C is for Co-ordinating People’s Strengths

Super teams are special. They start by building on their strengths and clarifying their picture of success.

They pursue a clear strategy and perform superb work. They find solutions to challenges and do whatever is necessary to achieve their picture of success.

Such teams co-ordinate people’s strengths. They do this when tackling a crisis, playing a sport, inventing a product or whatever.

Imagine the you want to take this approach. You can either co-ordinate people’s strengths yourself or you can appoint a mission holder who will implement the approach.

If you appoint a mission holder, make sure they have the authority and autonomy required to do the job. It can then be worth exploring the following themes.

There are many ways to co-ordinate people’s strengths. This article looks at one approach.

Clarifying the
team’s specific goal

Good teams have a crystal clear goal. They know what mountain they are climbing, why they are climbing it and when they will reach the summit. They also make sure they are climbing the right mountain.

Imagine you lead your present team at work. One of the first steps will be to clarify the team’s specific goal. There are many tools for making this happen.

If you wish, try tackling the following exercise. This invites you to look at your present team and do the following things.

Describe the specific purpose of your team – the headline goal that summarises what you and your colleagues want to deliver.

Describe the specific things that people in the team want to deliver by a certain date – the team’s picture of success.

Describe the specific strategies the team aims to follow to give itself the greatest chance of success.

Describe the specific benefits – for the various stakeholders – of achieving the goal.

Describe the specific things that will be happening – the specific things that people will be feeling, doing and saying – that will show the team has achieved the goal.

Clarifying
people’s strengths

Let’s assume you are crystal clear on the team’s goal and the key strategies it can follow to achieve success. The next step will be to clarify how to implement these strategies.

Some teams simply assign tasks to people and departments. Another approach is to co-ordinate people’s strengths to perform superb work.

Imagine that you want to take this approach. The first step is to clarify people’s strengths. You can, of course, extrapolate this process when co-ordinating large teams by clarifying each department’s strengths.

Let’s imagine that you have twelve people in your team. You can go through the following stages to clarify each person’s strengths. Looking at each person in turn, describe where they deliver As, Bs and Cs.

You can also invite each person to do this exercise and send their own views of their strengths. You can then sit down with them and agree on their best contribution to the team.

Here are some guidelines to bear in mind when looking at each person’s As, Bs and Cs.

As

These are the specific activities in which the person consistently delivers – or as the ability to deliver – As. Try to give specific examples of when they have delivered such work.

If you believe they have the potential to deliver superb work in a particular activity, then give the reasons why you believe this to be the case.

The person must obviously want to do this kind of work and find it satisfying. Why? Some people have the ability to deliver fine work in a particular activity, but they have lost the motivation to do so.

The contracting process will therefore be crucial. The person must demonstrate both the will and the skill required to deliver the goods.

Bs

The B activities are those the person can do competently, but they do not hit the heights. There may be various reasons for this.

The person may simply not have the ability to deliver As in this activity. On the other hand, they may once have delivered superb work in this area, but now they get bored. This can lead to making mistakes.

Cs

The C activities are those where the person has little aptitude or desire to learn.

Peak performers build on their strengths and manage the consequences of their weaknesses. You can invite each person to clarify how they can take such steps to perform fine work.

If you wish, try tackling the following exercise on theme. The exercise will take some time, but it will save lots of time in the future. It invites you to look at each person in turn and do the following things.

Describe the specific activities in which they deliver – or have the potential to deliver – As.

Describe the specific activities in which they deliver Bs and Cs.

Describe the specific things the person can do to build on their As and manage the consequences of their Bs and Cs.

Describe the specific benefits – for both them and the team – of them taking these steps.

Let’s assume you have clarified each person’s strengths. It can then be useful to compile a complete overview of the talents you have available to reach the team’s goal.

There are many ways to make a team strengths inventory. Some approaches tend to list general characteristics. Others go into much greater detail about the specific activities in which people deliver As, Bs and Cs.

The following team strengths inventory approach appears lengthy. But it provides lots of information that can be used when considering how to harness people’s talents.

If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. Imagine you have twelve people in the team. The exercise invites you to describe the specific activities in which each person delivers As, Bs and Cs.

Co-ordinating
people’s strengths

Let’s assume that you are clear on the team’s specific goal, strategy and strengths.

You can clarify how to co-ordinate people’s strengths and compensate for any weaknesses. You can then make clear contracts with people about the best contributions towards achieving the team’s goal.

Super teams implement the right strategy with the right people in the right way. They make sure they have the right people – with the right strengths – in the right places. This vastly increases the chances of delivering success.

Co-ordinating people’s strengths often calls for finding creative solutions. Here are some of the questions that people can ask when going through each of the following stages.

Co-ordinating People’s Strengths

What are people’s strengths? What are the specific activities in which each person delivers As, rather than Bs or Cs?

How can we co-ordinate people’s strengths to achieve the team’s goal? How can we give people the support they need to deliver success?

Compensating For Weaknesses

What are the remaining weaknesses? How can we compensate for these weaknesses?

How can we make sure any remaining tasks get done? How can we divide these up effectively or find other creative ways to get these completed?

Contracting About People’s Contributions

How can we make clear contracts with people about their best contributions towards achieving the team’s goal? How can we ensure they proactively keep others informed about their progress?

Who will take responsibility for continuing to co-ordinate people’s talents? How can we make sure they have the authority and autonomy to make this happen?

How can we build in regular team co-ordination meetings? How can we ensure that people keep reporting the following things?

a) The specific things they have delivered in the past month, for example, towards achieving the goal.

b) The specific things they will deliver in the next month.

c) The specific challenges they face and their solutions for tackling these challenges.

d) The specific kinds of support they would like to help them to deliver success.

You will, of course, have your own approach to harnessing people’s talents. Taking this step can enable the team to move from 8/10 to 10/10.

If you wish, try tackling the final exercise on this theme. This invites you to describe the following steps you can take to co-ordinate people’s strengths and deliver success.