A Practical Activity to Build a Strengths-Based Team
Welcome to the Leadership Vision Podcast, where we share our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of a Strengths-Based approach to people, teams, and culture.
We have a special guest on the Leadership Vision Podcast today! You may remember a few weeks ago we asked our listeners for stories. We wanted to hear how you have been impacted in some way by the Strengths movement, and to hear how you are utilizing Strengths in your organization.
Today on the podcast, we get to hear how Zack, a connections pastor at a church in Arizona, is working to build a strengths-based team among his team of 7 staff and over 200 volunteers.
Zach is extending the language and philosophy of Strengths in some pretty amazing ways. After hearing a little bit more about how he has done that, I invited him to talk with us because I believe that this information needs to be shared so that all of us can benefit from it. In fact, what Zach is doing, and what we try to do, is create systems and environments that can utilize this information regardless of the context. Just because Zach is doing this in a church, it could probably just as easily be transferred to any other industry that’s open to making the investment, and open to learning and growing.
Sit back and listen as Zach and I share a rather intriguing activity he has created using some of the material found in the Strengths-Based Leadership book. Zach built on a process he had done in Strengths coaching sessions with Steph Wahlund and some of our material, but took it to another level. He has turned it into an ongoing developmental activity that helps his team know themselves and each other on a deeper level.
The Process
Each team member had five piles, one for each Strength. Each pile contained four 3×5 note cards representing each of the elements from Strengths-Based Leadership: How you build trust, how you show compassion, how you create hope and how you provide stability.
Next, each person was asked to write several statements about how each of their Strengths helps create all four of those elements on the note cards.
So for example, one of my Strengths is Communication, so under that pile, I would write several statements about how my Communication Strength helps me to build trust, show compassion, create hope and provide stability.
From there, they ranked each of the multiple statements on a scale ranging from what they did well, to what they needed help on. Their team members then repeated the process, ranking the statement again but from their perspective. They began their discussion here, comparing the score they gave themselves to the score their team members gave them.
About The Leadership Vision Podcast
The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of a strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. We believe that knowing your Strengths is only the beginning. Our highest potential exists in the ongoing exploration of our talents. Subscribe to the Leadership Vision Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please contact us if you have ANY questions about anything you heard in this episode or if you’d like to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.
We would love to hear how you’ve been impacted by the Strengths movement. If you’d like to be featured on the Leadership Vision Podcast, let us know how you are using Strengths and what impact it has made. Contact us here!
