Strengths Based Leadership

This unit for my leadership one of the theories is Gallup's StrengthFinder 2.0. We've started reading Gallup's Strength Based Leadership.  So often, people focus on fixing their weaknesses, which can keep people from failing. However, focusing on strengths means finding success. Furthermore, really using your strengths, being challenged in just the right way, you won't even notice you're working.

The assessment is available online. The general test will give you your top five strengths but the full test is available with a full ranking of all 34 strengths. 

Gallup divides strengths into "The Four Domains of Leadership", Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. 

What's important to remember about the strengths, is that at this moment, they're more talents that can be cultivated into strengths. Who you are, what you have now, is more the raw materials that can become strengths. 

My number one strength is deliberative. 

So what? Why is this important?

When I first got my results, all I saw was the raw materials of the "deliberative" strength. I overthink most things and I spend too much time researching something that doesn't need that much attention. I have skill, but making it a strength means learning to use it in the right way and at the right time. 

StrengthsFinder isn't meant to say, "This is what you're good at"... it's "You have talent in this area, if you work at cultivating this talent, it can be a strength for you." So no, we aren't focusing on weaknesses, but we also aren't just saying these are our strengths and we're done. These talents are just the areas where we should be focusing time and energy on improving.

The Huffington Post wrote an article on StrengthsFinder, and they highlighted that what people really want in a leader isn't someone perfectly well rounded, but someone who focuses on their strengths, and the strengths of their followers. Not all people will be good at everything, and it seems silly to expect all people to have the same strengths. People "feel well-placed and gratified when the demands of the job fit with their best talents." 

So now what?

Forbes Magazine wrote a great article on Strengths.

"The simple truth is that if we stop trying to “fix” our employees and rather focus on their strengths and their passions, we can create a fervent army of brand evangelists who, when empowered, could take our brand and our products to a whole new level."

Working with the students I advise, it is important that I don't expect every student to have the same skill sets. Some students will be better at some things than others and it is important that I help the students utilize their strengths. I am currently planning an end of the semester retreat with my student group where we will talk about strengths and how we can use that to make the organization better.

As the group does a lot of programming, those with strategic thinking skills will help the group foresee possible problems. Those with executing skills can make sure things get done. Influencing and relationship building strengths will help bring us all together as a group, these students will motivate volunteers and ensure a successful program.

The key to using your strengths, and enabling others to use theirs is by first knowing what your strengths are. From there we'll focus on how those strengths can make the students, and the group successful.

Focus on Followers

Everyone can agree leadership is important. I'd also chance that most people would rather be a leader than a follower... but why? Why is there a stigma about being a follower? Realistically, everyone will be a follower for far more of their life than they will be a leader. Everyone answers to someone else. We all follow before we lead.

In traditional leadership theories, followers are often seen as the blank slates, just receiving the influence and direction given to us by leaders. Sometimes these theories take into account that leaders need to adapt to followers… but more often followers aren’t given much thought.

Some more recent leadership theories have begun to focus on followers. A leader is only a leader if someone follows them, otherwise they’re just a person with an idea.

Leaders need followers.

Followers create leadership. In general, if followers don’t like someone, if they don’t agree with someone, they aren’t going to follow them. (There are of course exceptions where there are followers who follow unquestioningly, or those who lead through fear and coercion.)

So what? We’re all followers, it’s not possible to be a leader all the time… and even if it were possible, are you always the right leader all the time? No one person is going to be the best person for the job.

I would suggest that instead of thinking of leadership as the right person to lead, we should be think about who is the best person to lead us at this moment. Who is the best person to lead us through this task, problem, or time? We should lead when we are the best person for the job, we should follow when there is someone else better suited for the job. You don’t have to be one of the other, you can be, and should be, both.

Now what?

We need to recognize that we can’t always be a leader. There is nothing shameful in following. When you’re the best person for the job, lead. When someone else is the best person, be a leader and encourage them to step up. There is value in following. And there is tremendous value in helping others become leaders, encouraging them to take on new challenges.  

No one can be a leader all the time.