This week we continue to explore this exciting concept of strength-based approaches and we shift our focus to Strength based leadership.
What then is strength-based leadership? It is that ability to identify and make the best use of the leader’s own and the team members’ strengths.
Does this mean that you, or your team, should avoid acquiring new skills? Not at all.
As a leader you should feel able to delegate assignments that you, as a leader are not quite good at to your team members who may be more skilled or experienced than you are.
For instance, you need to compile data for a key report, but data collection has never been your specialty.
Chances are, someone in your team has the precise skills you need, and they would jump at the chance to put them to good use.
Strengths-based leadership can therefore help both of you to achieve your goals.
According to renowned intellectual ancestor Peter Drucker, “The effective executives build on strengths, that is, their own strengths, the strengths of their superiors, colleagues and subordinates.”
What this entails is that leadership is not a top-down approach it is important to realise that we can strengthen those above us as well, not just those below us.
It is important to realise and understand the link strengths-based leadership has with appreciative inquiry, which aims to enable strengths development by establishing a culture in which those strengths are highly valued.
Appreciative inquiry is an approach that contributes strategies for identifying operational strengths and focusing on them while planning for the future, prioritising these areas of strength, and then proceeding with the execution of the tasks.
Embedding the strengths-based leadership Approach
Embedding a culture of strength-based leadership results in a positive environment in the organisation.
The following are useful ingredients to consider:
λ A true leader begins with a critical evaluation of self. This involves a better understanding of one’s strengths.
λ A true leader knows how to harness their key strengths and work towards achieving them.
λ Recognising the flip side of one’s strengths.
λ A true leader will always work towards creating an environment for subordinates to thrive.
Benefits of Strengths-Based Leadership
Creating a team that is united towards achieving results is a critical component of any successful entity.
Strengths-based leadership will always result in the improvement of collaboration while contributing to better business outcomes.
The following are some of the benefits of strength-based leadership:
λ Engaged team
As a leader when you discover the unique capabilities of subordinates and you delegate assignments to them based on those capabilities, employees feel empowered which leads to higher job satisfaction.
It also makes them comfortable enough to contribute to the organisation’s agenda.
Engaged employees lead to better team cohesion as team members complement each other instead of competing for the same territory.
Lower Turnover Rates
When organisations are faced with high staff turnover it can shift towards adopting strengths-based leadership as a solution.
Subordinates want to feel challenged within their roles and they want to feel that their capabilities are being utilised to the full.
It has been observed that subordinates who consider their work to be challenging and aligned with their skills are three times more likely to be engaged at work — which, ultimately, means they’re less likely to seek out other opportunities.
Leaders who adopt the appreciative leadership approach are more likely to succeed in harnessing the capabilities in their subordinates which ultimately results in the team members coming together to co-create sustainable business solutions and own the processes that contribute the future of the organisation.
Paul Nyausaru is an OD Practitioner and leadership coach. For all your OD interventions and leadership development training you can get in touch with him on WhatsApp/call +263774062756 or Email pnyausaru@gmail.com
Chiedza Kadare is an OD Practitioner. You can get in touch with her on
WhatsApp/call +263 77 283 0986 or Email chiedza.kadare@gmail.com
