Imagine the England Rugby Team stepping onto the pitch, each player ready to give their all. The team’s success doesn’t hinge solely on each member performing their specific role, but rather on each player utilising their unique strengths to benefit the whole. Owen Farrell, known for his leadership and strategic play, directs the game, while Maro Itoje’s athleticism and defensive skills disrupt the opposition. This synergy of individual talents or strengths helps drive the team towards victory.
Team as a Collection of Strengths
In the corporate world, a team functions much like the England Rugby Team. It is a collection of individuals, each with distinct strengths and capabilities. When these strengths are recognised and effectively harnessed, they propel the team—and, by extension, the business—towards achieving remarkable goals.
Benefits of Playing to Your Strengths
Increase engagement and productivity and reduce turnover
According to a Gallup analysis people who use their strengths every day are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life, six times more likely to be engaged at work, 8% more productive, and 15% less likely to quit their jobs.
Increase individual overall well-being
According to studies; by using our strengths, we can feel an increase in happiness, improve our relationships, build resilience, strengthen our ability to overcome problems (Hammond, 2010), and enhance our overall well-being (Linley et al., 2010)
“In an intervention promoting people’s top five character strengths at work, employees reported increased life satisfaction and psychological well-being.”
Enhance performance
Team members who not only feel better about themselves and the contribution they’re making but who also feel engaged will perform better, which undoubtedly will enhance their performance and therefore the performance of the team and business.
How to tap into strengths??
Identifying individual strengths begins with a thorough assessment process. Tools like personality profiles, strength-finding surveys, one-on-one coaching sessions, and peer feedback can help uncover the unique capabilities of each team member.
Once everyone in the team has identified their strengths, we need to bring these strengths together. First, we need to gain awareness about our own and others’ strengths and then work on how everyone can use those strengths to enhance collaboration and performance.
Another way we can use our strengths is to understand possible conflicts and gaps. Knowing our own and others’ preferences and strengths can help us foresee possible conflicts but also be more empathetic in managing them. Additionally, we can identify gaps. Games like The Empty Chair help us reflect on the possible gaps we may have as a team and create better strategies.
Read more about using this knowledge to increase team performance here.
The Optimist View…
By embracing the concept of “Play to Your Potential,” companies can unlock the full potential of their teams, helping to drive performance, productivity, and employee satisfaction.
Just as the England Rugby Team thrives on utilising the unique strengths of each player, your business can achieve remarkable success by recognising and harnessing the individual strengths within your team.
At Optimist Performance, we believe in playing to our potential, which is why we use diagnostic tools and expert coaches to work with individuals and teams to delve more deeply into strengths and preferences, avoiding a “sheep dip” approach.
Are you ready to unleash your team’s potential? Get in touch with us and learn more about how we work with individuals and teams to do just that.