strengthsfinder — Articles

Our expectations are our beliefs that something is likely to happen. Expectations are formed because we anticipate certain outcomes as we go about our life’s activities. We all have formulated particular expectations from the simple and mundane to the complex and serious aspects of our lives. When we turn on a light switch, we expect the light to come on; when we go to start the car, we expect the engine to turn over. When we travel by airplane, we expect the crew and equipment to work cohesively to get us to our destinations safely. We depend on reliable expectations to make decisions and to manage the activities that we undertake in our lives each day. While we would like all of our expectations to transpire as we predicted, that is certainly not always the case. This is especially true when it comes to expectations derived from the actions related to other people; our family, friends and colleagues. How we process these types of interactions becomes much more complicated. For example, how often have you expected your children to do one thing and they do the complete opposite? How many times have you had an encounter with a friend or associate where their actions have totally taken you by surprise; sometimes even shocked you? And, can you count the number of times that you have engaged a co-worker or colleague and gotten something entirely different then what you expected to get from that person either in action or work product?

We develop our expectations based on our experiences and our encounters. From a young age, we begin to learn what to expect when we do certain things; the reactions that we get from our parents and others when we act or perform in a particular manner. We learn to modify our expectations as we gain new information and knowledge. For example, if you touch a hot stove you may expect that all stoves are always hot. As we grow and discover new information, we modify our expectations accordingly and we can make better decisions as we make more informed assessments of our expectations.

In the case of a finely tuned basketball team, such as the 2017 Champion Golden State Warriors, you would imagine that they refine their respective talents to win games and team members rely on their team mates to exert their strengths to ensure they achieve victories and championships. For example, the Warriors turn to Steph Currie to make 3 point shots and there is a strong expectation that he will make them. Knowing your team’s strengths gives you a clear-cut advantage in implementing strategies and achieving success.

When a manager and other team members are confident that a team member will perform the necessary and comprehensive research to move a project forward; when the team is assured that a co-worker will take on a responsibility, take on complex tasks and move through those tasks with skill and grace; and when a team can rely on their cohort’s abilities and talents then you have a team that can EXPECT success! Conversely, expecting something from someone that they are unable to deliver can be frustrating and less productive.

Leaders who know how to manage expectations are able to more seamlessly navigate the choppy waters within their organizations. Why? Because they know how to communicate, organize and direct conversations around their team’s talents and strengths, thereby being more likely to successfully predict positive outcomes that ultimately achieve success for the team.

What if you could be more confident in your ability to predict expectations?

Building a Strengths based team is key to having the ability to predict expectations. Teams that know and intentionally use their unique talents and strengths have a significant advantage in managing and predicting expectations. Teams built around this philosophy learn to appreciate each other’s strengths and develop a level of trust in their team members’ abilities to deliver. They also know how to combine their strengths with other team members to directly enhance positive results.

The main components in a team environment that will influence the decision-making process and collaboration are the following:

Communication – Having teams grounded in their strengths allows for the team to express ideas in a common language that enables them to build complex connections between members. These connections increase the ability to predict expectations as team members are well grounded in what is being communicated to the team and among stakeholders. This promotes clarity.

Clarity – Using strengths as a basis for fostering effective communication among the team is the first step to solidifying clarity. When goals and objectives are clear and well defined, there is a much greater probability of achieving success. Teams that are fully operating in their strengths are much more likely to perpetuate understanding of intentions and purpose which boost assurance in the team’s capabilities, thus building confidence.

Confidence – Strength-based teams are confident in their abilities, their team members and in achieving the desired outcomes. Having high levels of confidence on a team is an essential predictor of expectations as to how the team will perform.

These elements are enhanced dramatically by discovering, declaring and developing Strengths.

“The expectations of life depend on diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools” -- Confucius

Your talents are your tools - Sharpen them and let your strengths help you manage your expectations.

Larry Hammond, Sr. – Certified StrengthsFinder Coach and Principal with V1H Consulting.

Find out more about strengths based workshops and training at wwwv1hconsulting.com

Traits that define a good leader are numerous. Even the definition of leadership has been debated for decades. Successful leaders have been described as people that show confidence, that have a positive attitude, that are good listeners and insist on excellence. Good leaders realize that accountability and responsibility are essential to success and developing others is as important as developing yourself. Making decisions is one of the most important functions performed by leaders. Many of the activities of managers and administrators involve making and implementing decisions, including planning the work, solving technical and operational problems and creating job assignments.

