Leading a company involves more than just managing resources and setting strategies; it also includes nurturing and growing the people within the organization. Leadership coaching often emphasizes growth through acquiring new skills or behaviors, but sometimes, the most potent transformations come from unlocking hidden leadership strengths already present within us. These strengths can be the key to unlocking peak performance, often lying just beneath the surface, overlooked in our daily routines.
Uncovering Hidden Strengths
The concept of unlocking hidden leadership strengths is simple yet profound. By uncovering these innate abilities, leaders can enhance their effectiveness and lead their teams more successfully. The process of discovering hidden strengths can start with a few insightful questions:
What motivates you? Understanding what drives individuals can reveal intrinsic strengths they may not be fully aware of. One of my clients just shared that he loved to tinker and experiment; those skills suggest curiosity.
Where do you spend most of your time? Identifying areas where leaders naturally invest their time can highlight their genuine interests and strengths. Most of my time is spent with people, which suggests strengths in relationship-building and collaboration.
What natural tendencies do you exhibit? Observing consistent behaviors and reactions can provide clues to inherent strength. Another client is very generous and enjoys sharing; this suggests that teaching and using her interpersonal skills are essential to her.
How do these strengths typically manifest? Recognizing how these strengths appear in daily interactions and tasks can help leverage them more effectively. One client mentioned his love for cooking, more for the joy he gets from trying and experimenting. If the food tastes awful, no problem. Failing is part of the process.
The Power of Self Awareness
Witnessing the realization of hidden strengths is a decisive moment for any leader. Amidst constant changes in the workplace, discovering that one already possesses many of the strengths needed to succeed can be incredibly refreshing and empowering. This self-awareness can significantly improve performance and confidence, as evidenced by my clients’ experiences.
Client Testimonial
Here’s a quote from one of my clients:
“The most powerful results for change were when Gail pointed out that the assessment told us I have the tools to improve. I just hadn’t realized how to apply them! This realization made me much more comfortable thinking about how to change to get better results from certain potentially troublesome interactions. I was able to try out my new approach soon after with two specific interactions. The results of those interactions turned out so well I was astounded. Not only did I avoid possible negative outcomes, but I was also able to achieve overwhelmingly positive outcomes. On top of it all, I just used my natural skills to do it! I would have never developed this new approach without the coaching sessions with Gail.”
My client’s hidden strength? He was naturally curious! This discovery fueled his transformation through his communication skills. Additionally, as a naturally introverted person, his curiosity gave him high confidence in having a great conversation. He demonstrated how to show up as a people leader and collaborator. It was a dramatic change to witness that his management publicly recognized his leadership with peers as an example to follow.
What are your hidden strengths? Send me a private message, and I’ll see how I can help!
A related video is Marcus Buckingham’s Invest in Your Strengths. He takes this idea and compares how different it feels to invest in our strengths instead of working on our weaknesses or areas of development. “A strength is an appetite more than pure ability. It is the appetite that leads to practice that leads to performance.”
Coaching helps to uncover where we already show competency.