The Business Case for Strengths
Although high-performing teams have many things in common, there is one clear question that can determine whether you are on a high-performance or low-performance team: At work, do you have the opportunity to use your strengths every day?
It’s truly amazing how simple it is. If you feel that you are using your strengths more often – contributing your unique talent out into the world – you will be more profitable, more productive, more likely to stay at your company, less likely to have accidents on the job, and have many, many more positive outcomes.
If you are an employee, you already know that your happiness depends upon whether or not you can use your strengths at work. But if you are a manager, the difference between a low-performing team and a high-performing one comes from you knowing the strengths of your employees, and asking them to contribute those strengths every day.
It’s the single most important driver of team performance – and yet, less than 2 out of 10 employees strongly agree that they get to use their strengths at work every day.
Can you imagine if 80% of your company suddenly felt this way? What could your people, your teams, and your company do, armed with a workforce that knows their strengths and contributes them daily?
What about you?
Are you one of the 2 out 10?
Please leave a comment below.
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I have the opportunity to use my strengths, but I can not do that.
As a mechanical engineer as Stryker NV in charge of fixture design and fabrication, I have all the necessary tools to get the job done right. I also have the task of mentoring the junior engineers to help them understand the finer points of fixture design.
There are lot of opportunities to use my strengths but the resistance, constraints and work profile doesn’t allow me to work with my strengths.
I suppose I am one of the 2 out 10. My manager and team members recognize my strength very well. When I can support them with my strength I am motivated and feel confidence and happiness to contribute to our team. I would like to develop my strength more through my work.
I do have many opportunities to use my strengths at work and I do it but at the same time I pay more attention to my shortcomings than my strong points which is typical for Restorative.
I use my strengths every day. My Top 5 are Communication, Achiever, Strategic, Responsibility, and Maximizer. I like to deliver trainings, led meetings and complete tasks on a continue basis. As Staff NC/CAPA Specialist, I need to be “Strategic” on a daily basis to comply with our department and Stryker goals.
I form part of a high-performing team and I make every effort to use my strengths every day. Our management team has been encouraging this for years.
I have the opportunity to leverage most of my strengths on a daily basis which makes a huge difference in my job satisfaction. My top strengths are Communication, Includer, Relator, Maximizer and Arranger.
I wouldn’t say I get to use my strengths EVERY day, but I do feel that my manager knows and recognizes my strengths and puts me in a position to use my strengths on a consistent basis. I also seek out projects and assignments that lean toward my strengths.
I believe that I get to use at least one of my top strengths every day. I also think I am able to use all 5 in a normal week. Although I might not be able to use all 5 every single day, I feel like I have a fair distribution which makes me feel productive.
I wish I had more opportunities to use my strengths every day at work. I have learned to put myself in certain situations where I can leverage my strengths not only for myself but to support my team better.
As a Sr. medical affairs spec. in China, I feel confident when using my strengths to work and communicate with others. My goals drive me to overcome the challenges. In the path to the goals, those strengths help me to gain the recognition not only from my manager, but also from other team members. Strongly agree with you, Marcus Buckingham!
I am very happy to be a part of a high performing team. I take every available opportunity to use my strengths on an every day basis. Our leadership team has done an excellent job of pushing this initiative as well. My top strengths are Achiever, Competition, Positivity, Individualization, and Belief.
I feel I use 4 out of 5 of my strengths daily. Those four are responsibility, achiever, activator and learner. My 5th, developer, isn’t one I get to use as often unless someone needs my help. I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping people, so I hope I can begin to utilize that strength more in the future.
I’m grateful to have a boss knows my strengths and pushes me to focus on the things that leverage these strengths to maximize my success.
My position allows me to use my strengths on a daily basis. The Instruments Shared Services team recently had a team blend where we compared and measured our strengths against each other and it was a great experience. I highly recommend this as it is a great way to understand your team and how you can leverage their strengths where you may be lacking.
My company makes Strengths utilization a top priority. It is an important underlying part of our culture and something that creates a positive work environment. For me, I feel that I am contributing to something larger, while also gaining comfort knowing that I’m doing what I do best.
I have the possibility to use my strength and being so Lucky, that my Manager let me do it.
I do have the opportunity to use my strengths daily, I don’t always consciously think about them in that way. I feel like I just do what I do, I guess that is why they are strengths. I am supported by my boss as far as strengths go as well. Ideation, Futuristic, Relator, Strategic, Individualization