Success is not just about individual brilliance but the cohesive synergy of the entire team. Just like successful sports coaches, business leaders can elevate their teams and create a winning culture by understanding their team dynamics and leveraging their strengths.
Assess the Team Together
Great coaches understand the unique skills and strengths of their players and foster one-on-one connections with each one. Similarly, great leaders assess their teams collectively and individually to ensure the right people are in the right roles and their talents work cohesively.
Assessing the team’s talents helps maximize engagement by matching talented managers with equally talented team members. In fact, this ideal match up results in a remarkable 28.5% higher engagement and, in the healthcare industry, an 8.25 point increase in HCAHPS scores. By identifying individual strengths and talent themes, leaders can strategically position their team members for success.
The Power of the Team Talent Grid
To understand the combined strengths of a team, leaders and employees should utilize a team Talent Grid. At Talent Plus, this grid shows each team member’s top five talent themes and unveils the team’s collective strengths. Leaders should examine this aggregated grid as a team, identifying where they are strongest and where they have gaps.
Once a team understands where their strengths lie, they can better leverage those strengths. Similarly, if they recognize a softer area, they can strategize on how to compensate for those areas or welcome new team members to fill those gaps. This is important because strong teams retain their members at a higher rate than other teams. Our research shows that members of talented teams are one to two times more likely to be retained beyond their first year.
Tailor Coaching to Individual Strengths
With insights from the team’s Talent Grid and individual Talent Cards®, leaders can tailor their coaching strategies to individual team members and together as a group. Recognizing the team’s strengths and softer areas allows for personalized coaching that builds a strong team culture, fosters connection, improves retention and boosts productivity. Tailored coaching is key to achieving this level of success.
Note: Coaching is most successful in retaining team members when those team members are in the right role for their strengths. When each team member is recommended for their role based on a talent assessment, the team experiences an impressive 82% retention rate.
Shape the Future Together
Understanding the team’s current composition is crucial, but equally important is envisioning the future together. Leaders and team members should discuss their collective goals together as a group and in individual coaching sessions.
Where are we headed in two years? Five years? Where do we want to go together? Equipped with a keen understanding of their individual and collective strengths, team members can assume a more active role in shaping their success, which will drive their personal growth and investment in the team and organization as a whole.
Adopt a Cohesive Talent Strategy
In a competitive talent landscape, success hinges on a leader’s ability to understand, nurture and strategically deploy the unique talents within their teams. By adopting a cohesive team strategy, you can pave the way for a winning team that not only achieves but surpasses expectations.
Start your journey today with tailored talent assessments for your whole team.
