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At its core, the road to development is simple: "Understand, celebrate, and cultivate what you do best." What we mean by that is that it won't do you any good to dwell on weaknesses. By all means, find your employees' areas of improvement, but we see it as helping them grow their talents and making their flaws irrelevant in the process. In other words, "Your weaknesses will never develop, while your strengths will develop infinitely."
According to Gallup data, people who use their work-related strengths are 6x more engaged at work and report a 3x better quality of life. This results in higher job satisfaction, energy, and happiness levels. Needless to say, productivity spikes are a natural result.
Read on to see our picks of the top 15 essential employee strengths with tips on how to help your team improve them. Stick around to the end to discover practical employee engagement software for creating a high-performing crew.
15 work-related strengths examples & how to improve
Communication skills
"The most dangerous organization is a silent one.", says Lorne Rubis, chief culture and transformation officer at NorQuest College.
Good communication skills aren't just about talking – they require mindfulness, listening, empathy, and closely watching others' reactions. Here are six tips for polishing communication, according to Harvard's Mary Sharp Emerson:
- Be clear, brief, and easily understandable
- Prepare beforehand with concrete examples and researched information
- Watch your nonverbal communication – these cues can have about 80% more impact than words
- Watch your tone, both in speech and writing
- Practice active listening
- Develop a workplace communication strategy
Leadership skills
As a manager, you've probably realized that pointing fingers gets you nowhere. Coaching-leadership qualities are the way to go. People management skills are all about empowering others to do their best, helping them put their strengths to good use, and guiding them in the right direction rather than micromanaging. The Gallup Boss to Coach program and The National Society of Leadership and Success help to shape awesome bosses.
Emotional intelligence
"If you're aware of your own emotions and the behaviors they trigger, you can begin to manage [them] ... [and] empathize with employees," says Margaret Andrews, Harvard Professional Development Programs instructor. "Leaders with a high level of emotional intelligence will naturally find it easier to engage in active listening, maintain appropriate tone, and use positive body language."
Some ways to practice this skill include:
- Learn to accept criticism
- Let go of mistakes (your and others')
- Practice assertiveness
- Identify and talk about your feelings
- Practice compassion and listening
- Learn to trust others
- Don't assume you know others' perspectives
Problem-solving skills
Use Raven's Progressive Matrices Test to measure employee strengths in abstract reasoning, logical thinking, pattern recognition, and problem-solving. Developed by John C. Raven, it calculates people's ability to handle challenging tasks effectively. Practicing these or similar puzzles trains the brain to work smoothly in the face of complex obstacles.
Teamwork and collaboration
The aspects we already touched upon will help you grow collaboration skills. Here are additional ways you can strengthen team cooperation abilities:
- Change working groups to have employees experience working with people from different backgrounds
- Encourage questions about learning opportunities rather than looking for blame in difficult situations
- Set clear responsibilities and hold people accountable
- Promote a feedback culture (with collaboration tools, particularly if you manage a remote team)
- Establish common goals that align with individual professional development plans
- Create a clear process for healthy conflict resolution
Flexibility
Managers can foster flexibility by practicing democratic leadership and delegating responsibilities. You could also hold brainstorming sessions to encourage out-of-the-box thinking. Another thing to try is encouraging re-skilling and job sharing so employees can try new skills.
Organization
Alfredo Atanacio, co-founder UassistME.CO identifies these best practices for developing organizational skills:
- Effective goal setting following the SMART principle
- Daily planning, considering historical data to prepare ahead
- Time management, e.g., handling the most complex tasks first
- Realistic scheduling and removing distractions from your surroundings
- Smart delegation – tasks should fit a person's skill set, and expectations ought to be clearly communicated
- Wise resource allocation
Use this helpful prioritization matrix.
Source: Idea to Value
Attention to detail
Here are our tips for being more detail-oriented at work:
- Remove distractions (especially your phone – if you need it, get an internet blocker app)
- Keep a work diary for to-do lists, ideas, etc.
