Great organizations are great because many men and women choose to give their best at work, beyond their job description or their manager’s commands. This is the power of full worker engagement. Men and women make this choice, to give their all (or not to give their all), on the basis of the leader’s actions and role modeling. We’ve been reviewing exactly what these actions are, in our “Winning Workers’ Hearts” series over the past five weeks.
In the fourth must-do of full worker engagement, we addressed the importance of making and keeping first things as first things. Stated differently, it is imperative that we know how we are uniquely strong as an organization so that we can continuously invest ourselves into our strengths. Every business has a sweet spot, a unique value proposition in the marketplace that must be understood by all and capitalized upon. What is strong must be continuously strengthened.
Nowhere is this more important than with our people. The organizations that outperform in the marketplace are investing a great deal of time and focus into understanding how each person is wired, what their strengths are, and where their individual passions lie. And why is this? So that these people can be given more and more work that is right in their personal sweet spot. Great companies, where their people are concerned, focus on strengthening what is already strong.
We must begin with a clear understanding of what a strength is. First, a few definitions (or descriptions) of what a “strength” is:
- “A strength is an activity that makes you feel strong—it’s an activity that strengthens you.” Marcus Buckingham
- “A unique mix of competencies and the desire and drive to use them in pursuit of an outcome of unrivaled personal importance.” Arthur F. Miller, Jr.
- “A combination of Spiritual Gifts, Heart (Passion), Abilities, Personality, and Experience, or S.H.A.P.E.” Erik Rees and the Saddleback Church
I offer these three definitions for the purpose of observing that there isn’t one definitive definition of a strength. A strength has to do with activities that give us life and joy and deep satisfaction. A strength has to do with both our competencies and our desires and drive. A strength has wrapped within it almost everything about us; our abilities, to be sure, but also our gifts and personality and passion and experience.
In short, our strengths are far more than our abilities; this is the short point that must be made. What we’re good at doing is only one part of the strengths equation that we must consider when investing in our people. Great organizations know this and take the time to discover not just what someone “can do well,” but more importantly, what they love to do.
Why is it so important that we fully understand what a strength is, and that we invest in strengthening our people’s strengths? Several reasons come to mind:
- If we only consider the things our people can do well, they likely will be assigned to tasks that lie outside of their passion and drive. A “can do” that isn’t married to a “want to do” will not produce excellence, perseverance, or high achievement.
- Mastery is most closely correlated to the time and repetitions a person puts into a task. If 10,000 hours of dedication is required to develop mastery in an area—and research suggests this is so—then the only way we develop master performers is by placing them into their competency and desire. Why? Because competency alone won’t motivate 10,000 hours’ worth of dedication or a desire to share ideas for advancements and improvement.
- We grow more in areas where we are already strong. From a simple ROI standpoint, investing “x” units of input into helping a person strengthen a strength will net a multiplier of return to us, as compared to investing “x” units of input into helping a person strengthen a weakness.
- Settling for everyone being equally good at everything is the definition of mediocrity.
- Great workers stay with companies that give them opportunities to grow. Invest in your people’s strengths, and their strategy for staying motivated and stretched will be to remain loyal to you. Don’t invest in their strengths, and their strategy for growth will be to jump ship.
Great companies are the product of great wins. Great wins are the product of great teamwork. Great teamwork is the product of diversely excellent teammates. Diversely excellent teammates are the product of points 1 through 5 above. If you want your company to win, strengthen what’s strong!
As stated at the outset, engaged men and women produce competitiveness, excellence, innovation, speed, accuracy, and profitability, not to mention that hard-to-define “zing” that sets the best apart from the rest. Outperforming organizations magnetically attract, effectively awaken, and irresistibly retain highly engaged workers. It’s a virtuous cycle.
And how do outperforming organizations do this? They effectively answer the why question, treat their people as a treasure (not a tool), do what they say, make and keep first things first, and strengthen what’s strong.
In The Serving Leader, I detailed this through the five actions: Run to Great Purpose, Upend the Pyramid, Raise the Bar, Blaze the Trail, and Build on Strengths. Stated either way, the bottom line is the same; great organizations are great because of their great people who have freely chosen to give their very best to leaders who earn such great service by their own great service, their serving leadership.