Z? "
"What are the situations in which you see patterns? What are the activities in which you have the equivalent of a photographic memory? What the situations in which you feel calm, clear and deliver concrete results? What do you have a track record of finishing? If you were a leader, what would you hire somebody like yourself to deliver?”
As mentioned earlier, it can also be useful to get a reality check from other people. You can then complete the following exercise.
2) You can clarify people’s successful styles.
So far we have looked at people’s strengths. This is ‘what’ they do best. It is now time to move onto their successful style. This is ‘how’ they work best. Sometimes this provides an even better understanding of their talents.
Everybody has a positive history. They have tackled challenges, overcome crises and performed great work. So how do you find a person’s preferred way of working? One approach is to interview them by exploring the following themes.
“Looking back on your life, describe what for you have been three stimulating and satisfying projects. Use the term ‘project’ in the broadest sense. You may have got great satisfaction, for example, from designing a web site, launching a product, organising a charity ‘fun run’, leading a team, helping somebody to master a skill or whatever. Exploring each project in turn, describe the specific things that made each one fulfilling.”
The person will probably start by saying something like: “The first ‘project’ that comes to mind is when I _________.” They may describe when they studied for a degree, wrote a book, gave a keynote speech, revitalised a team or whatever.
Clarify the principles they followed and the practical steps they took to achieve success. Invite them to describe the adventure in great detail. So you may want to ask some of the following questions.
“Let’s start with your motivation. How did the project come about? Did you set the goal or did somebody else offer you the opportunity? Was it something you felt passionately about or matched your values? What was the trigger that made you really want to go for the goal?”
“Let’s move on to the actual goal. How early did you clarify the picture of success – the ‘what’? Did it come straight away or later? If other people were involved, how much input did you have in setting the goal? What was your picture of success? What were the real results you wanted to achieve? How did you settle on the ‘how’ – the key strategies for achieving success? Did you have freedom, within parameters, regarding how you achieved the goal?”
“Let’s move on to how you performed the work. Did you mainly work by yourself or with other people? If you worked with others, what were the characteristics of these people? Did you work for a manager? If so, what were the qualities the manager demonstrated? What went well when working with the colleagues or the manager?”
“Looking at the work, did you follow a certain rhythm? How did you organise your time? How did you do superb work? How did you do reality checks regarding whether or not if was working? How did you get support? How did you encourage yourself on the journey? How did you find creative solutions to challenges?”
“Let’s move on to the actual result. How did you keep working hard to reach the goal? How did you know when you had achieved success? Was there a specific deliverable, a deadline or some element of performance? Looking at the project, what were the most satisfying things? What did you do well? What would you do better if you were to tackle this kind of project again in the future? Are there any things you would like to say about the project?”
Go through each project in turn. Then explore the following themes with the person.
“Looking back on each of these examples, can you see any patterns? Describe what you believe to be the principles you follow when pursuing your preferred way of working. For example, you may prefer to focus on a certain kind of project, with certain kinds of people and in a certain kind of ‘place’ – culture and environment."
"You may also have several different successful styles: such as one when working alone, another when working with other people. Bearing this in mind, try to describe how you do your best work.”
So what do you find when exploring people’s successful styles? Whilst everybody is different, you may find some of the following patterns.
a) The pattern they follow may mirror some of the common themes in human activity.
You may find that the person enjoys, for example: caring, nurturing, encouraging, building, making things work, trading, creating, designing, problem solving, exploring, pioneering, providing great experiences, educating, passing on knowledge, showing a better way, helping people to succeed, achieving, performing or whatever. They may, of course, combine some of these themes.
b) The ways they express these themes differs from person to person.
They may choose to pursue an existing profession – such as being an educator, nurse, doctor, business person, programmer, engineer, architect, customer service director or whatever. On the other hand, they may also create their own niche or ‘profession’.
c) The person can be encouraged to follow their successful style in the future.
You can help them to follow their style in a way that is a ‘win-win-win’. It can be a win for them, a win for the employer and, if appropriate, a win for the customer.
We will explore this theme in the next section. Before moving onto the actual role, however, you can meet with the person and complete the following exercise.
3) You can clarify people’s specific contribution.
Imagine you have completed the first two columns of the Strengths Inventory. Looking at each individual, you have clarified: a) The person’s strengths – this is ‘what’ they do best; b) The person’s successful style – this is ‘how’ they work best. Putting these together can create a powerful combination. So you can move on to: c) The person’s specific contribution to the employer.
How to make this happen? It is useful to go through the following steps.
* To focus on the team’s or organisation’s picture of success.
* To ask: “Bearing in mind the person’s strengths and successful style, what would be their best contribution towards achieving the goals? What would be the benefits – for them, for the company and for the customer?”
* To ask: “Bearing in mind the person’s role, how can we help them to do three things. First: To build on their strengths – where they deliver As? Second: To manage the consequences of their weaknesses – their Bs and Cs? Third: To make their best contribution towards achieving the picture of success?”
You can then meet with each person to make clear contracts about their contribution. This is to be defined in outcome terms. Agree on the specific results they will deliver.
Every role can build on people’s strengths and contribute towards achieving the overall goals. Sometimes this means people taking existing roles and shaping these differently. Sometimes it means creating new roles – or combinations of roles – which aren’t in old-style job descriptions. So meet with the person and complete the following exercise.
Imagine that you have completed a Strengths Inventory. After clarifying each person’s best contribution, you can ask: "How can we co-ordinate these strengths to achieve the picture of success?" Keep going until, as far as possible, most of the goals have been covered.
What about the tasks that remain? You can choose either:
a) To share the remaining tasks across the team.
b) To offer the work to rising stars who want to prove their worth.
c) To find other creative solutions to completing these tasks.
Super teams do the basics and then add the brilliance. They always complete the grunt work and also do the great work.
There are many ways to employ people’s talents. One approach is to do a proper Strengths Inventory. You can then ensure that people build on their strengths, perform superb work and achieve the picture of success.
Posted on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 at 4:51 pm in Super teams, The Strengths Blog | RSS feed
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