3 Things I Appreciate about Working with StrengthsFinder at LVC

On February 1st 2014 I came back to Leadership Vision Consulting full time at the invitation of our President, Brian Schubring. Brian made me an offer I could not refuse. As a co-founder of the company I was thrilled to be back in the mix full time. We have been working with the StrengthsFinder to help empower strong people, teams and cultures since 2000.  It is something that I am completely passionate about doing on a day to day basis.

Over the past few months I have been able to see first hand how Brian and our team have taken what we do with StrengthsFinder to a whole other level. Here are three things I appreciate about working with the StrengthsFinder at Leadership Vision Consulting.

1.  StrengthsFinder Focuses on What is Right about People

StrengthsFinder comes from the field of Positive Psychology. Historically the field of Psychology has focused on what is wrong or deficient with people. Over the past few decades a group of psychologists led by Martin Seligman started to focus on what was right about people. This revolutionary approach now is a widely accepted part of the overall field of psychology.

So what?

I run into people all the time who focus on what they did not accomplish, or what they do not have. This deficit mindset typically does not lead to a happy person. This also does not lead to highly engaged employees. I also run into people who have a positive outlook on life and understand who they are and what they are good at. There is usually a marked difference in how effective those two groups of people are at work.

Positive psychology pushes all of us to continue to see what is right about situations and people even in tough times. The StrengthsFinder fits well in this part of psychology because it focuses on everyone’s greatest opportunity for success.

Most people I interact with do not have a great answer for the question of, what are you good at? What are your strengths? StrengthsFinder at a minimum can help someone answer this all important question. This leads into #2, because strong people can help build stronger teams.

2.  StrengthsFinder helps Teams become Stronger and more Efficient

Team members who know what they are strong at, and where their strengths lie have a much better chance of forming a strong team. On the Leadership Vision Consulting team I know the strengths of my teammates. I know who I can rely on for what. I also know where I am not strong and who can help me out with some area that they are stronger in. This leads to increased trust and overall performance as a group when we all play to our strengths and divide up work based on talent.

Sounds so simple right?

It is not and we are still figuring it out as we go along.  But, the culture at LVC is to continue to press into this and figure it out as we go. I have been part of cultures where you just kept your head down and did your job. There was little or no teamwork, camaraderie, or empowerment from management. That can lead to lower employee engagement and productivity.

Teams that know their strengths as a group get more done and have more fun doing it then those that do not.

3.  StrengthsFinder helps Improve Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is such an elusive thing. Every organization wants it and not everyone has it. We are currently working with an organization where the employee engagement is clearly high. We are working on taking every employee in the company through our process of education, 1 to 1 conversations, and Learning Community 360 day.

There are over 100 employees and working with all the teams will take over a year to complete.  An overwhelming majority of the employees I have interacted with remark how much they love their job and the culture at this organization.

Almost everywhere we go you will find a few employees who are in that place of high engagement. To have an overwhelming number of employees be at this high of a level of engagement is rare. I tell these people how refreshing it is to hear from them. What do they say?

My managers treat me like an adult. My managers care about me as a person. No one micro manages me.

It goes on and on.

So, what does this organization do? Not only are they already doing great things around empowerment and engagement, they also have everyone know their strengths. This investment will only serve to increase the strong culture they already have.

Loving Your Work

I am so glad that I am able to work in the field of strengths based organizational consulting full time. Almost every day that I come to work I am thankful for this amazing opportunity to apply my strengths and talents for the majority of my day.

I am so thankful for having amazing teammates who all want to get better in how we do what we do. But most of all I am glad the work we do helps people, teams and organizational cultures improve by focusing on strengths.