This article is written to share some coaching practices that I have been helping team leaders and managers with, especially those who are intentionally building a strong team culture. The question that is commonly explored:

What are some practices that you can do as a manager to leverage the strengths of your team?

1. Collect strengths data of the individuals and the entire team

Get some data on each individual’s strengths. Put all the individuals’ results together and attempt to make sense of the team’s overall strengths. This process can be done by using different profiling tools. Some of the profiling tools that focuses on strengths include the CliftonStrengths assessment, the Strengths Profile and VIA Character Survey. Using a profiling tool to assess your team’s strengths give you a common language to assess each individual. This is probably the easiest way to get to know your team strengths.
On a separate note, if you are using CliftonStrengths, the four domains of team or leadership strengths are a powerful way of learning and seeing the collective strengths of the team. You can check out this article I have written:

Check out this article: 8 Things to know about CliftonStrengths Leadership Domains

2. Have a strengths conversation with each individual

During the chat, ask questions like “Where are you at your best at work? What kind of tasks do you love doing the most or find yourself looking forward to? Other than financial returns or recognition, what might motivate and drive you? Which activities do you find yourself volunteering for?
This kind of conversation with your staff is a fantastic way to connect with them. Most staff are tired of managers doing fault-finding. Having a manager who seeks to learn and understand their strengths is simply refreshing!

It’s also worth noting that when an individual shares about a desire to do a particular task, your assessment might be there is a competency gap. This becomes a great opportunity to have a conversation about skills development. This can often exists if the staff is younger and less experienced.

3. Share Your Strengths as a Manager

Your staff comes to you with their proposals and ideas. From this perspective, each individual is expected to engage in some kind of collaborative work with you. As a manager, you evaluate the plans, proposals and ideas using your strengths (“are you aware this is an automatic lens you put on?”).
For more effective team communication, it is useful to share your strengths intentionally with your team. Your staff will appreciate knowing how you will evaluate their proposals. With the knowledge of your strengths, they can prepare themselves for discussions with you. They will also appreciate how they can think about leveraging on your strengths to improve their ideas.

Check out this article: A Manager’s Guide: Using StrengthsFinder in Personal Development

4. GET INPUTS around Your Team Strengths

No manager has all the answers. So why not tap on others’ perspectives? As a manager, you can intentionally set up discussions around your team’s strengths. Invite individual team members to articulate how they see the strengths of the team and get their perspectives. Invite other business leads, HR business partners etc to share their views. The diversity of views presented on the collective strengths of your team can empower you to leverage the team’s strengths more comprehensively.

5. CELEBRATE Contributions

Mark Twain says “really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great”. As a manager, celebrating strengths and contributions are a hallmark of a great manager.
You can intentionally invite individuals to share with the team about “this is what I bring to the team or this is what I can contribute most effectively”. You can also invite the other team members to validate and affirm what has been shared to strengthen the team dynamics.

6. EXPLORE WITH THE TEAM ON HOW TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER

It is intuitive for managers to see how strengths are linked to performances. It is perhaps not so common to see how strengths can be used to create support for others.
Managers can enhance team safety and well-being by facilitating a conversation on how the team can support one another by tapping into each other’s strengths. This can be a discussion around the idea of “where I need help.” The request can be as simple as “I often need ideas. I often need reminders. I often need a listening ear etc”.
This discussion is essentially an exercise on vulnerability and trust. If carried out successfully, this exercise empowers the team to help each other more intentionally. A high performing team develops when team members are mutually supportive of one another. This is an essential team standard to establish when building a strengths-based team culture.

Caveat: Work and strengths come together. Managers need to be able to demonstrate strong clarity about what's the work that needs to be done. When there is great clarity about the work, managers can explore with ease how the team’s strengths can be tapped. Leveraging the team strengths is a combination of knowing the work and knowing the strengths with great details.

Written by Victor Seet
Activator • Communication • Strategic • Self-Assurance • Command

As a Gallup and Newfield Certified Leadership Coach in Singapore, Victor is passionate about helping people be better observer of themselves to achieve the results they want, especially in the area of well-being and performance. Victor intentionally integrates the strengths-based and ontological approach into his leadership coaching and workshops.