Are you a strengths-based organisation? A strengths-based organisation is one that allows employees and leaders to utilise the things that come most naturally to them and that they can consistently perform well at.
When everyone in an organisation takes a strengths-based approach to work, the individuals benefit, but so does the organisation as a whole. According to research by Gallup, the measurable benefits extend to “big picture” impacts on:
- Customer engagement
- Sales
- Profit
- Employee engagement
Not to mention a decrease in safety incidents and employee turnover. Every one of these benefits signifies a big win for your organisation.
Focus on strengths not weaknesses
When you encourage a strengths-based approach in the workplace, what you’re really doing is bringing out the best in your employees. According to Marcus Buckingham, “Most people are more fascinated by who they aren’t and how to fix it, instead of who they are and how to leverage it.”
It’s a mistake to focus on weakness over strengths. Strengths will always provide the greatest room for growth.
How to bring out the best in your employees
But how do you know if you’re already implementing this approach and are there ways to take it further? Here are five things you should be doing to help bring out the best in your employees:
- Encourage them to take a strength-finding survey – like VIA Signature Strengths
- Encourage feedback within teams to help identify each other’s core strengths
- Ask employees to review whether their current role utilises their top five strengths
- Ask employees to consider how they could bring more of their strengths into their role
- Have management conduct reviews to get feedback on these responses and determine whether each employee and the organisation would benefit from their responsibilities being tweaked or shifting them into a different, better-suited role
Do these five things, and your organisation gets to enjoy more value from your employees and they, in turn, achieve greater job satisfaction.
************
Greg Weiss is Australia’s Leading Career Coach. He is the author of “So You Got The Job! WTF Is Next?”. The book prescribes a proven, practical 7-step framework for new employees so they succeed, rather than fail their probation periods and beyond. Find out more about the book at https://www.wtfisnext.wtf/
He is the Founder and Director of Onboff an online training and coaching platform that helps HR specialists, coaches and recruiters to deliver exceptional onboarding and offboarding experiences for employees.
He also hosts The Keep: The Employee Experience podcast and runs CareerSupport365.
