Hack:
Build A Strengths-Based Culture

The language of the community needs to shift towards appreciating each other's strengths. As Ken Wilber, the founder of the Integral Institute notes in the book Tribal Leadership: “Two parts of a human being—her psychology/worldview/spirituality and her conversations—tend to advance in stages together.” Therefore, we can measure internal progress accurately and effectively simply by monitoring change in language. 

 

This language transformation can occur through many venues and methods, depending on the learning style of the participants. Throughout an organization, perhaps the most effective way is to initiate team-level conversations (workshops) around a strengths assessment (StrengthsFinder, Strengthscope, etc.), facilitated by someone who already an expert at “speaking the language" and facilitating learning sessions around it. These sessions will help individuals talk about each other in a more positive, affirming way, organically beginning to recognize that each person brings different gifts and talents to the group. 

 

Another suggestion is to create a training/illustration exercise where people are given a specific task which requires divergent skills to successfully complete. Create a few groups -- one with superstars in Strength X, another with superstars with Strength Y, and a third with a mix of good (but not superb) Strengths in X, Y and Z (Strength Z could be the facilitation of other people’s strengths, like strategy or orchestration). When the task is complete, bring everyone together to look at the solutions developed and see if the X and Y teams can appreciate the breadth of the solution developed by the XYZ team. This exercise can also be used to illustrate the fact that all strengths inherently carry “blind spots” with them -- again illustrating the why collaboration is essential for success. 

 

To scale a strengths-based culture beyond a small number of people, each person must be able to easily find those with strengths in various areas. One practical way to do this is to deploy social networking software where people's StrengthsFinder or Strengthscope themes (and other identifiers like Myers Briggs personality type as well as technical and other skillsets) can be publicly shared throughout the organization. When people want to put together a team with various strengths/skillsets, they can search for this information more readily. Also, these systems should make it easy for people to comment on each other's strengths/skills, so that webs of reputation can be built and evolve organically. 

 

There are perhaps an infinite number of both small and large ways that a strengths-based philosophy can be promoted within an organization. What is most important is that the methods resonate deeply with the culture and history of the organization/tribe.

 

It should be noted that a strengths-based philosophy in no way ignores people's weaknesses. In fact, it does just the opposite. By recognizing that we are naturally good at certain things, we are gently led into the understanding that we are not as good at other things. This is simply a reality of life, although this fact is rarely acknowledged, and less often leveraged, in business. Knowing -- and owning -- what we are good at AND what we are bad at is essential to building a strengths-based culture.

 

It is also important that leaders do not make the mistake of thinking all components that will contribute to the transformation will be mind-blowingly large, sweeping changes. Many changes will be small things, like policy changes or procedures that simplify bureaucracy. Leaders should not underestimate the power of these “simple” changes. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to do what they are good at all the time -- in most organizations there are many tiny roadblocks that will need to be cleared for this to happen.