Park Place Seniors Living: Our Journey to Operationalize Strength Based Leadership
- 1. Our Journey to Operationalize Strength Based Leadership 1
- 2. If you were trapped in a broken down elevator… Who would you most want to be trapped with? 2
- 3. Background to Strength Finders Why focus on Strength Defining Strength Based Leadership Understanding and Building Your Strengths Four Leadership Domains Evolving the Well Rounded Team A Positive Approach to Working within a Leadership Team 3
- 4. The Strengths Finder Assessment: Measures the presence of 34 talents Talents are people’s naturally recurring patterns The more dominant a theme is, the greater the theme’s impact on that person’s behavior and performance 4
- 5. The 34 Strength Themes that emerged in the Gallup Research was a result of studying successful people over decades 5
- 6. We are what we repeatedly do… Aristotle 6
- 7. "If you spend your whole life trying to be good at everything you will never be great at anything," Rath and Conchie 7
- 8. Talent= Naturally reoccurring pattern of thought feeling or behaviour that can be productively applied Strength= Ability to provide consistent near perfect performance in a given activity 8
- 10. A leader needs to know his strengths… Just as a carpenter knows his tools, Or as a surgeon knows the instruments he requires to perform surgery 2003 Dr. Don Clifton 10
- 11. A leader plays with/uses his or her strengths Understands how strengths impact others Allows leader to be more confident in abilities Increases productivity and engagement Increases self awareness 11
- 12. Helps to focus on uniqueness Quality of work life The most effective leaders: ✓Invest and develops their talents into strengths ✓Surround themselves with the right people to maximize the teams’ talents ✓Understands the needs of followers 12
- 13. As a Leader my top 5 talents include: ✓Maximizer ✓Arranger ✓Adaptability ✓Relator ✓Positivity 13
- 14. At the core of strengths- based leadership is the underlying belief that people have several times more potential for growth building on their strengths rather than fixing their weaknesses. 14
- 15. The 4 domains of leadership strength are: Executing Influencing Relationship building Strategic thinking 15
- 16. EXECUTING INFLUENCING RELATIONSHIP STRATEGIC THINKING • Achiever • Arranger • Belief • Consistency • Deliberative • Discipline • Focus • Responsibility • Restorative • Activator • Command • Communication • Competition • Maximizer • Self-Assurance • Significance • Woo • Adaptability • Developer • Connectedness • Empathy • Harmony • Includer • Individualization • Positivity • Relator • Analytical • Context • Futuristic • Ideation • Input • Intellection • Learner • Strategic 16
- 17. Leaders with dominant strength in the Executing domain know how to make things happen 17
- 18. Those who lead by Influencing help their team reach a much broader audience 18
- 19. Those who lead through Relationship Building are the essential glue that holds a team together 19
- 20. Leaders with great Strategic Thinking strengths are the ones who keep us all focused on what could be 20
- 21. With Strength based Leadership: No more angst over “areas of weakness to develop” Our unique strengths ensure we get to do great things every day No more generic Leader A Leader knows what their strengths are AND the strengths of their Team “Our Diversity is our Strength” especially if representing all four domains 21
- 22. One reason we form relationships or partnerships is to achieve something greater together Something that we could not achieve apart or alone It was important to have all leadership domains represented on our team We did not want our Social Worker ending up like this chap…singing from the wrong song sheet 22
- 23. 23
- 24. A third candidate brought some complementary strengths from a needed domain, Strategic Thinking Our best represented domain is executing – so we know how to drive things forward! Next best is relationship – so we are very sticky! We need help to get our message out by building in the influencing domain And more strategic thinking to help us focus! 24
- 25. As the Site Leader my role is a bit like the conductor of an orchestra: Build a team with complementary talents and strengths in order to ensure we have a well rounded team Coach each individual to maximize their potential strengths Promote team cohesiveness by leveraging each leaders talents and strengths 25
- 26. Working with people’s strengths is really the best way to go and is a brilliant approach Try to avoid getting people to do stuff they are weak at because you’ll just end up with depressed and frustrated folk Instead, help them to feel fulfilled with tasks and challenges that they can excel at, every day! 26
- 27. Initial reaction by the team members when we handed out the book 27
- 28. Initially it was tough to get the team engaged: It is a quick read You will find it fascinating All we need to do is complete the on-line survey Forward your top 5 talents/strengths when you have finished the survey 28
- 29. The survey takes less than 1 hour to complete There are 177 pairs of “potential” self- descriptors listed in the survey Example “I dream about the future” versus “People are my greatest ally” The descriptors are placed as if they are anchoring polar ends of a continuum When completing the survey the job is to choose the descriptor that best describes you, and your personality 29
- 30. Supporting the Leaders with positive reinforcement: It really isn’t that long The results are fascinating You might like it 30
- 31. We had only received 3 out of 14 submissions More Encouragement: ✓Just read the first 31 pages…“it won’t take long” ✓If you are really pressed for time just fill out the survey on the website…pass code is in the book 31
- 32. Everyone had completed the task The group was busy sharing their results with each other There was a positive vibe among the group 32
- 33. Using each team member’s 5 talent results from the survey. We then: Identified which of the 4 leadership domains matched with their talents/strengths Assigned each member’s name to their strengths on the chart Presented to the team for viewing and discussion 33
- 34. 50% of the group had experience with personality work previously Comments: ✓I couldn’t believe it – it was describing me perfectly ✓Interesting – questions want to pick the middle one and then a similar question and feel more definite with one word change ✓Felt like most of my strengths was reflective of me 34
- 35. We stopped on the slide showing the 4 Leadership Domains Each team member was asked where they thought their strengths would fall-a little in each domain? Or would they fall more within a particular domain? 35
- 36. Then we shared the slide portraying four domains and 34 strengths with each person’s name attached to their strength Results – Amazement! 36
- 37. 37
- 38. Talked about each talent associated with a team member (quick definition) Appreciated how the team members were distributed throughout the four domains A lot of positive comments about how it focuses on the strengths and how refreshing that is They appreciated seeing each members strengths 38
- 39. A copy of the power point sent to each member Laminated copies of the Domain Chart identifying each team members strengths We each have a copy of the laminated chart so that we are aware of the strengths among us in order to call on each other for specific tasks or projects We will touch base in several months to review 39
- 40. Team members enjoyed it... Team members appreciated the learning opportunity It wasn’t nearly as cumbersome as they first thought it would be Proud of their achievement 40
- 41. As a Leader do you take the opportunity to do what you do best every day? 41
- 42. Strengths Finder 2.0 (2007) Strengths Based Leadership (2009) Strengths Based Development, Technical Paper, Educational Research http://www.strengthsquest.com/content/141365/Resources. asp Strengths Quest (2006) Teach With Your Strengths (2005) Living Your Strengths (2004) Appreciative Inquiry Resources: http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/ Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barrie Conchie, Gallup Press 2009 Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements by Tom Rath and Jim Harter, PhD, Gallup Press, 2009 42
- 43. 43