Building a Well-Rounded Team Through Strengths-Based Leadership

Alyssa M. Yell

writer/editor

Gallup Consulting

twincities@gallup.com

gallup.com

Topic: Leadership

The term "well-rounded leader" is a misnomer; no one person has all the qualities to be perfectly well-rounded. Instead, leaders need to focus on creating well-rounded teams to drive critical business outcomes.

Strengths-Based Leadership

Think for a moment about your leadership talents. Are you competitive? Are you a visionary? Are you able to rally people together to support an idea or cause? You have innate talents that allow you to be world-class at something. Harnessing those talents and being aware of your strengths is a strategy that can move you toward becoming a more effective leader. Gallup has discovered there are four leadership domains in which strengths can be focused: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. 

Gallup's latest book, Strengths Based Leadership, combines the exhaustive research of the Clifton StrengthsFinder with these four leadership domains. As of March 2009, the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment has allowed more than 4 million people to learn about their Signature Themes -- or their natural talents. A leader who takes the assessment may have the Strategic, Maximizer, Analytical, Significance, and Competition themes. Based on the four leadership domains, this leader would be effective in setting a strategic course and persuading people to move in that direction. But, he or she may encounter blind spots when it comes to executing that strategy and building relationships. 

Conventional wisdom tells us that the Strategic Thinking themes are more effective to moving a team forward than the Relationship Building themes. The truth is, if a leader only has Strategic Thinking themes, he or she may head in one direction with no one supporting this movement. If a leader only has Relationship Building themes, he or she may have supporters in general, but no direction in which the team is moving. The same goes for the Executing and Influencing themes. 

Building a Well-Rounded Team

Because it's impossible to be a perfectly well-rounded leader, it is important to use your leadership talents to create a well-rounded team to support you in these four domains. Learn your team members' talents, direct your team members with your leadership strengths, position your team members in roles where they will succeed, and allow your team members to fill in for your weaknesses. Hold everyone accountable for the overall team's success. 

Leaders need to not only use their talents to their full potential; they need to get the most out of their team members' talents. Positioning your team members in areas where their natural abilities allow them to thrive and form a well-rounded team is a powerful way to achieve critical business results: higher productivity, less absenteeism, and greater organizational success.

For more information on strengths-based leadership, contact twincities@gallup.com.

The Clifton StrengthsFinder® and the Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are protected by copyright of Gallup, Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.