In the last episode we talked about how to uncover the strengths of your team even in the middle of chaos. Not the individual team member strengths – but what collectively as a group emerges when you work together that makes the team better together. Let’s take the question deeper:

 “How can we leverage the strengths we’ve identified for our team to work better together?”

If you’ve named that a strength of the team is that they are responsive to the needs of each other >> well then tomorrow when you go to work you might start seeing how they listen, step up, and help others.  You’ve put on a lens that changes how you see what is going on around you.

Now that we see them, how do we reinforce them?

UNCOVER STRENGTHS STORIES - ON REPEAT

Every 3 to 6 months, repeat the session from the last episode where you identify the strengths you see in the stories. You’ll also get a chance to notice trends over time.

• What are some of the new strengths you see emerging? 
• When you add people to the team, how does it influence team strengths?
• What do you notice about what the team is capable of? 

REINFORCING KEY STRENGTHS

You see it’s not only about naming the strength, but clarifying the situations where that strength is a strength and what situations might derail that strength and burnout the team or negatively impact the client served by the team. If your team has a strength of responsiveness, then try out some questions like this:

• What makes responsiveness an important strength for our work?
• What are the kinds of situations that we need to respond to?
• What are the situations that are okay to let go and not be so responsive?
• How do we manage this strength of responsiveness so that doesn’t burn us out?

EMBED A STRENGTH INTO A PROCESS

It’s really about creating norms for how this team does what it does. All too often, norms are more like unwritten rules. If you’re around long enough you might be able to pick up on the team’s strengths, but nobody has really solidified that into the way work gets done. People just have to figure it out as they go. A way to really leverage a strength is to take the implicit understanding of how things get done and why it matters and make that explicit.

The more you can make the strengths you have as a team move from the unwritten rules to embedded in the way things get done then the more you are able to leverage that strength.

LINKS TO CHECK OUT:

• Send your question HERE – in writing or by recording
• Episode 65: Uncover Strengths Through Stories
• Episode 38: Shift the Negative Vibe on the Team
• Episode 32: Starting Your New Team Off Right
• Learn more about Annie

“How do we figure out what our strengths are in the middle of all the chaos that we are dealing with that tends us towards focusing on what’s wrong or what we need to fix?”

Let’s dive into a way for you to work with your team to change the narrative through a storytelling activity. Listen to the podcast for the full description and use the instructions below as a guide if you’d like to facilitate your own team activity. 

PREWORK:  Set a meeting time – 90 to 120 minutes. To prepare for the session, ask participants to think of one or two stories BEFORE they come to the meeting. 

Plan your meeting in 3 steps!

STEP 1. Have everyone think of their one or two stories they prepared on how they experienced the team at their best. Ask them to write down a few notes on a piece of paper to remind them of the story. Give them 5-10 minutes. Use these question prompts:

• What happened? 
• What contributed to making that experience good? 
• What was the result of the team working at their best?

STEP 2. Everyone takes a turn sharing a single story - round robin style. It’s okay if someone wants to “pass”. They can still contribute to the discussion, because there are two roles to play:

1. The storyteller shares what happened, what made it good, and what was the result of the team being at their best – and in 2 minutes or less. You’ll need a timekeeper. It’s not a deep dive into one story – but seeing trends across many stories. 
2. The audience in the room writes on post it notes a word or phrase that describes the strengths that they hear demonstrated in the story.
3. After the storyteller is done, the audience shares their post it note and places it on the wall.
4. Then move on to the next story 
5. After everyone who wants to share has told one story, you can wrap around again to people who might have a second story to share.

You can’t have too many because in the next step we will narrow it down. 

STEP 3: After you’re done storytelling, leave the last 30 minutes of the meeting to step back and cluster like post-it notes together as a group. Which ones are duplicate words that came up across the stories? What are similar themes that emerged through the storytelling? If your list still seems too big and a little unwieldy, then have the group vote on their top three with check marks or sticky dots. When you’ve narrowed it down, ask the group to reflect on the strengths they see and ask a few reflection questions like:

• How do these strengths make us a better team?
• What are we doing right now that could benefit from leveraging more of our strengths?

Sometimes strengths go unnoticed and then underutilized. By mining for strengths through storytelling you can find ways to “formalize” the use of strengths in the way you structure work or project timelines. You end up solving problems without overfocusing on what’s wrong, instead you’re focusing on what is right about the team.

LINKS TO CHECK OUT:

• Send your question HERE – in writing or by recording
• Episode 38: Shift the Negative Vibe on the Team
• Episode 32: Starting Your New Team Off Right
• Learn more about Annie

What makes someone a leader? It seems like some people are thrown into leadership and others strive for it?

 You can hear both parts of the question that are really linked together. One, what is a leader? And the other is how does one become a leader?

Last episode we walked through the conversation on what actually is a leader? But how do leaders of any kind become leaders? It seems like some people are thrown into leadership and others strive for it.

THROWN INTO LEADERSHIP

There are some leaders who seem to just fall into it. Even at a young age people recognize their influence and follow. They may rise up quickly and can be given higher levels of responsibility and influence. There are strengths and shadows on both sides of being thrown into leadership.

Strengths – In these moments when someone sort of “falls into leadership” the key relationships and the natural charisma  contribute to influence. They can be like accelerants that open doors more quickly so it can seem like they are “born leaders.” These qualities allow them to rally followers and create momentum into the future. 

Shadows – Quick rise risks not developing the character needed to sustain the pressure of leadership or they may be sidetracked by the realities of living leadership in the trenches. It creates a potential blindside that if left unaddressed can lead to burnout or poor choices in personal morality that can have devastating effects on other people.

Leaders that “fall into leadership” have a great responsibility to steward their gifts, opportunity and relationships with humility and put in the work to surround themselves with honest friends. 

STRIVE FOR IT

Leadership isn’t handed to them, but they have to work for every ounce of influence they have, they have to pursue positions that might not be readily handed to them. There might be more asking – and having to face some rejections along the way and rebound from it. 

Strengths - influence through the setbacks is a more sustainable influence built on experiences that ultimately followers can resonate with. 

Shadows - resentment can build up in the face of life’s setbacks and some give up the striving. 

Many potential leaders do the work, get the training, have the expertise and can still hit a glass ceiling or unfair limitations. If you’re one of those striving for leadership and hitting a ceiling, my challenge is to broaden your definition of leadership if you haven’t already. Check out the last episode!

The risk in either scenario is that you focus on leadership rather than the person who you want to be and the person God wants you to be. So, do the work to build your character. Surround yourself with people who can be honest with you. Walk in humility and self awareness. Continue to pursue growth.

LINKS TO CHECK OUT:

• Send your question HERE – in writing or by recording
• Episode 52: Leading a Mentored Life
• Episode 47: Leading From Your Center
• Episode 35: A Non-Anxious Presence in an Anxious World
• Episode 27: The Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make
• Blog: Let Your Values Be Your Guide
• Learn more about Annie