Over the years and through my experience I have come to believe that at its core, true leadership is doing the right thing and making the right decision at the right time. Earlier this year, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history occurred at an Orlando nightclub. During this catastrophic event, Chief Medical Examiner Joshua Stephany had been filling in as medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties in Florida for about a year, when he was faced with addressing the aftermath. Dr. Stephany made the decision to separate the bodies of the 49 victims from the body of their executioner. “There was no legal reason, no protocol” for separating the gunman, Stephany said in an interview. “It’s just what I felt was right”.

While everyone may not desire to take on a leadership role in an organization, it is now becoming more imperative that people within organizations be able to step up and adopt a more hands on approach to problem solving. Twentyfirst century organizations need to be nimble and respond to challenges quickly and effectively to be successful. In order to do so, they will need their team members to take on leadership roles to be responsive to the challenges presented.

In today’s work world, it is more important than ever to develop leaders within your organizations. The increasing rate of change in the external environment of organizations and the many challenges facing leaders suggest that successful leaders will require a higher level of skill and some new competencies as well. As the need for leadership competencies increases, new techniques for developing them are being invented and old techniques are being refined. A systems approach to leadership development will become more common as more organizations realized that this activity is strategically important for longterm organizational effectiveness.

There has been extensive research on the effects of professional development training in organizations. The research suggest that this usually increases job satisfaction and performance. After decades of studying some of the most successful employees, leaders and enterprises in the world, Gallup Inc. has found that organizations achieve the highest levels of success by investing in their strongest asset – their people.

Developing leaders in an organization offers a variety of potential benefits for the manager, the subordinate and the organization. One benefit is to foster mutually cooperative relationships. Potential benefits for subordinates include better job adjustment, more skill learning, greater self-confidence and faster career advancement. The leader can gain a sense of satisfaction from helping others grow and develop. Potential benefits for the organization include higher employee commitment, higher performance employees who are better prepared to fill positions of greater responsibility in the organization as openings occur.

Successful organizations beyond the 21st century will be defined by how well they develop leaders within their ranks. Employees need to collaborate across the organization to achieve organizational goals and objectives. This often requires people to step into leadership positions to head teams and coordinate projects. Developing leaders provides for successful succession planning, highly performing teams and successful project implementation. Organizations that develop internal leaders are better able to adapt and implement changes in the organization.

When developing leaders, in any organization I have worked with, my successes and most effective outcomes have been when the focus is placed on employee’s strengths. Using a strengths based approach to leadership development is the best way to instill confidence, develop leadership skills and to build a collaborative culture that supports emerging leaders in an organization. Many organizations are under using the strengths of their employees partially because they have not identified what strengths they have individually or collectively. Bringing these out in your team will be a tremendous benefit to the organization.

Gallup’s research has shown that organizations that develop their teams around strengths see increases in employee engagement and results including 14.9% lower turnover and 12.5% greater productivity. A strengths-based approach incorporates identifying the ways in which employees most naturally think, feel and behave and building on those talents to create strengths – the ability to consistently provide near perfect performance in a specific task. A strengths-based approach combines the requirements of the job and performance capabilities (or competencies) demanded by the organization with individuals’ strengths to optimize performance.

Using a strengths-based approach to develop leaders in the organization is key to maximizing the potential for successful integration and the embodiment of a leadership culture. It capitalizes on the positive outcomes that a strengths-based approach provides, such as, making progress, employees enjoying what they do and them having a high interest in their work. By positioning employees in ways that allow them to use their strengths every day and integrating strengths into key processes and systems organizationwide will yield a multitude of benefits for the organization, including increased engagement and retention. A strengths-based approach aligns an organizations’ policies and practices and anchors them in a common philosophy.

As we talk about developing leaders, what it really comes down to is outcomes. When the circumstances arise or as in the crisis in Orlando, will the people in your organization stand up in leadership roles to do the right thing and make a positive difference? Will they use their strengths to act with confidence and resolve to advance the organization’s goals and vision? When Dr. Stephany made the decision that he did he didn’t do it for notoriety; he didn’t do it because he had to; he did it because it was the right thing to do and he was truly serving the people that he was hired to serve. Dr. Stephany used his strengths to lead with dignity and conviction.

Larry Hammond, Sr. – Certified StrengthsFinder Coach and Principal with V1H Consulting.