Over the years, CMOE has worked with hundreds of leaders to improve their effectiveness. Most leaders have an interest in becoming better and work hard to develop their people and technical skills, focusing intently on lifelong learning and continuous improvement. The trouble seems to come after they’ve received feedback on their weaknesses. By utilizing strengths-based development, you can help your team reach their full potential.
Like most of us, once they know what their shortcomings are, leaders develop plans to overcome them. We are trained to solve problems from a very early age. It’s normal to want to improve the skills and talents that come less naturally to us. Unfortunately, while it’s true that you may be able to make improvements in your weak areas, they will be incremental. The opportunities for improvement that you bring to the table are likely to remain present throughout your career.
Of course, you can’t just ignore your weaknesses, especially if they’re critical skills. If these areas for development are important to your role in the organization, you must take some action to develop these abilities. The problem is that you can’t just focus on your weaknesses; if your development plan doesn’t also include opportunities to leverage your strengths, you will never perform at your best. Your strengths can be defined as the areas in which you already excel. When you focus on your strengths and use them intentionally, your performance will outshine all others in these areas.
The Gallup organization has studied the impact of strengths-based development extensively. Gallup’s research confirms that when work groups focus on improving strengths, they increase their performance in a significant way: focusing on strengths has a direct impact on sales and company profit. For leaders, what may be even most interesting is the impact that strengths-based development has on employee engagement.
The Benefits
Gallup reports that leaders who work consistently to develop their strengths have employees who are more engaged than leaders who don’t. As a leader, you are the most important factor in employee satisfaction and engagement. The relationship you have with your employees sets the tone for how enjoyable and productive the work environment on your team will be.
The engagement level of your team affects sales, profit, customer satisfaction, safety, and employee retention. In a time when most talented employees have numerous career options available to them (including freelancing), the cost of losing your best employees can be devastating: not only do they take their own talents with them when they leave, they often also take other employees and your customers.
It’s a simple idea. We can all be happier and more productive if we focus on what we do well and leverage it to the nines. CMOE helps leaders discover their strengths through assessments and feedback tools—and then we provide ongoing coaching, training, and follow-up on applicable, actionable development plans.
We’ve coached hundreds of leaders across the globe. CMOE can help you discover your innate strengths and perform to the best of your abilities, allowing you to directly and positively affect the performance of your team and the profitability of the entire business.
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