A strengths-based approach boosts employee engagement, enhances collaboration, and drives performance, helping organisations unlock their full potential.
It’s been over 50 years since management gurus Peter Drucker and Donald Clifton started advocating for leveraging strengths at the workplace. Drucker famously said, “A person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone on something one cannot do at all.”
Clifton, in turn, was driven by a fundamental question: "What would happen if we focused on what’s right with people rather than what's wrong?" His approach contrasted sharply with the traditional “weakness-improvement” model, which emphasises getting employees to address their weaknesses to better fit their existing roles – somewhat akin to hammering a square peg into a round hole. Clifton’s efforts to find answers led to his research on how people could maximise their potential – not only to understand who they are but also to realise who they can become. His work culminated in the development of what we now know as Gallup’s CliftonStrengths Assessment, a tool that helps individuals and organisations identify and leverage their innate talents to foster growth, engagement, and productivity.
At the time, the so-called 'strengths movement' was still in its infancy, and research on its effectiveness was rare. However, this has changed dramatically in recent years, with studies now revealing significant improvements in workgroup performance.
Gallup, for example, studied nearly 1.2 million employees across 49,495 business units and found that workgroups using strengths-based interventions significantly outperformed control groups on several key metrics. Notably, ninety percent of these workgroups experienced performance increases at or above the following ranges:
Gallup research also found that organisations with managers who focus on employees' strengths see a substantial increase in engagement, which is directly correlated to increased productivity, higher levels of agility, innovation, and reduced turnover, highlighting the transformative impact of a strengths-based approach. Gallup’s data has shown that simply learning about their strengths makes employees 7.8% more productive, and teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5% greater productivity.
It’s not just managers and organisations who benefit from such an approach. Employees really, really want to use their strengths at work too. Sixty per cent of employees say the ability to do what they do best in a role is ‘very important’ to them, according to Gallup's State of the American Workplace report 2017. This was ranked higher than ‘significant increase in income’ and stability and job security.
This brings us to an important question: Despite the clear benefits of a strengths-based approach, why do so many organisations resist adopting it?
One of the main obstacles to such a transformation is that any kind of change is challenging and often met with resistance. This is particularly true of larger organisations because they have an entrenched culture and complex systems and processes.
Research on organisational transformation shows that large-scale changes can lead to insecurity among employees who aren’t sure if they can cope in the new environment. However, researchers have also found that a strengths-based approach — leveraging individual talents to build strengths-based diverse and collaborative teams — can significantly reduce this resistance.
Sounds like too much work? Not at all.
In this playbook, we will talk about the steps organisations – large and small – can take to make a decisive shift towards a strengths-based approach. Here's how you can use a strengths-based approach to build a strengths-based organisation!
To become a strengths-based organisation, you need a clear understanding of the skills and competencies across your workforce. This first step, strengths mapping, is crucial. It involves systematically identifying the skills and potential of each employee, enabling organisations to leverage their teams' full capabilities.
Mapping strengths allows organisations to identify existing skills and uncover hidden talents that might otherwise go unnoticed. Research shows that when employees are matched with roles that align with their strengths, they become more engaged, productive, and innovative. This alignment enhances performance and drives adaptability and creativity across the organisation.
MuchSkills offers a robust solution for comprehensive skills mapping, empowering leaders to make data-driven talent decisions. With visually rich, intuitive charts and real-time skills analysis, MuchSkills helps organisations:
With strengths-mapping insights, managers can make informed decisions about team composition, individual growth, and role alignment. This helps organisations place the right people in the right roles, enhancing productivity and satisfaction.
MuchSkills enables employees to create detailed skills profiles that showcase their strengths, interests, and career aspirations. In the Job Focus feature, for instance, employees can showcase their proficiency and enthusiasm for specific skills, with the size of each ‘bubble’ indicating their interest. With over 65,000 skills to choose from, employees can map out the areas they are most passionate about, helping the organisation align them with meaningful roles.
In addition, MuchSkills supports continuous growth through skill gap analysis. This feature allows employees to assess their fit for different roles and strategically build skills to achieve their career goals.
Ultimately, MuchSkills fosters an environment where employees can openly share their strengths, interests, and aspirations, creating pathways for growth and development across the organisation.
While humility has its place, it’s essential to openly and consistently talk about strengths when it comes to building a strengths-based organisation. Build a culture that celebrates individual as well as team strengths. By making strengths the core of your organisational culture, you transform employees from passive participants into active contributors. When people are encouraged to focus on what they do best, they are more likely to seize opportunities to grow and excel.
Here are some key actions to make strengths a core part of your culture:
In this next step, outline the strengths required for each critical role to assess whether your workforce’s skills align with organisational needs. Where should you start? Given the diversity of roles in most organisations, prioritise by identifying key business needs — such as improving team efficiency, boosting innovation, addressing talent gaps, or preparing for long-term transformation. Focus on roles critical to these areas and evaluate whether employees in those positions have the strengths needed for success.
Mapping the strengths essential for critical roles and encouraging employees to assess their own abilities builds a foundation for growth. This approach fosters self-awareness, helping employees compare their skills to the strengths required for roles they aspire to, guiding them to identify areas for improvement and align their aspirations with organisational goals. For the organisation, placing employees in roles that leverage their strengths enhances job satisfaction, engagement, and productivity.
