Strengths-Based Leadership

Understanding the Strengths-Based Leadership Model

The organizational and leadership community's "strengths movement" began years ago, with Peter Drucker and Donald Clifton serving as its forerunners in 1967 and the 1990s, respectively. The idea that the best managers build on their team members' strengths rather than attempting to address their weaknesses was later developed by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. Later, Buckingham and Clifton asserted that individual talents are enduring and distinctive and that the greatest room for personal growth was in the areas of strengths. These claims led to the disproving of two popular myths at the time regarding training programs, namely that (1) anyone can become proficient at anything with enough effort, and (2) areas of personal weakness offers the most potential for development. They later developed the Clifton StrengthsFinder, a tool that enables people to identify their strengths and play to them. This leadership theory was later formalized by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie under the name strengths-based leadership.

A strength is the ability to consistently display near-perfect performance in a specific activity. The aim of leadership that puts an emphasis on strengths is to increase an organization's effectiveness, productivity, and achievement by highlighting and continuously enhancing the strengths of its individuals. Strengths-based organizations put more of an emphasis on developing talents and minimizing the negative effects of weaknesses than ignoring them. Leaders who put an emphasis on strengths make investments in both their own and their team members' strengths [REF: David Burku]. Rath and Conchie's strengths-based leadership theory identifies three principles of effective leadership. The principles area as follows

1. The most effective leaders consistently invest in strengths 2. The most effective leaders maximize their team by surrounding themselves with the right individuals 3. The most effective leaders have understanding of the needs of their followers

First, instead of attempting to be excellent in every area, effective leadership requires focusing on strengths. Many organizations seek out leaders who are skilled communicators, visionaries, and executors, but the truth is that no leader can be exceptional in all of these areas. Every leader has a different set of skills and limitations, so understanding the strengths is crucial to become an effective leader. Unfortunately, leaders frequently lack awareness of their own personalities, which causes issues. Furthermore, the fact that most people don't get to do what they do best every day makes them dissatisfied with their current jobs. The StrengthsFinder, developed by Clifton and his team as mentioned above, was created to help leaders identify their strengths in order to address this issue.

It can be challenging to develop self-confidence when one focuses on others' flaws because this can result in a loss of confidence. According to research, taking the StrengthsFinder assessment and learning more about one's strengths can boost one's confidence, which raises engagement and productivity in the workplace. Young people who develop self-awareness and confidence may have a cumulative advantage that lasts their entire lives. A study found that 26 years later, people who had the chance to use their strengths early on reported higher levels of job satisfaction and income.

A strengths-based approach can be established by leaders who are aware of their own strengths and help others discover their own, which can increase engagement, productivity, and overall success within organizations, making it a worthwhile investment.

Second, the most effective leaders are those who surround themselves with the right people and take advantage of their individual strengths. But more often than not, leadership teams are the result of circumstance rather than design. This has the effect of causing new team members to be hired without taking into account the strengths of the team's existing members. Even when leaders recruit for strength, they unintentionally tent to gravitate toward individuals who act, think or behave like themselves. \textbf{Executing}, \textbf{influencing}, \textbf{relationship building}, and \textbf{strategic thinking} are four separate strength-based leadership domains that Tom Rath and Barry Conchie presented. It is suggested that thinking about how leaders might contribute to a team may be helpful when considering these broad types of abilities. In contrast to having one dominant leader who attempts to take on everything or individuals who all have similar strengths, their research finds that a team must have a representation of strengths in each of these four categories. Teams should be well-rounded even when individuals are not required to be. Based on a statistical factor analysis and a clinical assessment by Gallup's leading scientists, the 34 themes that make up the StrengthsFinder naturally cluster into these four categories of leadership strength.

In short, leaders that excel at executing know how to take an idea and make it a reality. Influential leaders may take command, sell ideas, and ensure that the team is heard. Relationship building leaders hold the team together and enables it to become stronger than the sum of its parts. Lastly, strategic thinking leaders keep the team's attention on the future while continuously gathering data and improving decision making.

Once the proper individuals have been gathered, determining if the team is moving in the right direction becomes a very rather simple task. A strong and high-performing team can be recognized by certain indicators, according to Gallup's almost four decades of study on leadership teams. These indications include the following: (1) conflict doesn't break strong teams down because they are results-oriented, (2) strong teams prioritize what's best for the organization before moving forward, (3) members of strong teams are equally committed to their personal lives and work, (4) strong teams embrace diversity, and (5) strong teams are magnets for talent.