The November issue of the Chartered Institute for Personnel & Development magazine, 'People Management', features an article about one of the key areas of Positive Psychology - using strengths.
The article examines the strengths based work of Alex Linley, from the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP), with the board members of aerospace company BAE in the UK. Linley describes how the approach of CAPP is different to that of other organisations that promote a strengths based approach,
"For us, a strengths-based approach is absolutely about focusing on strengths, but it also recognises that if there are areas that you aren’t strong in that are performance-critical, then they have to be addressed as well.”
After interviewing the 16 board members about their ideas of current & future leadership success at BAE, Linley developed a 'leadership strengths profile'. Board members were invited to score themselves against the profile for areas of strength & performance.The board was then allocated key business tasks according to individual strengths, over the period of a month.
Feedback from the board members showed the exercise to be a success, with participants discussing the profound impact that implementing such a subtle change has had on their business practice. As Linley explains,
"...when you adopt a strengths approach, increased engagement and happiness is one of the results. But was that what we set out to achieve with BAE? No, it was about business performance.”
Linley lists five ways to build a strengths based organisation:
1 Ensure that you have a deep and mature understanding of strengths. Strengths are not just the “things that people are good at” but, as we define them, “pre-existing capacities for a particular way of behaving, thinking or feeling that is authentic and energising to the user and enables optimal functioning, development and performance”.
2 Know where the best place is for you to begin. All organisations are collections of teams. As such, building a strengths-based organisation can begin with building a strengths-based culture within a specific team. If you have the option, make this the leadership team.
3 Understand your options for taking the approach more widely into the organisation. These can include a traditional cascade model; taking a “deep slice” of the organisation, using a particular business unit or geographical location; or “lighting fires” – following people’s enthusiasm from the ground up.
4 Recognise the parameters. Do existing appraisal processes fit with a strengths approach? What about performance management processes? Consider a strengths audit to help you answer these questions and explore your options for what you can do about them. Simple shifts in philosophy and emphasis can be all that is needed.
5 Be patient. Creating a strengths focus in an individual, a team or an organisation does not happen overnight. Take your time, understand what works for you, and progress and embed accordingly. Ensure success by evaluating your approach at each stage and refining or refocusing as appropriate.
Alex Linley and Nicky Page, Centre for Applied Positive Psychology http://www.cappeu.org/
2 Know where the best place is for you to begin. All organisations are collections of teams. As such, building a strengths-based organisation can begin with building a strengths-based culture within a specific team. If you have the option, make this the leadership team.
3 Understand your options for taking the approach more widely into the organisation. These can include a traditional cascade model; taking a “deep slice” of the organisation, using a particular business unit or geographical location; or “lighting fires” – following people’s enthusiasm from the ground up.
4 Recognise the parameters. Do existing appraisal processes fit with a strengths approach? What about performance management processes? Consider a strengths audit to help you answer these questions and explore your options for what you can do about them. Simple shifts in philosophy and emphasis can be all that is needed.
5 Be patient. Creating a strengths focus in an individual, a team or an organisation does not happen overnight. Take your time, understand what works for you, and progress and embed accordingly. Ensure success by evaluating your approach at each stage and refining or refocusing as appropriate.
Alex Linley and Nicky Page, Centre for Applied Positive Psychology http://www.cappeu.org/
0 comments:
Post a Comment