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Strengths$-$Based Development

When drought threatened the survival of Ohio farming co$-$op Auglaize Provico, CEO

Larry Hammond realized that he would have to change the business model. Grain

elevators were sold, headcount was carefully reduced by $25$ percent, and the co$-$op took

on work outside of its previous core business. Hammond even cut his own pay.

Hammond then implemented strengths$-$based development to leverage the unique

strengths and talents of each employee. The strengths approach recognizes that

everyone has different talents and natural patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior.

Recognizing and building on those talents with pertinent skills and knowledge creates

strengths. People who are applying a true strength tend to perform well. Hammond

hoped that encouraging employees to leverage their innate talents would enable them

to drive the business forward.

Auglaize$$s management had previously used a $$deficit$$ development approach,

spending a lot of time identifying employees$$ weaknesses and trying to correct them.

This meant that a lot of Auglaize$$s management was relatively negative. Hammond

wanted to change that approach. He says, $$If you really want to $[$excel$],$ you have to

know yourself$$you have to know what you$$re good at$,$ and you have to know what

you$$re not so good at$,$ and a lot of people don$$t$.$ Most of us know what we$$re not good at

because people tell us$.$ And we also tend to want to fix it$.$ The idea that workers should

$$fix$$ their weaknesses is common, but it can be problematic because attempts to fix

weaknesses take time, attention, and energy away from maximizing naturally powerful

talents. Employees also enjoy using their talents and doing something well instead of

struggling against their weaknesses to produce mediocre work.

Every employee in the co$-$op took an assessment to measure and identify his or her top

five talents and received at least two consultations on their individual strengths. This

enabled Auglaize to build on what its employees naturally do best. Employees became

more engaged, productive, and energized, and the organization became more

successful. As one expert says, $$One issue is that the people who are really valued

often don$$t know who they are, especially in times of change. If managers regularly give

positive feedback to key performers, it increases their confidence to undertake greater

challenges and reinforces their commitment.

Questions:

$1.$ Do you think it is better to focus on assessing and developing employees$$

weaknesses or to focus on their strengths? Why?

$2.$ Why would strengths$-$based development increase employee engagement?

$3.$ If you were a manager, how might you interact with employees differently if you

were using strengths$-$based development rather than deficit$-$based development?