CHAPTER 17 STRENGTHS

“Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.”

Abdul Kalam¹

A strength is a good or beneficial quality of a person. It implies power and intensity and also refers to the ability to withstand pressure.² As people, we have fairly stable strengths – ways of behaving, thinking or feeling that can lead us to be on top of our game and achieve valuable goals, if we make good use of them.³ Seligman⁴ talks about strengths as our values in action. Our strengths may be underplayed or overplayed, but it is very likely that we have much more capacity and resource than we make use of, perhaps than we might even dream we have.

Business culture has an almost obsessive focus on improving areas of weakness, supporting leaders, managers and all employees to address their deficits. This idea of “fixing people” misses a potentially much bigger opportunity – that is, to build people’s strengths and allow them to flourish.

The underpinning assumption in the deficit approach is that in order to grow, develop and succeed in business, you have to take a linear route through the leadership and management pipeline, proving yourself at every level in order to step onto the next. This approach can be fundamentally flawed. The very character traits that are trained out of you at one level might be those that will enable you and the organization to thrive at another. Thinking about leaders in less “linear” terms might enable us to work with a more complex and emergent model that frees up the inherent strengths and talents that we have within the existing organizational frame.

Susan Tardanico⁵ shares a poignant story around the potentially flawed deficit focus:

“Some years ago there was a brilliant scientist at BBN, the company that built the original Internet, who had an amazing ability to envision the future and invent solutions to problems most people had not yet even anticipated. His list of patents for advanced network technology was so impressive that the company did what companies almost always do. It promoted him to management. Suddenly the scientist floundered, his strengths as a focused and brilliant inventor subsumed by meetings, employee issues and operational reviews. He was given developmental courses to help overcome his introversion, unconventional thinking and lack of business acumen. What had been his strongest assets were now his liabilities. He was notably weak as a manager. As that became obvious, his self-esteem and the respect he had enjoyed at the company melted away, and his value to the organization dissipated. He failed, and he ultimately left.”⁶

The deficit approach to leader development – creating the all-rounded perfect leader – plays to the idea that leadership is something that individuals “do”, when more and more we see that a leadership team is a more effective focus. In some of the board work we have been involved in, we have seen that having a realistic confidence and understanding of the strengths that the MD/CEO brought and the ability to recognize and engage the strengths and skills of others around them was a significant part of success, engaging others in the team and building a forward momentum.

Consider these two cases observed. In one case, the MD steadfastly defended his unrealistic view of his intellectual brilliance, which led to a drive for control and such political manoeuvring in the top team that his more capable team members were stunted in the contributions they were able to make. The subsequent infighting limited the organization’s potential and nearly led to a split in the very early part of a management buy-out process. Contrast this with a second example, where careful feedback to the future CEO about the intellectual capability across the executive team led to a shift in team dynamics that removed previous blocks and enabled much more constructive board-level dialogue – and ensured the continued engagement of a key player in the team, who had until that point been disillusioned and was at risk of leaving. For more on this, see Chapter 24, Leadership.

Over the last decade there has been an increasing focus on working with strengths⁷ and positivity as a lens through which to facilitate growth and success.

This focus has emerged from a number of underpinnings, including business and leadership theories, strengths research, solutions-focused work, appreciative inquiry, and the blossoming of the positive psychology movement which has been aided by the prolific work of Professor Barbara Fredrickson⁸ and Martin Seligman⁹ among others.

In this chapter, we are looking at strengths in the round, by exploring what a focus on strengths might give us as individuals and organizations, looking at reframing and refocusing the lens towards what’s working and what we’re aiming to achieve; exploring what an appreciative environment might offer.

OPPORTUNITY THINKING

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Albert Einstein¹⁰

As human beings, we are very comfortable with problem-focused thinking. In fact, our brains are hardwired to avoid loss, rather than to optimize gains.¹¹ Our dominant thinking pattern perhaps easily draws us a deficit model – indeed, only about a third of people can readily name their strengths.¹² The emergence of psychology has demonstrated this deficit approach beautifully – for the first 100 years of psychological study, the dominant research frame was to work out how to “fix” people who were not well, to understand dysfunction, rather than to focus on what makes people function well, what makes people happy, what enables people to perform at the top of their game, to be excellent. A shift in the frame of psychological research and insight took place when Martin Seligman enabled the profession to see how blinkered it had become.¹³ The Positive Psychology movement has since flourished.

Focusing on strengths

These recent developments really encourage us to focus on growing our strengths. Focusing on what we’re good at acknowledges that all people really can’t be good at all things.¹⁴ And, instead of focusing on improving our weaknesses so that we are good at everything, we would get more out of focusing on strengths as that is where we have much greater potential for growth.¹⁵

Problem talk vs Solution talk

Shifting how we frame events and the language we use is key. It may seem to be stating the obvious when we say focus on the solution, not the problem – and by this we mean keep focused on purpose, impact, outcomes, strengths and resources. It’s about presenting what is happening, what is currently not working in light of what you’re trying to achieve, what would be better, not just focusing on “fixing what isn’t working” – because if you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, or what is working, you are going to create more problems.

Interestingly, the more people talk about problems, the more they find problems and more entrenched in those problems they become. Focusing on what is done well, and doing more of it, highlighting resources and reframing to encourage possibility thinking frees people up, opens minds and generates creative outcomes.¹⁶

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) methods focus on increasing what an organization does well rather than eliminating what it does badly. What is it that makes an organization perform at its best, when it is most constructively capable? How do we ask questions that strengthen an organization’s positive potential?¹⁷

“Change is happening all the time….. Our role is to identify the useful change and amplify it.”

