Knowing the Strengths That Move Teams Forward
Why awareness, not motivation, is the real driver of performance
Juan Alvarado broke down how coworkers’ strengths are crucial to success in a Saturday morning session, “Strength-based Teams: Unlocking Potential at Every Level.”
He opened his talk by noting that he had no experience speaking to transportation professionals, then realized he had years of experience from his time in the U.S. Army, overseeing movement and assignments in Iraq.
He referenced the Gallup Strength Assessment that determines individual strengths based on survey results, and pointed to four key elements.
- Executing – People with dominant Executing themes know how to make things happen.
- Influencing – People with dominant influencing themes know how to take charge, speak, and make sure the team is heard.
- Relationship-building – People with dominant Relationship-building themes can build strong relationships that hold a team together and make the team greater than the sum of its parts.
- Strategic thinking – People with dominant Strategic Thinking themes help teams consider what could be. They absorb and analyze information that can inform better decisions.
Alvarado urged attendees to take account of their teams’ abilities, and said the approach also can be applied to personal relationships, including marriages.
“It would be a benefit to know the strengths of your coworkers,” he said, adding that knowing a spouse’s strengths and acknowledging your own can help a marriage.
He also highlighted the four ways that strengths show up on teams:
*How people process (out loud vs. internal)
*How people decide (fast vs. deliberate)
*How people respond to pressure (push vs. pause)
*How people define “good work” (speed, accuracy, harmony, result)
Then he had attendees break into groups to discuss four topics related to strengths and relationships.
The open-ended discussion points were:
- You get the best of me when…
- You get the worst of me when…
- You can count on me to…
- This is what I need from you…
He emphasized that in team settings, motivation comes last, after a decision, an action, and momentum.
He closed by encouraging attendees to consider who their teams need them to be.
