Replace Weaknesses with Strengths to drive your Business Forward

There’s no doubt that constantly maintaining employee motivation is a critical factor in business growth and continuity.

Motivation is the level of commitment, drive, and energy that workers bring to their roles every day. Without it, companies experience reduced productivity, lower levels of output and it’s likely they’ll fall short of reaching important goals too.

Research from Reward Gateway (https://www.rewardgateway.com) – one of the UK’s leading employee engagement platform providers – demonstrates the impact of lack of motivation in no uncertain terms.

It reveals over 70% of UK employees want their employers to do more to motivate them.

Some of the alarming effects that being unmotivated has on employees included a worsening in mood (60 percent); reduction in productivity levels (48 percent); declining mental health (46 percent) and a reduction in quality of work (40 percent).

When you focus too much on developing weaknesses it demotivates and rains people. Photo Ryan Snaadt Unsplash

Over a quarter (26 percent) said their relationships with family and friends suffered and 2 in 10 admitted to drinking more alcohol when lacking motivation.

But despite this, many UK organisations still focus on employees’ weaknesses.

Take the average employee appraisal for instance. Most of the time is spent discussing areas of weakness, and a Personal Development Plan is then drawn up with a structured timescale of how to resolve weaknesses.

Based on the comments above about motivation, surely companies would be more successful if they turned their attention to focusing on their employees’ strengths.

Tom Rath is an American consultant on employee engagement, strengths, and well-being, and author.

He’s best known for his studies on strength-based leadership and well-being and for synthesising research findings in a series of bestselling books.

He once said: “When we build on our strengths and daily successes — instead of focusing on failures — we simply learn more.” This is one of the many reasons why I define Resilience as “Springing Forward with Learning”.

When working with clients I utilise the Strengthscope Psychometric, accredited by the British Psychological Society, that enables my clients to clarify their Significant 7 Strengths, out of a possible 24, and then we work together to understand how they can harness these Strengths day to day, to be more Resilient, Optimistic, Adaptable and Confident.

People who use their strengths are shown to deliver better outcomes and generate better value for those around them and their organisations.

Harnessing your people’s Strengths - motivates and inspires them. Photo Nassoom Azevedo Unsplash

Identifying, and then using, our strengths makes us more confident, engaged with work, productive, and able to build better relationships with our colleagues.

Whilst there’s still a long way to go, some forward-thinking managers are gradually adopting this culture by leading with a ‘strengths-based’ approach.

This is about ‘how’ we work, not ‘what’ work we do. It’s a way of working that focuses on abilities, knowledge, and capacities rather than deficits, or things that are lacking. It recognises that all employees are resilient and capable of growth, learning, and change.

The intention of this approach is not to avoid or minimise problems, challenges, or risks within the workplace, but to identify the assets or strengths that can be built upon and used to support the business to manage risks.

Look out for further blogs in this series – How to Adopt a Strength-Based Approach, The Importance of Adopting a Strength-Based Approach and The Benefits of Adopting a Strength-Based Approach.

If you need further information about this approach, or any other resilience topic, please contact me via email:  russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk