Create Resilience with a Strengths-Based Culture

Resilience is the capacity to respond to disruption and change by bouncing back with speed and grace. A team running low on resilience will under-perform and eventually burn out. Greater engagement, especially through strengths awareness can increase resilience throughout your team.

As energy systems, each of us needs to balance stress (energy output) with recovery (energy input). Too much stress with too little recovery leads to burn-out (HPI, 2010).

Put this idea into the context of character strengths, the expression of which we find fulfilling. Too much and too little use of character strengths can have a negative impact on well-being and other important factors (Grant and Schwartz, 2011). How so?

Burn Out

If the strength that you most enjoy exercising is judgment you will face many decisions with thoughtful evaluation before you take action. Others will thank you for your perspective. Your team’s actions will be well-considered. If you don’t have enough opportunity to express this strength you will feel frustrated that you are not contributing and not feeling appreciated. You will burn out.

On the other hand, if you over-use your preferred strength of judgment you run the risk of irritating others and avoiding action. Imagine what this is like for a teammate whose preferred strength is zest. He wants to launch a 4-color media campaign while you’re revising the feasibility study, for the 5th time. The result of not balancing strengths is usually alienation, low morale, and missed opportunities . . . burn out.

Balance

High performing teams need a wide-array of abilities. By understanding the signature strengths of your team you can organize projects so that team members have more opportunity to expend energy in personally satisfying ways.

Members also find more energy recovery opportunities when a teammate takes a task better suited to their strengths profile. Team members that are engaged with each other and their work will more effectively manage the resilience cycle.

Energized and sustainable contributions improve productivity, customer service, innovation, staff retention, and creativity. All of this translates to a workforce ready, able, and willing to take on the next challenge.

To learn more about this topic, references, and the Moxie Mavericks Team Strengths Workshop visit the home blog and http://moxiemavericks.com/team-strengths-builder.html

Lisa Gentile M.S. is the founding coach at Moxie Mavericks LLC and provides evidence-based performance coaching and consulting for individuals and teams. Specialties include transitions, strengths, and resilience. Free consultations are available via http://www.moxiemavericks.com