Discover others' strengths and energizers

- Imagine what our workplaces would be like if we all understood what our strengths were, what work energized us, and we spent our time doing the work that we loved. We would have teachers in our schools who had an innate ability to understand each student and how they like to learn. Teachers who love to grow young minds. Researchers working on the toughest problems in our world, who had great curiosity, the right skill sets, and a passion to solve these complex problems. Teammates who were great in their area of expertise and also knew how to collaborate and bring out the best in others. Let's learn how working with strengths bring out the best in others, and how to discover strengths, energizers, and aspirations. When we help people discover their strengths, what energizes them, and connect their passions with their work, we're tapping into their intrinsic motivations. Korn Ferry did research on what motivates those who overperform. 76% of employees who feel intrinsically motivated overperformed compared to only 60% who are externally motivated. In other words, salary and promotions are less important in driving results than people doing the work that they love. In a world where 87% of employees are disengaged from their work, helping people connect with what matters allows them to perform at their very best. So how do we, as transformational leaders, connect people with their strengths, energizers, and aspirations? There are many resources available to you to do that. First, listen at a deeper level. Normally, we're listening to others' words, but mostly, we're waiting to respond to them. Our attention is divided between what the other person is saying and our own thoughts and feelings. When we listen deeply, we're paying more attention to the other person. We're noticing not just the words, but also the emotions behind the words. We're noticing the body language, what is not being said, but being felt. We start to notice when a person is energized and what's energizing them. We can then bring our curiosity to this. For example, you can say, "I'm noticing you're really energized right now. What's energizing for you?" Or, "You seem tired or depleted, what's got you down?" This helps us know others' motivators. Try to discover others' strengths by using an assessment tool with your team. Tools like the StrengthsFinder help each team member discover the strengths that they are motivated to exercise. You can also discover strengths by asking others what someone does well. Once we have a sense of other strengths, we can help them find ways to bring those strengths to their work, or we can assign them projects where their strengths will have impact. We catch them doing something right and we give them positive feedback. This creates a cycle of motivation that helps them bring even more personal energy and focus to their work. We can also bring our curiosity and ability to ask good questions to help them discover their strengths, energizers, and their aspirations. In the exercise file called "Discover Strengths and Energizers", you will find a list of these questions. Now, start to think about the people you work with. Next to each person's name, write down what you know to be their strengths, their energizers, and their aspirations. If you're coming up short, I definitely recommend you set up some time to get curious and connect with the people so you can help them be at their very best.