Are you in a Strengths-Based Team
By John Baluyot, CEO and Co-founder of Positive Workplaces
Imagine being part of a team who fixates on your contributions more than your weaknesses.
“I wasn’t lying when I said, you were the true activator behind everything”. I received this feedback after the most recently concluded Strengths Philippines Conference where I functioned as a Marketing Committee Lead, and also one of the Plenary Speakers. This latched on to me and gave me so much personal validation.
Strengths Philippines is one of the biggest volunteer led communities in the world espousing Strengths-practice, more specifically, CliftonStrengths. Last Oct. 27, 2023, through its volunteer leaders, it was able to successfully run the 2023 Strengths Conference with the theme: Transformations: Elevating Lives with Strengths. As a testament to the power of strengths, these leaders, who also have full-time jobs, were able to gather 205 strengths enthusiasts and Coaches in what is now the biggest face-to-face conference they’ve hosted ever since the community was formed by founder, Coach Pia Acevedo eight years ago. The collective efforts of the team also got around fifteen organizations to sponsor and partner with the event making us hit our financial goals. They were also able to onboard 7 Gallup Certified Strengths Coaches to volunteer their time and expertise as speakers, one of whom flew directly from the United States. And the amazing part was while most conferences take a year to plan and organize an event, this one only took two to three months.
While most people would focus on analyzing this case using some intricate research methodology, let me elaborate my personal observations, being in front and center of the action.
What does it feel like to be in a Strengths-Based Team?
People accept you for you.
When I got onboarded two months before the conference, all we had was the confirmed date, the venue and the theme. The speakers were still being finalized, there was no program flow yet, and the norms within the committees were still being established. Then the challenge given was, “John, we need 200 attendees, and a good number of sponsors so we can raise funds for the community”.
As a person with some marketing background, I knew that I would need information to start a campaign. So I approached the committee and said, “I am sorry if I will be a bit pushy on the info, but we need those to run a campaign”. The response I got from the leads was, “You do not have to apologize for being pushy. You were being you-- an Activator. And we know it’s needed”. From then, I knew that people here accepted me for being me. And that gave me so much energy and motivation to carry on contributing to hit the goals.
People confidently communicate their talents and capabilities
When you have big personalities in the team who are very aware of their strengths, it can be quite intimidating too. Especially for the Conference Lead, Coach Jjo. However, this lady was a great example of knowing what she can bring to the table and she communicated that earlier on, just like everyone else. She knew she had the ability to create a safe space for people to function, make them feel included, and support them in areas that needed support. She was clear that she leads with Relationship Building and while this was her first time to lead a face-to-face conference for Strengths Philippines, her leadership just made history by achieving things that we as a group accomplished. The same thing I could say for Coach Monette, who had to step in and use her responsibility talent theme to be the Sponsorship Lead, and Coach G who stepped up as our Events Director working side-by-side Coach Cheng’s in the Programs Committee. Coach Vien who used his Maximizer theme to make sure that everything will run smoothly in registration while Coach Carol who leaned on her consistency and analytical talent themes to ensure that all financial transactions and targets are met. And Coach Sarah for activating a lot of things with me and bringing her whole team and resources, wink wink, Monday.com to get all of our act as a cohesive whole. People just knew their value and what they could bring. And that was great power on its own.
Even during stressful times, people are generally happy
The journey of the conference was not perfect. Some important information came late. There were confusions with some leaders on what to do, who will do what, and how to do things. We were competing for attendees and sponsors with other conferences that were scheduled around the same time. And the leads and committee members were volunteers who had full-time jobs. However, when people have a common love for Strengths-practice because their lives have benefited so much from it already, they tend to resonate with the bigger meaning of wanting to have a country that has more people living that mindset. And that meaning became a common source of happiness for the group, even when things got really tough.
People do not just appreciate results. They appreciate the people
I remember seeing this in different versions. One was this common practice of filling the bucket-- which meant, regularly giving appreciation to people during the committee meetings. The second one I saw at the rear end of the conference when the President of Strengths Philippines, Pia Acevedo asked for a full-list of all the volunteers, thanked them one-by-one during the plenary, and immortalized the scene with a photo op with them. The third one was a bit endearing for me. When everyone was itching to go home to beat the Friday long weekend traffic, the Committee Lead for Volunteer Care, Coach Bernice, gathered all the volunteers in the organizer’s room and really took the time to check in with everyone, and acknowledge their parts in our big win. And while the conference day has already passed, I still receive messages of appreciation from different team members and leads simply because when people are provided with a language to appreciate others-- they simply use it until it becomes a full blown culture. Strengths was that language.
The last question here really is:
How do we start or enhance strengths-based teams?
Fill your cup with strengths knowledge.
There are a lot of resources now around whether through the Gallup website (www.gallup.com), their social media pages, Theme Thursday podcasts (this is Godsend) and even the local podcast we are starting for Asian cultures, Strengths at Work (http://tinyurl.com/StrengthsAtWorkPodcastEp02)
Invest on Strengths experts
I always share this, and I will share it again. Getting Coach May and Coach Lippy to do our Strengths Discovery for our team was one of the eye-opening experiences that my team had about Strengths. And getting the Gallup Coaching Certification was one of the best trainings I’ve invested in for myself, as I got my persona return-on-investment in just less than half a year (but I am a nerd and a strategist, so it was faster for me), and my company ROI’d also as we won two big key accounts soon as I got the certification.
Strategize embedding Strengths-based culture in your organization
Have a plan. Culture requires a certain level of intentionality because of its collective values and learning that should be integrated with organizational strategy. It needs a plan so it can be integrated faster. While there are a lot of practices that we can adopt, Strengths-based culture should definitely be one of them given a fast-changing world that requires faster capability development, and more individualized employee engagement and experience.
If you want to know more about these, you could reach out to us via email at learn@positiveworkplaces.org
Or you may follow the Strengths Philippines facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/StrengthsPhilippines/
