What is a Strengths-Based Team?

 

A strengths-based team is a collection of imperfect but gifted members who depend on one another to achieve both individual and team excellence. These members are valued for their skills by others.

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Team members can quickly get to know and trust one another thanks to the common language of CliftonStrengths. Positive, continuing talks regarding the skills people bring to certain situations are encouraged by communicating utilizing strengths. It's a language that spans organizational demographics and cultural differences, providing team members a common vocabulary to explain why they're special and how it helps the team.

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A strengths-based team's members are aware of one another's talent filters. They are aware of how each person  feels, thinks, and behaves. This understanding aids the team in forming useful alliances and navigating the problems that all teams face.

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Qualities and Characteristics

 

Below is a partial list of qualities and characteristics Gallup has observed in highly productive, strengths-based teams:

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• They have a common purpose: clear and compelling performance goals and objectives.

• Team members understand their individual and collective strengths and performance gaps.

• They have a common language to describe each other’s talents, strengths, weaknesses, and performance goals and expectations.

• They intentionally structure activities to maximize the team’s talents.

• They develop support systems and appropriate “workarounds” for gaps in strengths and performance.

• They are highly collaborative and have numerous complementary partnerships.

• They are a magnet for talent. They seek out talented people, and talented people seek them out.

 

When team members learn each other’s greatest talents, they discover their best opportunities for team strength and success.

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Understanding Others’ Talents Helps Teams Succeed

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Beyond the bottom line, supporting managers and teams in developing a strengths-based culture pays rewards. Using a common vocabulary to discuss, build upon, and empower each employee's strengths is made possible through CliftonStrengths. Members of the team can describe themselves in a way that is empowering and illuminating by combining the finding of what one naturally excels at with simple language.

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Teams can communicate about their strengths and build mutual trust among one another. Teams that are built around strengths speak a language that is based on what each member excels at. Team members are more likely to utilize one another's talents to find methods to strengthen their relationships and performance when they are aware of one another's strengths, needs, and motivations.

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Focusing on strengths fosters exceptional performance by maximizing what each team member does best.

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Team Activation can be done in the following way:

• 4 x 2hour sessions per team held once a month for 4 months

• one day Strengths Activation team building workshop

• half day Strengths activation booster session

• train-the-manager program to facilitate team sessions

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Please note that a pre-requisite for this intervention is the Individual Activation of each of your team members.