• Identify your top three personal leadership strengths
• Assess the strengths of team/staff members
• Create an action plan to strategically engage others to achieve
optimal outcomes
Objectives
"The effective executive makes strengths productive. To achieve results
one has to use all the available strengths—the strengths of
associates, the strength of the superior, and one's own strengths.
These strengths are the true opportunities. To make strength
productive is the unique purpose of the organization. It cannot
overcome the weaknesses with which each of us is endowed, but it
can make them irrelevant." Peter Drucker 50 years ago.
Qtd. in Zenger and Folkman (2013)
Strengths and Weaknesses
• Change in thinking from “fixing” what’s wrong about us.
• Suspend the belief that we can be anything we want to be.
• Instead of working on what we “can’t” do, let’s focus on what we do best.
A Different Perspective
• Influencing others to meet deadlines and quality requirements
• Communicating your intentions and expectations effectively
• Increasing shared and individual accountability
• Managing projects and project teams
• Problem solving and decision making
• Completing and conducting performance appraisals
Some Leadership Competencies
• Coaching and training
• Motivating employees
• Building teams
• Providing positive and constructive feedback
• Being assertive
• Resolving conflict
• Facilitating meetings
Some Leadership Competencies
• Managing stress
• Managing difficult people
• Goal setting and managing your time effectively
• Effectively delegating
• Managing multiple priorities
• Managing up
• Other
Some Leadership Competencies
• Communicating a vision
• Systems thinking
• Challenge the status quo
• Demonstrating sound judgment
• Innovative
• Other
Some Leadership Competencies
• What’s your top strength?
• How can you use your strengths in your roles?
• How can we leverage each other’s strengths to build a supportive
community?
Table Discussion
Groups report out of answers
1. Top strengths
2. Use in roles
3. Leveraging to build community
Large Group Debrief
• What are the top strengths of our team members?
• How do we interact?
• What motivates my team members?
• How do we demonstrate and maintain trust?
• Do we celebrate success?
Questions to Ask About Your Team
• How do I, as the leader, encourage my team to use their strengths?
• What assignment or project may I provide to build on their strengths?
• Am I creating an environment or culture that supports members’
strengths?
• How clearly do I demonstrate my commitment to their success?
Questions to Ask About Your Actions as the
Leader of Your Team
You need to know where you’re going; lay out a map for the
trip in order to get where you want to be.
Action Plan
• What is your overarching priority for your development or of your
workgroup?
• Can you articulate it in a sentence or two?
• Identify the resources you have available.
• When rallying support, be sure to answer the WII-FM for your
stakeholders.
Crystallize Your Plan
Best-practices exchange—in table groups
What’s working well in your area of responsibility?
How do you know you are successful in working from the perspective of
strengths rather than weaknesses?
Table Discussion—Measuring Success
Commit to a series of steps:
Identify the date on which you will implement the first item.
From your resources identified earlier, select one who may hold you
accountable.
Set a follow-up for 30 days from that date.
What progress have you made?
What changes have you noticed as a result of your plan?
What has worked well? Why?
What did not work? Why?
Revise your plan if needed, then use the same questions to review the
adjustments.
Implementing these Changes
• Buckingham, M. and Clifton, D. O. (2001) Now, Discover Your
Strengths. The Free Press. NY.
• LinkedIn Strengths Finders Group—
www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1269617&goback=.anp_1269617_13
76880641533_1.
• Neff, T. J. & Citrin, J. M. (2005) You’re in Charge – Now What?
Crown Publishing, NY.
• Rath, T. (2007) “Strengths Finder 2.0.”
• Rath, T. and Conchie, B. (2008) Strengths-Based Leadership.
• Zenger, J. and Folkman, J. (2013) “Three Myths About Your
Strengths.” http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/07/three-myths-about-your-
strengths/.
Resources
Rita Williams-Bogar, CPCU, MBA, AINS, AU, ARM, ChFC,
is president and CEO of Personal Development Solutions, LLC, which she founded
after a highly successful corporate career in the insurance industry. Her firm has
just celebrated its 10th anniversary of providing consultative services to the industry
in the areas of leadership development, ethics, diversity and insurance technical
education.
linkedin.com/in/ritawilliamsbogar
@PersDevSolu
(201) 404-7960
About Your Presenter
1:00 – 2 PM
Competencies for Leaders and Managers
Monday, September 29 Module 1 - Essential Competencies
Monday, October 20 Module 2 - Making the Transition from Individual Contributor to Manager
Monday, November 3 Module 3 - The Power of Language – Communicating with Authority…and Respect
Monday, November 17 Module 4 - Leadership Styles – Part I
Monday, December 8 Module 5 - Leadership Styles – Part 2
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