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Whether you are taking charge in a school, a boardroom, on a construction site, or even in your home, it is likely you will find yourself leading at some point in your life. So what are the keys to being an effective leader?
More than 20,000 in depth interviews with senior leaders, studies of more than one million work teams, and 50 years of Gallup Polls about the worlds most admired leaders have been followed by a study of more than 10,000 followers.
From this research, three key findings emerged:
The most effective leaders are always investing in Strengths.
The most effective leaders always surround themselves with the right people to maximise their team.
The most effective leaders always understand their followers' needs.
(Rath, T. & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths-based Leadership. New York, NY:Gallup.)
In this article, we will focus on the first two findings. We’ll come back to #3 in a future post.
1. The most effective leaders are always investing in Strengths.
Foundational to the Strengths-based / positive psychology approach is the idea that each of us will experience a far greater return on investment in our own journey of growth and development through focusing on strengths, on ‘What’s right’ with us, then we could ever possibly achieve through focusing on weakness, on ‘What’s wrong.’ This shows up clearly in Gallup’s research of the most effective leaders.
A significant consequence of focusing on weakness - on ‘what’s wrong’ - is that we feel under pressure to become well-rounded individuals. We identify things we are not good at, we label these as ‘weaknesses’ and we focus on fixing them. Again, decades of research demonstrate that this is far less effective than investing in, developing and building on strengths, while learning efficient strategies to manage areas of weakness along the way.
2. The most effective leaders always surround themselves with the right people to maximise their team.
Stopping pouring countless resources into become ‘well-rounded’ individuals is a smart move - for individuals. When it comes to teams however, things look quite different. While the idea of the ‘well-rounded’ individual seems to be something of a myth, the idea of a ‘well-rounded team’ is quite the opposite.
A well-rounded team is absolutely achievable - precisely through team leaders, team members, and coaches all working together to focus on the individual strengths of each member of the team. By equipping each individual team member to build on their own strengths AND equipping each team member to contribute their own strengths, and appreciate the strengths of others, a well-rounded and highly-effective team can emerge.
Effective leaders, as Gallup’s comprehensive research demonstrates, are highly aware of this approach, and prioritise surrounding themselves with people who’s unique combination of talents and strengths complement their own, rather than merely replicate them.
For reflection:
Which approach most closely describes your approach to your own growth and development and a human being, and as a leader? Do you primarily seek to ‘fix what’s wrong’? Do you focus on investing in and building on ‘What’s Right’?
Which approach most closely describes your approach to working with and developing others?