Research

• Gallup also found that employees become 7.8% more productive when they become aware of their strengths.
• Teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5% greater productivity.
• Individuals who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged on the job and are less likely to leave their company.

Statement

Enhancers of this driver

• Knowing your strengths and the strengths of others in the team.
• Having strengths-based conversations at the team level.
• Planning and flexible resource allocation according to strengths.
• Regular catch-ups with management.
• Continuous exploration of how employee strengths can contribute to organisational goals.

Detractors of this driver

• Work overload and stress.
• Managers who drive a culture that focuses on weaknesses, missteps and failures.
• A culture of poor psychological safety - where people feel exposed or inadequate, othered or isolated or subject to constant uncertainty and inconsistency.
• Fixed roles and lack of learning and innovation.

Individual

• Identify your strengths. Identify your strengths using the VIA Strengths Assessment or the Clifton Strengths assessment.
• Reflect on ways that you have used your signature strengths in your work and personal life.
• Identify new ways to use your signature strengths. For example, ask yourself whether you overuse particular strengths in clutch situations.
• Identify instances of success. Writing five to 10 examples where you have experienced professional success can help discover common threads that reveal your strengths. When doing this exercise, pay close attention to the strengths of your success. For example, suppose you note your success in delivering an important presentation, and in another written sample, you note the success of receiving a highly anticipated job offer. An overlapping strength in these two instances of success may be your verbal communication skills.

Leaders

• Understand your own strengths. Be prepared to share where and when you are at your best and where you would welcome the support of your team members with complementary strengths.
• Assess each team member's strengths. Make a point of understanding the strengths each team member brings to the table. This will allow you to leverage these insights to connect better with team members and harness their strengths most efficiently.
• Consider how your team's strengths can contribute to the organisation's goals. Ask team members to reflect on how their strengths have helped them succeed in the past and situations where they currently use their strengths. Consider parallels with current business contexts.
• Get team members to understand each other's strengths. Team members who are aware of each other's strengths work better as a team - For example, if team member A is more vocal about what they bring to the table, they may feel that a less vocal team member B isn't contributing enough to the team. However, if A knows that B has other strengths that are critical to their projects but hasn't been broadcasting it, A will value B better. Appreciating each other's strengths always makes for more robust and happier teams. Encourage team members to acquaint themselves with each other's strengths and skills to improve team cohesion.
• Support your team to use their strengths. Understanding their strengths does not automatically lead to effective use of those strengths in the workplace. Build a routine of checking in with your team to determine if their allocated work suits their more natural talents and gifts.
• When job demands require employees to complete tasks that don't match their strengths, provide recommendations and support systems, such as strategic partnerships, to help employees overcome challenges.

Organisation

• Teach leaders to meet periodically to talk about their employees' activities, the direction of their work, upcoming projects, and the company's vision. Make sure to speak with them about their strengths and where they fit into the company's vision. Then, push them to take risks or delve deeper into their strengths. The innovation lies in stepping out of comfort zones.

• Review your job responsibilities. When thinking about your responsibilities, look for common strengths that are required. For example, suppose you are a marketing assistant. Your responsibilities include developing new marketing strategies, organising and coordinating events and writing content across social media platforms. Upon close inspection, you can identify from these responsibilities that your strengths are attention to detail, communication and problem-solving.
• Free your strengths. Reflect on your signature strengths. Identify opportunities, projects and contexts where these strengths would be beneficial. If you can direct your efforts into strengths areas, you experience a boost in energy, engagement and productivity. You are also less likely to experience stress and anxiety.
• Consider different ways for volunteering your strengths to the team. Offer suggestions on how your strengths may be put into practice to benefit the team.
• Make your strengths part of your routine. If you schedule it, it happens. Continuously find ways to spend more time on your strengths and minimise the time in activities that drain your energy.

• Give employees opportunities to deploy and develop strengths. Knowing your team's strengths allows you to assign employees to tasks and projects to use their strengths in the best possible way.
• Harmonise team strengths. Great leaders factor in strengths when creating and working with their teams. Optimise employees by considering how the team member's complementary strengths can maximise team performance. Assign tasks that best match each individual's natural talents.
• Encourage employees to set career goals aligned with their strengths and passions and follow up with them during one-on-ones. Connecting team members' professional growth to their strengths can build engagement and energy levels and enhance retention.
• Keep strengths at the forefront. Ensure your employees take a strengths-based approach to every task. When tasks or projects come up, discuss the strengths needed to help determine who should be involved in completing the task or project.
• Create a chart with all team members' strengths prominently displayed. This offers a constant reminder to team members about the importance of playing to their strengths and a reference point when they need to create teams or partnerships for projects/tasks.

• Contemplate your organisational strengths. Can you do more work that plays to those strengths? Are there opportunities that arise when you focus on the unique value proposition you bring to the market?
• Organisations can offer flex time or flexible scheduling to empower their employees to continue their education and grow and use their strengths. Organisational rhythm should involve leaders taking some time to discuss the skills and strengths of each employee. Please pay attention to their aspirations and what they want to do next. Encourage them to attend a university, trade school, or other educational programs to grow their strengths and pursue what matters to them.

• Speak up. Get your manager to team up with you. Share your strengths with your manager.
• Consider speaking up when the work is divided and in your one-on-one with your manager. For example, you are trying to communicate the following 'Listen, there are certain activities that thrill me and challenge me, and others that seem to bore me or drain me. I will contribute my utmost if I spend more time on the first kind and less on the other kind. Can you help?'
• Notice the strengths of others in your team. Work together to offer potential team combinations that are most enabling for all. This will support your manager in dividing tasks to maximise the team's potential.

• Look for opportunities to share observations and provide strengths-based feedback (which relies on employee affirmation and encouragement.) However, often feedback is weakness-based (which relies on negative commentary focussed on employees' shortcomings.)
• Individualise recognition with consideration of strengths. Influential leaders consider each team member's preferences and strengths when providing feedback and recognition.
• Ask each employee what motivates them and how they prefer to receive feedback to determine the best recognition and feedback for that individual. For example, public awards might be meaningful to some employees but uncomfortable to others.

• Develop a coaching culture. Coach employees on surmounting obstacles at work, offer feedback and encourage them to perfect their strengths and develop new skills. Spend time coaching your team to empower them to actively reflect on and learn from their successes and failures. Our best learning can come from our failings, especially within a supportive strengths-based work environment.