Strengths-Based Approach to Better Productivity and Workplace Culture |
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A common job interview question we've all either had to answer or ask is, "What are your weaknesses?" Prospective employees spend time agonizing over how to answer this question in a way that turns their weaknesses into strengths. But let's flip the question around: "What are your strengths?" Their answers might be more confident and spirited. Companies that use a strengths-based approach to hiring and keeping current talent can enhance strengths, innovation, and productivity. What is a Strengths-Based Approach? The strengths-based approach calls for companies to build on what their employees are good at instead of what can be fixed. The approach inspires employees to confidently say to themselves "This is my job and I'm good at what I do." The approach can also be proven to be valuable in employee onboarding by maximizing the power of the team members' skills. According to Gallup, employees who are trained with a strengths-based approach are better performers than those who receive no strengths feedback while training. Companies that align their employees' strengths and passions with the right projects can expect to get results in productivity and innovation. A Gallup assessment determined that there are four fundamental elements to a company's strength-based development program.
Cultivation Productivity and Innovation Facebook is a company that adopts a strengths-based approach to cultivate productivity and innovation. As Forbes points out, Facebook has a non-traditional way to bring on talent without any role in mind. They allow employees to match their skills with projects of interest. The only key factor is that they don't force unnatural talent when pairing team members to a project. One way Facebook's strengths-based approach directly creates innovation is by holding monthly meetings of what they call "hackathons." The all-night meetings provide a chance for any ideas or passion projects to be placed on the table and to let fellow engineers work on them. Facebook provides the pizza and drinks while the engineers provide their skills. The goal is to act as a sort of thriving intellectual beehive of ideas and solutions. There's just one rule to the "hackathons": engineers can only work on someone else's idea or project. This forces engineers to bring out their individual strengths and ingenuity to bring the idea or project to the next level. The strengths-based "hackathons" created some of the most popular Facebook features like chat, video messaging and the Timeline. The ABCD's of Strength-Based Leadership Even though we can't all be Facebook, it's possible for any company's leadership to adopt a strengths-based approach. In fact, Forbes argues that if company leadership develops a strengths-based approach, amazing results will come in both employee brand loyalty and productivity. To do this, Forbes suggests the "ABCDs of strength-based leadership."
Stop Focusing on Negatives A strengths-based approach encourages companies to stop focusing on the negative aspects or weaknesses of their employees. It's an approach that requires company leaders and hiring managers to evaluate potential employees' valuable skills and passions. Company leaders can ask themselves, "What can this team member bring to the table that no one else can?" A team member who feels beneficial to a project strives to do their job well through creativity, innovation and a positive outlook on their work. |
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