Strengths-based Culture
Why is a strengths-based workplace and culture important?
- You want to hire and keep your productive, positive employees
- You want to minimize the “bad apples” in your organization
- You want to see your department and the organization overall be profitable
- You want to get the most out of your employees (hopefully, in a benevolent kind of way)
- You want to keep your customers
- You want to offer a GREAT job to your employees (Defined by Gallup, a “great job is a job in which you believe your boss cares about your development, you can use your strengths every day at work, and you believe your work makes a contribution to something.”)
Are problems cropping up in your organization, but you’re not sure what the source is?
Studies have proved that engaged employees positively impact performance… Here’s another statistic: 67% of employees who agree that their manager focuses on their strengths are engaged at work. That percentage plummets to just 2% when employees disagree.
And only 30% of employees feel their managers know their strengths.
What if you focused on the strengths of your employees and direct reports, rather than that tired adage, “Your weaknesses are the key to your greatest opportunities”?
We call hogwash. (Well, we have a stronger word for it, but “hogwash” will do for now.)
Let’s face it… a person can NEVER get his or her weakness up to the performance of a strength. Well, okay, maybe he could, but how much energy, time, and resources would it take?
What if, instead, a person (and her manager) maximized her gifts to the fullest? Isn’t that what Olympic athletes do? Maximize their strengths, gifts, and talents? They compete passionately and sometimes receive medals for their efforts.
Here’s a thought: what if you saw each person in your organization as a potential Olympic athlete in their area? What would that do for your organization?
Employees who receive strengths-based development have:
- 7%-23% higher employee engagement
- 8%-18% increased performance
- 20%-73% lower attrition
The Shuler Group offers a 3-phase approach when we work with companies and organizations to bring strengths-based thinking and training into companies.
Hover over the images below to find out more information about each phase.
Phase 1 – Deep Dive
In Phase 1, we identify the top 5 strengths of each person on the team, department, or of the entire organization. We help people understand their strengths more fully and how they manifest in day-to-day life, as well as the shadow sides of each strength.
We dive into the anatomy of each strength: its purpose, needs, patterns, what enables a strength to be at its best, and what gets in the way. We also discuss how individuals’ strengths materialize as the sum of the team’s parts, thereby understanding the collective strengths of the team.
Phase 2 – Clarity
In Phase 2 – Clarity, we explore the question, “How does this deeper understanding of ourselves help us do our work?”
With experiential activities and coaching, we’ll delve into what is needed to help our strengths shine as well as what might get in the way, leaving team members with the knowledge of how their strengths show up, and how they can dial them up or down for most productivity and efficiency. In addition, we’ll introduce the four phases of any project or initiative and how to bring our strengths to bear for a successful outcome.
Phase 3 – Practical Application
In Phase 3 – Practical Application, we move from theory of Phase 2 to practical application by applying the four project phases to an actual project.
With the guidance of our experienced, certified trainers, we’ll facilitate and coach participants through effectively applying their strengths, maximizing the talents needed to successfully complete each of the four project phases, and reviewing the results afterward with an analysis of resources used.
And it’s not just with your employees. 70% variance in employee engagement is caused by managers. According to Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup, “Leaders everywhere in the world have a tendency to name the wrong person manager and then train them on administrative things — not how to maximize human potential.”
Creating a strengths-based workplace and culture works on two fronts: first with managers and leaders, and second with the employees organization-wide.
As a leader and a manager, the best thing you can do for your team and staff is to help each person be aware of their:
- Strengths in action: How do our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors play out on a daily basis?
- Unique contribution to the team or organization: What is each person’s Zone of Genius?
“Only 2 in 10 employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work.” – Gallup’s Re-Engineering Performance Management Report
We can help your managers and leaders maximize the human potential in your organization so that they do outstanding work… with your management team, a particular department, or your entire organization.
Are you up to the challenge of creating a strengths-based workplace?
The Shuler Group, LLC, with its many tools – some off the shelf, some proprietary – can help you create a culture and environment that focuses on what’s good about your company and your people. We have workshops and training ranging from 90-minutes to multi-day retreats.
Your first step is to set up a complimentary consultation with us to see how our programs can create a strengths-based culture and workplace in your organization.