Play to People’s Strengths at Work

Play to People’s Strengths at Work: The Top 5 Steps
It is rare for an athlete to be equally good at every position. Yet, at work, some talent management strategies push employees to develop skills that do not align with their unique strengths. While we do not recommend doing away with constructive feedback, we do advise managers to recognize and play to people’s strengths at work whenever possible to drive higher levels of employee engagement, productivity, and team satisfaction.

Rather than focusing solely on fixing weaknesses (which can cause high levels of defensiveness), a strength-based approach cultivates an environment where individuals thrive by doing what they do best.

What the Latest Research Says
Similar to our organizational culture assessment findings, Gallup found that the ability to play to people’s strengths at work is a far more effective approach to increase employee performance than trying to improve an area of weaknesses. Why? Because when employees leverage their strengths, they report higher levels of engagement, productivity, and intent to stay at their company.

5 Steps to Play to People’s Strengths at Work
Here’s how to effectively play to people’s strengths at work.

1. Create Strategic Clarity
   To play to people’s strengths at work, the first step is to ensure that your team’s strategy is clear enough, believable enough, and implementable enough to set the context for what people do and how they behave. We know from our organizational alignment research that strategic clarity accounts for 31% of the difference between high and low performing teams in terms of profitable revenue, leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, customer loyalty, and employee retention.

   If you want to play to play to people’s strengths at work, make sure that team goals and accountabilities are clear enough to provide a clear line of sight between every deliverable and the overall company strategy.

2. Define the Culture Required to Best Execute the Strategy
   Once your strategic direction is set, your next step is to agree upon how you need people to think, behave, and work to achieve your strategic priorities. Along with your strategy, your workplace culture creates the context for people to play to their strengths.

   Is your culture setting the right performance and behavior expectations?

3. Identify Strengths and Motivators
   Understanding employees’ strengths starts with a deliberate approach. Use proven assessment tools such as Leadership Simulation Assessments, StrengthsFinder, People Manager Assessment Centers, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), 360 degree assessments, or personality assessments to gain structured insights and direct feedback from peers. Pay attention to tasks employees complete effortlessly, the types of challenges they embrace, and when they show the most enthusiasm.

   Do you know what makes your employees tick?

4. Identify and Align Roles and Responsibilities
   Once the individual and organizational context for success is clear and agreed upon, your next step is to identify and align job roles with employee strengths to help get you where you want to go. This could involve team restructuring or simply a thoughtful reassignment of tasks to align with employee capabilities and motivations. For example, if an employee excels in relationship-building, consider placing them in a client-facing role. If another employee thrives in analytical thinking, allow them to handle data-driven decision-making.

   Are you making it easy for employees to match their strengths and motivations with their day-to-day responsibilities to increase efficiency and job satisfaction?

5. Foster Strength-Based Collaboration
   Team dynamics improve when members complement each other’s strengths. Pair employees strategically so their skills balance one another. For example, a visionary strategist can be paired with a detail-oriented executor, ensuring that ideas translate into actionable results.

   Are you encouraging shared goals and cross-functional teamwork where different strengths come together?

The Bottom Line
Maximizing people’s strengths at work isn’t about ignoring weaknesses — it’s about amplifying what they do best and ensuring that employees are not forced into ill-fitting situations. High performing leaders ensure that everyone has the chance to add unique value based upon their strengths.  Are you setting your people up to perform at their peak?

To learn more about lifting team performance, download 3 Must-Have Ingredients of High Performing Teams for New Managers