Home 9 Leadership secrets: rules of the higher game 9 Leading with Team Strengths: The Secret to Excellence [actionable]

Leading with Team Strengths: The Secret to Excellence [actionable]

In today’s fast-paced corporate world, there’s a tendency to move swiftly, chasing deadlines and juggling myriad responsibilities. However, for leaders aiming to extract the best from their teams, it’s essential to recognize and harness the innate strengths of each member. By doing so, not only can organizations optimize outcomes, but team members can also find more fulfillment in their roles.

The Art of Identifying Strengths

It’s a common scenario: team members may not always recognize their unique strengths or know how to translate them into tangible results. Leaders play a critical role in this discovery.

Actionable Steps:

  • Initiate One-on-One Sessions: Regularly sit with your team members, discuss their views on their strengths, and provide feedback on what you’ve observed.
  • Invest in Strength Assessment Tools: Tools such as Gallup’s StrengthsFinder or VIA Survey can provide insights into individual strengths.
  • Encourage Peer Feedback: Often, colleagues can pinpoint each other’s strengths more accurately than self-assessment can.

Breaking the Survival Mode

When teams are perpetually in execution or survival mode, it can be challenging to think strategically. The focus becomes short-term, with little alignment between team goals and the broader organizational strategy. Without strategic direction, even the most potent strengths can be misdirected.

Actionable Steps:

  • Regular Strategy Alignments: Dedicate time for periodic strategy sessions where the team’s direction is aligned with the departmental and organizational objectives.
  • Set Clear Expectations: Clearly define roles, responsibilities, and desired outcomes, ensuring that each member’s tasks align with their strengths.
  • Encourage Breaks: Mental and physical breaks can rejuvenate the team, helping them approach tasks with renewed vigor and clarity.

Crafting a Talent Strategy

Having recognized the strengths within the team, the next step is to devise a strategy that lets these talents shine. This process requires what can be termed a “meta-discussion” – a dialogue about how the team functions and how improvements can be implemented.

Actionable Steps:

  • Workshop Sessions: Organize workshop sessions focusing on how to deploy individual strengths for collective goals.
  • Allocate Roles Based on Strengths: Ensure that team projects tap into the strengths of involved members. For instance, someone with a knack for data analysis should be at the helm of research-driven tasks.
  • Promote Continuous Learning: Provide resources and opportunities for team members to further hone and develop their strengths.

In conclusion, the reality for many leaders is that amidst the bustle of organizational life, the true potential of their teams often remains untapped. By recognizing and channeling strengths effectively, leaders can inspire teams to produce remarkable outcomes, ensuring that both the organization and its members thrive.

Team Development for International Teams

We facilitate workshops for organizations and leadership to guide their international teams towards even higher levels of performance. In such a way that the team understands, reflects and integrates the 5 behaviours of a high performing team. A proven concept used with >100 teams internationally.

“If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.” – Lencioni

About Tom Oor

I’m a Learning and Development Business Partner specializing in creating and facilitating leadership and organizational development programs with global teams. My focus is on Purpose-Driven Leadership and Organizations. We transform business value gaps into impactful learning solutions such as offsites, journeys, and global hybrid programs.

Core Expertise:

  • Accelerating people development for higher returns and faster results
  • Leading high-performance international teams
  • Purpose-driven leadership and organizations
  • Cultivating high-performance cultures

We have worked with amongst others ABN-Amro, Google, PwC, Booking.com, ASML, Scotch & Soda, and Top Employers Institute to design and deliver transformative programs.