Gregory Bateson¹⁸

Positive emotion

Positivity is shown to build personal resources and resilience, improve thinking,¹⁹ enhance creativity and lead to quicker recovery from setbacks.²⁰ It’s even associated with longer life and greater virtue.

Wise leaders are characterized by tolerance and open-mindedness – which is easier to attain when relaxed and in a positive mood.²¹

“In contrast to the constructions of negative emotion, [when we are in a positive mood] our mental set is expansive, tolerant, and creative. We are open to new ideas and new experience.”

Martin Seligman²²

Reframing

Working with strengths, positive emotion and with a focus on the resourcefulness of people and organizations has a positive impact. It’s not about ignoring all that isn’t positive, ignoring the gaps, ignoring what’s not working. It really is about reframing way you look at the everyday challenges and opportunities. It’s about language, but not just about language. It’s definitely NOT the Pollyanna²³ principle resurrected. Some basic principles to follow:

•     Reframe – look at situations with a view to what you are aiming for (what the solution is).

•     What do you bring? What do you already have? What do you have, but have forgotten that you have? What past patterns and experiences can you draw insight and ideas from?

•     Appreciate what you have already; give praise for what is being done well.

•     Notice what works and do more of it.

Working with strengths is a matter of focusing the lens differently, seeing the reality through a resourceful frame (rather than a deficit frame). It’s about seeing the problems you are currently facing with a view to the end game that you want (rather than simply fixing the problem). It’s also about not trying to fix what is already working – and that requires you to notice what’s working (as well as what’s not).

“If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

Thomas Edison²⁴

SO WHAT?

What does a strengths-based approach, a resourceful frame do for us?

We know focusing on strengths is good for individuals and improves many aspects of their performance. What about organizations? Emphasizing strengths in performance conversations increases performance, focusing on weaknesses reduces performance.²⁵ When encouraged to apply their personal strengths to the job, new employees are helped to become more connected, more engaged and more likely to stay.²⁶ Employees who are more able to do what they do best every day are likely to be more productive and increase customer loyalty and retention.²⁷ Teams increase performance and reduce attrition where strengths are highlighted.²⁸ Leaders who invest in their own and others’ strengths increase the engagement levels of those they lead.²⁹

In a competitive business context, where any growth is regarded as an achievement, these ideas deserve serious consideration. And this is using a resource that is already in place (your workforce)… it’s just not operating optimally.

CAN YOU BE TOO POSITIVE?

Yes – Barbara Frederickson and Marcial Losada³⁰ have both studied how the ratio of positivity to negativity (the P/N ratio) impacts. High ratios of positive to negative emotion distinguish individuals and teams who flourish (those who grow and thrive) from those who languish (those who weaken and lose energy). However, if you have too much positivity (above 11.6 positives to 1 negative), there is no challenge or stretch. Things are too linear in a positive way and complacency sets in.

“I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.”

Leonardo da Vinci³¹

Positivity and negativity operate as powerful feedback systems: negativity dampens (or “shrinks”) anything that deviates from a particular standard, while positivity amplifies or reinforces, resulting in expanding behaviour.³² The tension between the negativity and the positivity creates a complex system that promotes growth and learning.

When we shared this idea with a group of military leaders, the logical question came back: “Does that mean that we have to precede every piece of negative or constructive feedback with three or more positives?” And the answer is definitely a firm “no”. It’s more about seeing a relationship a bit like a bank account. Making sure that on the whole you’re putting in many more positives than negatives, but each piece of feedback doesn’t need to have a particular structure. So when something is worth appreciating, appreciate it. When something isn’t up to scratch, or isn’t having the desired impact, share it.

You’ll be surprised too. Sometimes you think you’re giving someone something negative – giving them feedback that you are finding difficult to share with them – but the receiver on the other hand is hugely grateful because you’ve really helped them gain insight and understanding about how to be more effective. What you thought was a withdrawal on your relationship bank account turned out to be a significant investment!

As a rule of thumb, remember to genuinely and authentically appreciate those around you.

STRENGTHS AND 31PRACTICES

Martin Seligman describes strengths as values in action.³³ 31Practices is about putting values into action, every day. Supporting organizations to identify their own values provides the consistent building blocks for an organization’s practices and processes and language to create a strengths-based culture.³⁴

Supporting employees to identify their values-based connection with the organization they work for would enable people to exploit and optimize their prevalent strengths and contribution to the organization in a way that is more purposeful than transactional.

Greater clarity of the values that an organization stands for, and the ways in which “things are done around here”, enables greater choice for employees and potential employees. No matter how fantastic a person is on paper, they can only bring their best in an environment and context that enables them to bring their strengths forward. Work on values demonstrates that misalignment of personal and organizational values leads to suboptimal performance.³⁵ Working within a framework of strengths yields more positive emotion with the benefits that that brings.

STRENGTHS EXERCISES

How do you create an environment where you can flourish? Where you enable others to flourish? Where you are able to bring your resources and resourcefulness? Where you can optimize your collective strengths? Here are two sets of exercises, one focused on you and one focused on your strengths focus with others. Harnessing your strengths first requires you to become aware of your strengths and the resources you hold within yourself.