- Take breaks (but no procrastinating!) – try out the Pomodoro technique
- Change up your daily routine or work commute to keep you alert
- Quality food, water, exercise, sleep hygiene, fresh air, you know the drill – all these things help to keep your mind balanced and attentive
- Make reading or logical puzzles a part of your daily routine
- Forget multitasking
Creativity
Food for thought: Google employees get to do whatever they like for 20% of their working time. This could be taking a nap, working on personal projects, or creating affordable hybrid cars, which is what Alec Proudfoot did.
Astro Teller, CEO of X, has a different approach to creative problem-solving: “I ask teams for five ideas [for new concepts]. ... Forcing folks to generate options always improves outcomes.”
Negotiation skills
“Value creation is a key part of the negotiation process,” says Harvard Business School Professor Michael Wheeler. The three foundations of this are:
- Establishing trust
- Finding uncommon ground, i.e., what you bring to the table that the other party lacks
- Planning but being ready to improvise (and practicing doing so)
Presentation skills
Focus on your communication skills first. Then, build on that with these presentation best practices from ASIS.
Source: ASIS
Proactivity
Here's how to be more proactive:
- Stay informed about what's going on around you
- Have a professional growth plan with actionable steps on how to get there
- Take ownership of your actions
- Don't wait around for opportunities
- Suggest improvements of current processes
- Learn to manage time and tasks better (use a time tracker or workflow management tool)
- Ask clarifying and specific questions
- Follow up with clients regularly
Analytical thinking
Strategic and critical thinking can't be done in a rush. Block out time in your daily schedule to give yourself the time and space to think. Go back to our problem-solving or attention-improving tips, as they're linked with logical analysis.
Coachability
According to the authors of Becoming Coachable, "The most successful leaders are agile learners who can evolve continuously (...) gain self-awareness, take in constructive feedback, and build new skills. This enables them to lead with more empathy and humanity, ultimately creating greater impact in their organizations."
As a leader, you have to be open to:
- Change
- Feedback
- Taking action
- Being held accountable
Independence and accountability
According to Gallup research, managers should promote independence and commitment to common goals by:
- Defining expectations
- Setting cascadable, measurable, and personalized goals (and tracking them)
- Providing performance-oriented updates backed by meaningful data
- Creating growth opportunities
- Celebrating progress
How can Effy AI help you develop work-related strengths?
If you're looking for a way to establish your team's work-related strengths and help employees use them to create a productive workplace, you'll benefit from Effy AI. It's the best performance management software you can start using in mere minutes. This tool improves workplace transparency and puts everyone on the same page regarding strengths and weaknesses.
Managers profit by storing all team information in one place, making it easier to monitor employee growth and fostering a caring company culture by helping to celebrate successes. With our Slack integration, you can run reviews and give positive feedback without leaving the messaging platform.
Effy AI has tools for tracking milestones and fostering a mutually empowering atmosphere with 360 reviews. According to experts, "Everyone should play a role in developing their colleagues by providing meaningful feedback and coaching." You need 360 feedback software to see the bigger picture, not just the manager's perspective on their subordinates. Effy AI lets everyone be heard and removes communication barriers with anonymization features.
Plus, you get actionable insights and AI-assisted reports that help you pave the way for smart employee skills assessment and improvement strategies.
Conclusion
Spend that extra time to help your team develop crucial employee strengths listed in this article, and you'll see spikes in morale, productivity, and pretty much all aspects of work life.
Effy AI can help you hone in on the work-related strengths of your team (and yourself). It gives you access to performance reviews and peer feedback tools which will help you spot valuable qualities and focus on improving them.
Sign up for free to actively promote good work ethics and start amplifying employee strengths.
FAQs
What are work-related strengths?
Work-related strengths can include all the technical skills, traits, and talents that allow employees to do their jobs effectively.
What are the 3 work-related strengths?
There are many more examples of qualities that help in personal and professional growth than just three. However, if we were to pick the top ones, it would be strong communication skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to work in a team, as these are the core of any collaborative space.
What are examples of strengths in the workplace?
Some other examples of strengths in the workplace are having a positive attitude even in the face of challenges, flexibility, dependability, good organization, and problem-solving skills.
How do I find my strengths at work?
You probably already know your best qualities; most positive personal life traits are also valuable in the work environment. If not, you can use Effy AI for regular performance reviews and 360 feedback. Its peer recognition tools will help your whole team realize (and act on) their strengths.
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