Leadership a-z: U is for what makes you Unique

We each bring our own uniqueness as a leader. Becoming more self-aware of who we are, what be excel in and how we need to adapt to the things we don’t do so well, is an important part of emotional intelligence. As we have seen in other posts, EI is a critical skill set for leaders.

How do we explore what makes us unique?

Some of the things that make us who we are include:

1. Our values - What are the things you hold as important?

What are the things you will go to bat for - integrity, quality, excellence? We sometimes become aware of our values when they are compromised or stepped on.

2. Our strengths - I’ve written past posts on Strengths and working with strengths on your team. You can read them here.

Gallup outlines the business case for working with strengths. As Marcus Buckingham states, “Team members who are encouraged to use their strengths regularly at work are

• 38% more likely to be highly productive
• 44% more likely to have high customer satisfaction scores
• 50% more likely to have high employee retention” (http://www.tmbc.com/offer/strengths)

What would that translate to your organization?

Exploring strengths can be done using a couple of online assessments, including:

1. Via Strengths - Emerging out of the positive psychology movement, the VIA Strengths Profile has been taken by millions around the world. IT will identify some of your top signature strengths. It is a free online assessment

2. StrengthsFinder - I widely encourage leaders to look at StrengthsFinder 2.0 as a great resource to invest in in their team as it provides an important conversation starter at the team and organiatonal level. It is also linked into Strengths Based Leadership Model. You can learn more about the assessment here.

The more aware we are of our own strengths and others the more we can leverage them with the leadership and team context.

3. Explore styles - A third way to open the dialogue about uniqueness for yourself and/or team members is exploring styles. I continue to do a lot of work using the Everything DiSC suite of tools. The 363 for Leaders provides a useful 360 along the leadership vein. The Everything DiSC Work of Leaders also provides valuable feedback on leadership styles when we lead MANY. Contact us for more information.

Activity:

Select one of the assessments/tools identified in today’s blog post. Complete it. 

What do you recognize about what makes you unique as a leader?

What have you learned from this process?

Consider what adaptations you can make, and want to make, in becoming more effective in your interactions.

Have a great week,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC

Potentials Realized | GroupCoachingEssentials 

Author of Effective Group Coaching and From One to Many: Best Practices of Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Phone: (416)996-TEAM
Learn more about our retreat and leadership development offerings and support 
Visit our daily tips for teams and team leaders at the Teams 365 blog
 
As an author Jennifer Britton is known for her thought leadership in the area of group and team coaching. She is also a former leader and team builder who spent the first 13 years of her career working within the United Nations as well as the international aid sector. From Boardroom to jungle, beach and forest to mountains, Jennifer has worked to develop teams and leaders in more than 18 countries, and virtually many more. She founded Potentials Realized in 2004 and focuses on leadership, teamwork and coaching skills training. 

Exploring Your Team Strengths

Significant research has been done by the Gallup organization and others on strengths, and strengths-based leadership. 

Did you know that:

•         People who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged on the job.
•         Teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5% greater productivity.
•        Teams that receive strengths feedback have 8.9% greater profitability.

(Source: Gallup Strengths Center,  https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/)

How aware are you or your team members about their strengths? Are you able to use these every day? 

Here are some possible ways for you to explore and start using your strengths:

1. Undertake a strengths assessment. Two strengths assessments I usually recommend and work with my team clients with are the StrengthsFinder 2.0 as well as VIA Strengths. Each strengths assessment takes about 30 minutes to complete and are available online.  Reports of varying length are generated when individuals complete each assessments. 

2. Spend time as a team looking at strengths.  Completing the assessment is not  a”be all and end all”. What is interesting and important is what emerges in conversation about our strengths. Whether you as a team dedicate part of a team meeting to discussing strengths or you set up a separate meeting (virtual or in person) about strengths, key is exploring:

- What strengths exist on the team?

- How are they being used?

- How are strengths not being used?

- What gaps exist? What patterns do you notice?

From my experience teams really benefit when they have the opportunity to move through a structured conversation, using an external facilitator to the team.  These conversations can take place in person, or virtually for those teams that are geographically dispersed. When I work with teams on this process, I recommend we spend at minimum 2 hours exploring the strengths and developing an action plan, optimally half a day, or part of a series of conversations.

3.  Sustain the focus - As part of your own team process, check in regularly and discuss  how strengths are being used in the team, and what gaps may be present, particularly if team members are changing. What strengths are required for different tasks facing the team? Who might find it easiest/most rewarding to take that project on? 

Resources I would recommend those interested in exploring strengths are:

VIA Strengths Survey

StrengthsFinder 2.0 - Tom Rath

Strengths Based Leadership - Tom Rath, Barrie Conchie

Go Put Your Strengths to Work - Marcus Buckingham

Check out my other posts on strengths here at the blog.

