Effective leadership is more than just telling others what to do.

A true leader understands the importance of enabling others to feel they have a say in how something is done and that providing this type of atmosphere improves job satisfaction and productivity.

Too often, leaders are not aware what the keys to effective leadership that provides this atmosphere actually are, however.

Invest in Strengths

Good leaders know how to leverage their strengths to meet the challenges they face when leading others. They know where they are the strongest and focus on improving those strengths in order to effectively guide those around them.

It has been said that leadership consists of four domains that include executing, influencing, relationship-building and strategic thinking. Surprisingly, effective leaders are rarely strong in all four of these domains. In fact, one of them may actually be a weakness. However, effective leaders know how to focus on the domains where they excel in order to motivate others.

A leader who attempts to excel in all four domains is often a mediocre leader.

Surrounded with Greatness

The key to becoming an effective leader is to surround yourself with those who are strong where you are weak. If you have difficulty selling ideas, but excel in uniting a group of diverse individuals into a team that works, you want to be sure that someone on your team has strong influence skills that will work well with your relationship-building skills.

Because good leaders know what their weaknesses are, they are able to choose team members who excel in those skills and can support the team in an area where the leader cannot. Too often, leaders choose teams based on technical skill when what they really need are more leaders in order to make the team effective.

Understand the Needs of the Team

Effective leaders have the ability to meet the following four needs in order to create a good team:

• Trust – The members of the team trust the leader and the leader trusts the team.
• Compassion – It is critical that the team believe that the leader cares about them.
• Stability – An effective leader is dependable at all times.
• Hope – Team members want to feel as if their work matters and that their future prospects are secure.

Unlike leadership domains, an effective leader must meet all four of these needs in order to build an effective team.

A leader may possess many skills that will benefit them when they guide a team, but an effective leader not only understands what strengths they have, but also where their weaknesses lie. This allows them to build a team with members who may fill in the areas where the leader lacks ability.

If you want to learn more about becoming an effective leader, contact Strengths Zone today. As a Gallup Certified Training and Coaching organization, Strengths Zone creates strategies and solutions based on natural talent, not by eliminating weaknesses. Visit us online or send us an email today to learn more about our training programs.

Looking for the negative aspects in life is human nature, but it isn’t necessarily because people have a negative view on life. Instead, it is also human nature to want to fix things, to make things right.

It is instinctive to find problems and then develop a solution to that problem to feel as if we are accomplishing things. We do this when we tackle projects, but we also do it in our interactions with people, especially employees.

Unfortunately, this style of leadership rarely accomplishes anything. Instead, quality leaders use what is known as strength-based leadership, focusing on the strengths and passions of employees rather than their weaknesses. These four tips can help you move into a strength-based leadership role as opposed to a weakness-focused leadership role.

Ask Don’t Assign

When you are leading a team or a company, it is a natural instinct to want to assign the best staff member to particular projects. Learn about your employees by talking to them individually to identify their strengths.

You may find that a quiet analyst would love to work on a marketing campaign or that your best graphic designer may also have a knack for numbers. It may mean moving people around to fill in gaps, but when you work from a strength-based focus, you will find yourself choosing team members that fit together perfectly.

Diversity is Important

When you focus on weaknesses, you tend to choose “yes” people for your projects instead of those who will question, make suggestions and point out flaws. You want a team made up of many different cultures, passions, ages and genders in order to get a multitude of perspectives.

Instead of choosing based solely on skill, choose team members based on their strengths, even if those strengths may not seem to apply to their actual job title. Diverse teams historically develop the most ground-breaking ideas.

Be Open

Transparency is a word that is thrown around often in today’s business world, but it is one of the most important character traits of an exceptional leader. If you are open and honest with your team, they will be open and honest with you. You will learn their hopes, their passions and their dreams which provides you with insight to their motivation.

The key is to listen to their ideas rather than just hear the words. When you implement one of their ideas, give them credit to let them know you were listening. You will find that an open atmosphere will encourage your team to work much harder for you and your company.

Encourage Thinking Outside the Box

When you empower your employees, you encourage them to think outside the box, to be creative and to take risks. You want your team members to be curious, naïve and willing to implement unconventional ideas. There will be conflicts as a diverse team often means strong opinions that can lead to disagreement.

Effective leaders know how to guide those passions into action without dampening the enthusiasm of the team or the individuals who disagree.

An effective leader understands how to encourage others to express their opinions, how to motivate a team to think unconventionally and methods for creating an honest, open relationship with everyone in the company.

At Strengths Zone, a Gallup Certified Training & Coaching organization, we provide you with the skills to focus on these four keys to becoming a strength-based leader. Visit us online or send us an email today to learn how we can help you apply strengths-based development to your company.