Unleashing Success through People-Centric Leadership and Teamwork

In this episode, we uncover how considering the individuals within your team can be the key to unlocking remarkable success. We discuss why shifting our focus from the what and how to the who is crucial for effective leadership, share a powerful tool that can help you press pause, reflect, and build strong team foundations, and dive into real life examples of teams that have experienced this transformative journey. Whether you’re a seasoned leader, aspiring to become one, or a fresh new hire, this conversation will provide you with some practical insights and actionable steps to cultivate strong team dynamics and foster a culture of collaboration and understanding. Enjoy!

Success Through People Centric Leadership

Most leaders when considering problems, even people-based problems, are looking for a work-based solution around solving their issues instead of looking for a people-centered solution to their people problems. At Leadership Vision, we believe that understanding the role of individuals and their growth within a team can make all the difference in achieving your collective goals. When people pause and think about with whom they’re doing the work, the potential for catalytic change and productive work actually increases.

Transforming Teams with Strengths

Recently, we worked on team development with a new leader and their team facing mounting work pressures. It began as a Strengths experience, which is a few hours long, and included multiple 1-to-1 Conversations over the course of a couple months. Our work culminated in what we call a Learning Community, where the learning is multi-dimensional and uses image, story, and feedback from the team members. Our goals for the sessions were to help the team get to know each other better and use their Strengths more effectively for success.

Through our many conversations and utilizing the tools and language of Strengths, were were able to help team members understand their own Strengths and the Strengths of their colleagues. They were able to see how their lived experiences had shaped their Strengths and began to see how they could use them to better support each other and achieve their goals. This process was not only transformative for the team, but also for the leader. It allowed them to better understand the Strengths of their team and how to leverage those Strengths for success for everyone involved.

Unleash Success on Your Team

Use Your Strengths

Leaders play a key role in supporting team development and success by providing resources and encouragement. We love the Clifton Strengths tool. It’s an invaluable resource that allows you to identify and harness the unique Strengths of each team member and fosters collaboration and personal growth among other things. The common language of Strengths can be a powerful tool for helping teams to get to know each other better and use their Strengths more effectively.

Accept and Expect

For leaders and team members, the work is about accepting and expecting. It’s about accepting who you are and then expecting yourself to continue to show up and contribute that way. It’s also accepting other people and expecting from them more of the same of who they actually are.

Press Pause

When you press pause and have a group come together for team development, it allows the team to showcase and recognize the value of each member’s unique Strengths and how that can maybe lead to a stronger, more cohesive team.

Pressing pause is a very courageous move, especially as work or pressure stack up. It allows your team permission to take a break. People need to pause and reflect on who they are, how they’re doing, and why they’re being asked to do what they’re doing. In the midst of the work, when you press pause to ask people to consider who they are and who they’re working with, they will begin to express their needs to one another out loud and perhaps for the first time.

Invest in Yourself

Remember, the most important investment you can make is the investment in yourself. Whether that’s through reflection or finding a coach or going through some type of development that’s afforded to you. We are the entity that is doing the work, and we need each other to have that sense of meaning and significance to do the work together.

Success on Your Team

Leading with people first and harnessing the power of Strengths can help you tap into success for your team. We’d love to hear from you, connect with me at nathan@leadershipvisionconsulting.com.