Recently I worked with a leadership team that wanted to capitalise on its strengths. The leader said:

“We are crystal clear on our picture of success. During the next two years we aim to achieve specific goals regarding our profits, products and people. Everybody is committed to achieving these aims.”

“Now comes the challenging part. During the past two years we have built strong foundations, but it will be the next two years when we fly. During this time the leadership team will be fully stretched. So it is vital for people to play to their strengths and feel they are doing satisfying work. This is also an approach we need to spread across the company. Bearing in mind our goals, we would like a session where we are able:

a) To clarify our individual strengths.

b) To clarify how each person can use these strengths to make their best contribution.

c) To clarify how we can co-ordinate people’s strengths and cover for any gaps.

“So can you help us to build on our individual strengths to achieve the picture of success?”

Imagine that a leadership team has asked you to tackle such a challenge. You can take the following steps towards helping them to achieve their goals.

1) You can clarify each person’s A strengths.

There are many exercises for clarifying people’s talents. Here is one that I used with the leadership team mentioned earlier. Imagine that you want to use it with, for example, a senior team. You can give people the following instructions.

“Let’s start by getting your views on each person’s strengths. I want you to do the following things.

“Look in turn at the each person in the team. Describe the specific activities where you believe they deliver – or have the potential to deliver - As, rather than Bs or Cs. Try to give specific examples of when you have seen them use these talents. Try also to gauge whether you believe that the person still enjoys doing these things. Write each person’s strengths on Post-It Notes.

“Looking at yourself, describe the specific activities you enjoy doing where you deliver – or believe you have the potential to deliver - As.

“As you will see, I have written flip charts with each person’s name. But take 15 minutes to write all your ideas before we start populating the charts with people’s strengths.”

It’s then time to collect everybody’s ideas about each person’s A talents. Imagine that you start by focusing on ‘John’, the Managing Director.

* Invite each person to go up in turn and place their Post-Its under John’s name. They are also to give examples of where they have seen him use these strengths.

* After everybody else has given their ideas, John then places his own Post-Its regarding the activities he enjoys doing where he delivers – or has the potential to deliver - As.

* Conclude this part by asking to John to summarise his strengths and the activities he would like to focus on in the future.

Move onto the next person. Repeat the process and continue until it has covered everybody in the team. So eventually you will have a list that looks something like the illustration below. (This lists just three people, but you will obviously cover everybody in the team.)

Double-check that each person finds fulfilment from these particular activities, then move onto the next step.

2) You can clarify how each person can use their strengths to make their best contribution towards achieving the team’s picture of success.

How to use the information about people’s top talents? One approach is to encourage the leadership team to explore the following themes.

* The specific things each person wants to do to play to their strengths in the future.

* The pluses of playing to these strengths and how this will contribute towards achieving the picture of success.

* The possible minuses that may emerge, including any gaps that may need to be covered by people focusing on their strengths.

Bearing these themes in mind, compile notes that cover the following areas with each person. Here is an example for just one, ‘John’ the Managing Director.

3) You can clarify how to co-ordinate people’s strengths to achieve the picture of success.

The leadership team mentioned earlier took several steps towards making this happen. They chose: a) To refocus on the picture of success; b) To remind themselves of each person’s strengths; c) To co-ordinate people’s strengths – and cover the emerging gaps – to achieve the picture of success. This resulted in reshaping several roles. The Managing Director, for example, spent more time focusing externally on sales, rather than running the internal engine. Different teams find different solutions to achieve the goals.

Imagine you are running a session for a leadership team. You will obviously adapt these exercises in your own way. The main aim is to help people to focus on their purpose, passions and peak performance. They can then combine their strengths – and manage the consequences of their weaknesses – to achieve ongoing success.

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