Prioritising skills and strengths over traditional markers like education, background, or tenure enables organisations to focus on true talent and potential, fostering a more inclusive, dynamic workforce. This approach empowers employees to thrive, leading to higher performance, satisfaction, and sustained organisational success.
According to Gartner, many organisations remain "data blind" when it comes to the skills necessary for success. So, if you haven’t formally documented your goals and the specific strengths and skills required to achieve them, now is the time. Engage leaders across the organisation to identify key strategic priorities and the competencies needed to address them. Then, form strengths-based teams that cut across functions and levels to meet these objectives, providing them with tools such as design thinking methodologies to foster collaborative, human-centred problem-solving.
Developing skills awareness at both the individual and organisational levels is essential for organisations aiming to flourish, innovate, and thrive. This approach enables a deeper understanding of the talent landscape, reveals skill gaps, and informs actionable steps to address them.
By strategically aligning workforce strengths with business objectives, organisations ensure that each team member’s skills are fully leveraged. This alignment boosts both individual and team performance, reduces inefficiencies, and nurtures a culture of continuous learning and development.
Ultimately, a strong emphasis on skills and strengths awareness lays the foundation for a strengths-based approach that drives innovation, agility, and long-term success.
To fully embed a strengths-based culture within your organisation, ensure that all Human Resources (HR) systems and processes prioritise skills and strengths. This approach will recognize and leverage strengths at every stage of the employee lifecycle, creating a cohesive environment where employees feel valued for their unique contributions. Ultimately, a strengths-centric HR strategy cultivates a thriving workplace culture that attracts, retains, and nurtures top talent.
Here are some examples of how you can achieve this:
Achieving any transformation requires time, patience, and a well-defined strategic approach.
There might be resistance within the organisation to this transformation. To effectively address this resistance, it’s essential to maintain transparency in communication, clearly highlighting the tangible benefits of adopting a strengths-based approach. Setting key milestones and celebrating small wins can build enthusiasm and momentum, fostering buy-in from sceptical employees. However, if these efforts don’t resonate, organisations must be prepared to make difficult decisions, including letting go of those who consistently resist change.
So, how do you know your journey towards transformation is well on track? Here are some positive indicators:
A strengths-based approach focuses on identifying and leveraging the unique talents of every employee, regardless of their position. As organisations transition to a strengths-based model, they naturally move away from rigid hierarchies, resulting in a more inclusive and collaborative organisational structure.
WL Gore & Associates, renowned for its innovative Gore-Tex fabric, is a prime example of how a reduction in hierarchical structures allows for greater collaboration and empowerment among employees.
Founded in 1958, Gore has consistently been recognized as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America. And though it doesn’t ‘officially’ call itself a strengths-based organisation, it is in practice. Its distinctive organisational design – a lattice structure – eliminates traditional hierarchy, creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels empowered to voice their ideas and participate in decision-making.
Leaders emerge organically based on followership rather than formal titles, ensuring that those who contribute innovative ideas gain influence and recognition. Employees, referred to as associates, are encouraged to pursue projects aligned with their strengths during what Gore calls “dabble time,” allowing them to explore and develop new products that reflect their interests and abilities.
Companies like Gore successfully avoid the Peter Principle, which says that in a hierarchical organisation, employees will eventually rise to the level of their incompetence.
By dismantling rigid hierarchies, Gore exemplifies how a strengths-based approach enhances creativity and innovation, attracts a diverse talent pool, and promotes psychological safety. This enables employees to take risks and collaborate without fear of judgement, fostering a dynamic and collaborative workplace – reflected in its status as one of the best companies to work for.
In conclusion, making strengths a visible and celebrated part of your organisational culture leads to a more engaged, innovative, and high-performing workforce. However, successful transformation requires employee buy-in. Organisations can achieve this by ensuring everyone understands that they are equal stakeholders, each with unique roles based on their individual strengths. When employees feel valued for their specific contributions and included in the process, they become more engaged, motivated, and aligned with a shared sense of purpose — all of which contribute to the success of the transformation.
For a successful transformation to a strengths-based organisation, sign up with MuchSkills — a platform that helps organisations build awareness of their workforce’s diverse strengths and skill sets, while motivating employees to contribute where they can make the greatest impact.
MuchSkills maps employee skills and competencies, visually displaying the data through engaging charts that highlight the unique talents of individuals and teams. These visualisations – such as an organisational skills matrix – make it easy for both employees and managers to understand and deploy the full range of strengths within the organisation.
In addition, our skills reports help uncover hidden talents, identify skills gaps, and assess potential talent risks. This skills intelligence empowers organisations to develop strategies that drive growth and success. With comprehensive insights into employee capabilities, you can plan your workforce effectively and ensure the right skills are in place.
MuchSkills also includes a smart internal talent marketplace, enabling quick identification of expertise across various locations and departments. This feature helps organisations maximise their existing talent and address skill shortages through targeted upskilling or recruitment.
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Step 1: Strengths-mapping
Step 2: Put strengths at the centre of your organisational culture
Step 3: Map the strengths required for each role in the organisation:
Step 4: Identify organisational goals and strategic priorities
Step 5: Get strengths to be the focus of all HR processes
How do you know it is working?
Breaking down hierarchies
Conclusion
