Why build a strengths-based culture?

The Benefits of Strength-Based Organisation

The evidence from Life Orientations is compelling for building a strengths-based organization. This type of organization aims to create a culture that values individual differences and uses them to improve the productivity of the organization.

Strengths-based companies are not only more productive but they also increase the likelihood that their employees and clients will be happy and engaged.

Signs of a strengths-based organization:

• Employees strongly agree that they get to do what they love every day.
• The team can identify and understand each other’s strengths.
• The team can easily see how strengths are linked to success, such as improvements in performance, competencies and customer service.
• Each team member has a partner that helps them develop their strengths.
• The team members plan their actions based on their understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates.
• Managers utilize individual strengths to clarify expectations and set meaningful goals with employees.
• Managers understand how the strengths of each team member relate to their roles.
• The teams are better able to respond to the needs of customers.
• Few organisations can claim to have a “strengths based” culture. This is a lost opportunity, as organisations with strengths based cultures outperform their competition by building stronger relationships with their customers.

It’s not enough to simply know your strengths. Conversations, coaching and practice are necessary to successfully integrate strengths in daily routines. It is most effective when managers are trained and certified by Life Orientations in order to coach team members to use their strengths.

What Organizations can Do Now

How can you transform your organisation into a strengths-based one?

• Help employees discover their strengths. Strengths measurements provide teams with a common vocabulary to discuss how to collaborate and perform well. A strengths-based approach to measurement is designed primarily for improving constructive communication and personal development.
• Build an internal network of Life Orientations-Certified Strengths Coaches. Strengths coaches at the expert level provide managers with ongoing practical tools and insights. They act as consultants and provide advice to managers. Further, organisations should require that each team leader become a Life Orientations-Certified Manager to better meet the demands of the new hybrid workplace.
• Integrate strength into performance management Your managers become strengths-based performance coach for their team. They must understand how to utilize their strengths. Then, they must understand the strengths of their employees to be able to have ongoing conversations that will lead to improved performance and competence. Team members who know about each other’s strength will ultimately achieve the highest level of performance. All of this ensures that your strengths become a part of the ongoing operations for your business, rather than an optional program.
• Transform learning programs. Everyone in your organization will have tasks that are not aligned with their strengths. It takes a lot of work to create a culture that is based on strengths. It is crucial to understand the personality of a person in order to develop their competencies. Individuals are then in a much better position to minimize their weaker competencies. Audit your current programs and practices throughout the employee’s lifecycle. Identify the programs that are wearing down your employees by contradicting a positive culture.
• Develop a system to ensure that all employees are placed in roles that match their natural talents. To build a culture based on strengths, the manager’s role is crucial. Every employee in your organization has a unique work-life balance. It is important that managers are able to coach their employees by setting clear goals, engaging in meaningful conversations and ensuring accountability.
• If you identify their potential, managers are best placed to achieve these goals. In the past, managers have been promoted to their current roles based on two factors: tenure within an organisation and previous success in non-managerial jobs. These two criteria have no relation to the ability of managers to coach their employees.
• A robust selection system for managers should include an assessment of previous experiences, achievements, innate traits, multiple interviews and observations of team leadership and collaboration on the job. Life Orientations’ researchers have been tracking the performance of individuals in more than 2,000 jobs for five decades. They have asked questions, studied responses, and tracked their performance. We also reviewed more than 100 years of selection research.
• Our scientists discovered that these data revealed five human traits or innate characteristics which predict the performance of managers.
• Motivating teams to achieve exceptional results
• Workstyle — setting goals for your team and allocating resources to help them excel
• Initiation — influencing others to take action; pushing past adversity or resistance
• Build a team of committed individuals with deep bonds
• Analytical approach to strategy and decisions
• Life Orientations worked with thousands of organisations to find a way to improve decision-making for those who are managers. A second important aspect of the approach is rewarding and recognising highly important roles as individual contributors so that not all employees need to strive to become managers to advance their career.
• Senior leaders, especially the CEO, need to explain how strengths fit into the organization’s goals and objectives.