Strength Finding- A Leadership Skill
Know the Skills of your Team (5 Step Exercise).
Finding the strengths of your team members means identifying and appreciating the unique contributions each of your team members brings to the team.
If you want to excel as a sports captain, a director, a founder, a leader, then you need to be aware of the strengths, skills and talents of the people on your team so that you can leverage them at the opportune times. By the end of the 5 Step Exercise, you will have made a start in knowing the strengths of your teammates so that you can collectively take your team performance to the next level.
Why know the strengths of the members of your team?
When you understand and utilise the strengths of your team members, you can delegate roles more effectively, boost morale, and improve overall team performance.
Red Flags:
Before you take action, watch out for these red flags; only knowing the strengths of certain members of your team, focusing only strengths that you are familiar with, ignoring the contributions once you have identified them, and assuming skills are only performance-based.
Here’s five steps you can lean into to learn the strengths of your team:
Step 1- Select:
Think of a member of your team. Any random selection will do at this stage.
Step 2 - the Strengths you Know:
Identify 1 to 3 strengths of the person.
Yes, you can absolutely explore their task performance, but for the purpose of this drill, I want you to prioritise the leadership, team building, emotional intelligence, decision making, strengths of your team mate - the ones that are less technical and more people orientated.
Think about how they contribute to the team dynamic.
Maybe it is their calmness under pressure. Maybe it is their ability to make everyone feel included. Maybe it is their drive and competitiveness. Maybe it is their encouragement.
Step 3 - Plan:
Plan a time to ask your teammate what they consider their strengths to be - you will have your ideas, but you will learn something by asking them directly.
Step 4 - Activate:
Once you have had the conversation, I encourage you to look ahead into the next week of team activities and ask yourself, how can I invite my teammate to use their strengths during this activity?
Step 5 - Repeat:
Repeat the process until you know the strengths of every member of your team.
By consistently identifying and leveraging the strengths of your teammates, you can maximize your team’s potential. Over time, this habit will lead to a more motivated and higher-performing team. I'm Jono Elliot, and thanks for taking action.
Tools:
Leadership
Emotional Intelligence