Last week Joe shared Gallup’s staggering research that 70% of American workers are disengaged, but what’s even more staggering is that they also “discovered” that focusing on your employees’ strengths can practically eliminate active disengagement.
Really? That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?
Well, it might be obvious, but easier said than done, I guess…
Joe has taught me that in order to succeed and grow regardless, business leaders need to treat their employees like their clients and their clients like their employees—this will result in not only the growth of a business, but the community as a whole.
So, how do you do that exactly?
Treating your employees like your clients and vice versa is more than just the golden rule, it’s about really understanding your team, knowing their strengths and weaknesses, and focusing on developing those strengths.
When you focus on employees’ weaknesses and offer trainings and coaching to help them improve, all you’re really doing is making them less weak.
Think about it this way… you’ve got a new entry-level employee, she’s young, coachable, and ambitious—but she’s TERRIBLE at cold calls! She stutters, cuts people off, says “um” way too much… you could send her to a sales training focusing on cold calls, give her a new script, and even coach her yourself, but she might only ever be, OK at those calls. She will NEVER be your top sales person.
Now, think about this same employee, what are her strengths? She’s GREAT in person! She can connect with anyone on just about anything and can read someone’s mood in an instant. So, if you focused on developing her strengths you could build a powerhouse networking, client-facing brand ambassador.
When you focus on strengths, you can dramatically improve the success of your team—go from great to remarkable!
Below are three tips to help you keep your team engaged by focusing on their strengths not their weaknesses:
1. Manage expectations in a positive way: Make sure your employees know that you expect them to continue to concentrate their time and attention on those areas where they excel. This is where they can do the most for your company and stay engaged. As part of the eQ performance review process, we make it a point to discuss what we are doing well, and create a plan so we are able to continue that momentum in the coming months.
2. Publicly recognize strengths and accomplishments: Find ways to make a big deal out of the seemingly normal and let everyone in your company know why these strengths are important. This might be a congratulatory email to the team when one person accomplishes a goal, or a sticky note on someone’s desk saying, “nice work,” or in the case of many eQ team members, a solid bell ringing!
3. Encourage team-led presentations and trainings: Having team-lead presentations and trainings improves engagement on two levels: the “leader” gets confirmation that he/she is excelling in a specific area and the rest of the team has the opportunity to learn from a peer. At eQ, our Friday meetings often include presentations given by or lead by different members of the team focusing on a given specialty or area of expertise.
Imagine what your company would be like if all of your employees were engaged and able to use their strengths to put forth their maximum effort every day. Focus on the strengths of your team and challenge them to become remarkable!
