Remember the matching game you played as a child? Cards were placed face down and you had to find the matches. The one who had the most matches at the end of the game won.
Remember the matching game you played as a child? Cards were placed face down and you had to find the matches. The one who had the most matches at the end of the game won.
Leading your team is like the match game. Your job is knowing the strengths of your team members and matching them to the needs of your organization. As a leader, you view your organization strategically, looking broadly across the entirety of it.
This perspective is important as you consider the strengths of your team members and where they can best contribute. Empowered team members bring their strengths and their highest level of contribution; they are motivated to contribute their strengths to the organization's vision.
Matching by Strengths
Just as discovering the locations of several cards made matching easier, knowing each team member's strengths along with your view of the broader picture gives you the perspective to position team members in the right place to contribute most effectively to the organization. You match their strengths to the organizations vision and goals.
Jim Collins, in Good to Great, refers to this as having everyone in the right seat on the bus. His contention was great companies not only have the right players on their team, but they have them in the right seat on the bus, contributing their best work to the goals of the organization. Your position, seeing strategically, understanding the vision and goals from a larger vista helps each team member understand what they’re contributing to the whole of the vision.
Win-Win Results
Matching the strengths of your team to the needs of the organization provides win-win results; the organization's vision is realized and members of your team experience the rewards of contributing to something bigger than themselves. Your role as the leader is to help team members understand where you want to go together and to help them plug in to make their highest and best contribution.
Truly empowered team members embrace this matching process. They may even come to you as they see a new way their strengths can be used to reach your goals more effectively and efficiently.
What would it look like to have that level of engagement in your team? Are you ready to embrace these empowered employees? Are you ready to take a giant leap forward toward your vision?