What are your next steps to exploring, and using, your strengths?

Best regards

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton

Potentials Realized

Leadership | Teamwork | Retreats

Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)

Phone: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

Styles and Teamwork

It's very common for  a multitude of styles to exist within any team. Some people are more detail oriented, others love the big picture, some like to be "hands on" (doers) while others may be more cerebral (thinkers).

What are the different styles that exist within your team?
How do different styles create conflict?
How do the different styles allow your team to do exceptional work?

Some of the work I do with teams is to provide them with further detail about their styles and strengths. "Knowledge is power" and may provide new insights about team members' preferences, what they value and how they may prefer to work.

Perhaps you are looking to do some work in this area. Depending on your budget, amount of time, team size and focus, you may wish to explore these assessments:
 - DiSc
- Personal Styles Inventory
- Myers-Briggs
- StrengthsFinder (more of a focus on strengths than styles. Can be very useful for teams)

The key to introducing any of these to your team is to use it in expanding the awareness of the group. It's not just to say " I'm an ENFP"  or "I'm a Sensor, and hence I am an x....". Assessments can be useful in reinforcing, or enhancing our awareness around our preferences in how we work, and where our natural abilities/affinities may lay. Sharing this information within the team context can help facilitate a deeper understanding about the overall team strengths, gaps, blindspots, areas of opportunity and potential threat (i.e. all team members are strong in big-picture orientation but not in detail).

How might a conversation about styles and strengths benefit your team?

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley 2010)
Potentials Realized - Team Services | Retreats | Leadership Development
Phone: (416) 996-8326 (TEAM)

Leveraging Your Team Strengths: Questions to Consider

When was the last time you discussed the strengths individual team members bring to work? In today's busy context of "doing more with less" discussion around "the softer stuff" often gets pushed aside.

Here's what Emotional Intelligence author Daniel Goleman says:

"In hard times, the soft staff often goes away. But emotional intelligence, it turns out, isn't so soft. If emotional obliviousness jeopardizes your ability to perform, fend off aggressors, or be compassionate in a crisis, no amount of attention to the bottom line will protect your career. Emotional intelligence isn't a luxury you can dispense with in touch times. It's a basic tool that, deployed with finesse, is the key to professional success"

Gallup's research around strengths find that leaders support and invest in their team members strength the odds of the person being engaged increases 8x. How is disengagement showing up in your organization?

This past weekend I led a retreat for an organization which focused primarily on strengths, team development and strategic and immediate action planning. What people really enjoyed above all was the opportunity to share and connect. When did you last ask your team what they see as their own strengths? How often do they get to use these in their work every day?

Here are a few questions for team members to consider:
1. What do you view as your strengths? What are you good at?
2. How do you use your strengths at work, in your role?
3. What could you do to more fully use your strengths each and every day?
4. Looking at upcoming priorities, which of your strengths, skills and talents, can support this work?
5. What else do you need to share with the team?
6. What do you need to stop doing? In light of current priorities?

What other questions would be useful for your team to consider?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, PCC
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2012)
Potentials Realized
Leadership Development | Teamwork | Staff Retreats | Strategic Planning
Phone: (416)996-TEAM (8326)
Email: info{at}potentials realized{dot}com

Mapping Your Team's Strengths

Professionals, and teams, flourish when they are able to use their strengths. Did you know that...

"When an organization's leadership fails to focus on an individual's strengths, the odds of an employee being engaged are a dismal 1 in 11 (9%). But when an organization's leadership focus on the strengths of its employees, the odds soar to almost 3 in 4 (73%). When leaders focus on an invest in their employee's strengths, the odds of each person being engaged goes up eightfold" - http://strengths.gallup.com

What are the strengths of your team members? How aware are they of these strengths? How are you creating environments for people to use their strengths?

A few weeks ago I worked with a wonderful organization who chose to invest time and focus on their team strengths, through focus and investment in an off-site retreat process. The day focused on really getting to know who was on the team, where the strengths lay, and what the gaps were. That, coupled with some skill development, can take a team a long, long way.

Great resources in this area are:
StrengthsFinder 2.0 - Tom Rath
Strengths-Based Leadership
Go, Put Your Strengths to Work - Marcus Buckingham

Consider the following:
What are you doing to invest in strengths? To help others identify their strengths?
Where do your team strengths lay?
What's missing? A gap? What's the impact of this?
What can you be doing differently to leverage the team strengths?

If you'd like to learn more about how coaching and/or retreats incorporating the strengths based approach would benefit your team or organization, please feel free to contact me. I would be happy to share some case studies of how this has benefited other organizations and professionals.

In closing, what can you do today to more fully utilize YOUR STRENGTHS?

Warm regards
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Phone: 416.996.8326
Email: info{at}potentialsrealized{dot}com