The Importance of Knowing Your People (Podcast)
Welcome to the next installment of the Leadership Vision Podcast, where we share our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of StrengthsFinder.
In this episode, Aleasha Morris and I continue our series on the Team Engagement Model, and today we’re talking about why knowing your people matters for the long-term success of your organization. Our study and intensive observation of teams through a Strengths based lens has revealed that there is an unmistakable difference between healthy and unhealthy teams.
Simply put, unhealthy teams are out of balance.
Struggling teams spend a disproportionate amount of time focused on the work itself – the what, rather than the who, the how and the why. Essentially, they overlook the importance of truly understanding who it is that they are working with, how they get this important work done, and why, in fact, they are together.
RELATED: Team Health Check – How To Know If Your Team Is Surviving Or Thriving (podcast)
The Importance of Knowing Your People
In the work that we do with teams, we observe that most organizations have the general structures in place for groups to function. But that’s where it tends to stop. Rarely is there priority given to developing the necessary team infrastructure that will support ongoing growth and development. We meet leaders who view this as non-essential, or “not their job” because the results are intangible and difficult to gauge. What we know to be true is that the creation of a sound relational infrastructure is critical to a team’s ongoing success. It will enable them to maneuver change, handle conflict and adhere to mutual accountability.
In this Episode, you will Learn…
As a core concept of our Professional Team Engagement Model, Knowledge is about having an awareness and familiarity of each other gained by shared experience. It is also about individuals committing to continual learning about and genuinely valuing the contributions of each team member.
With strengths in mind, think of your team and ask yourself these questions:
- Do you know who you are?
- Do you know the people on your team?
- Do you understand the multiple perspectives that exist?
- Do you know how your colleagues find motivation, derive satisfaction, and get work done?
We have found that when teams experience misalignment in this area, more specifically, when they do not endeavor to know their team members through a lens of strength honestly, four major issues arise:
- Blind Spots
- Faulty Interpretation
- Errant Assumptions
- Assimilation
Listen to the episode to learn how to know your team on a deeper level!
About The Leadership Vision Podcast
The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of StrengthsFinder. Leadership Vision uses StrengthsFinder to work with People, Teams, and Culture. We believe that knowing your Top 5 Strengths is only the beginning. In fact, our highest potential exists in the ongoing exploration of our talents. Subscribe to the Leadership Vision Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
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.
