It is Friday morning and Joe is intent on practising the new behaviours he has learned to help spark engagement. He thanks everybody for completing their Strengthscope360™ assessment and asks each for feedback about how they felt after completing the assessment. Most agree that it felt energizing. Some admit that they are a little anxious about the feedback they'll be getting from the colleagues they'd invited to contribute.

“Tell me about it!” he laughs. “I'm still recovering from what you all said about me. In fact, let's not talk about it. Let's get cracking with crystallizing our picture of success – what this organization will look and feel like in let's say one year's time, and what we will have achieved,” he continues.

Working through an exercise Richard had shown him, Joe facilitates a discussion, with the help of Post-it notes, culminating in the following succinct statement:

“Tiger created the future of recruitment.”

Working with the team to visualize and list what people would be saying about them when they had achieved this, what they would be doing, what other signs of success there would be to signify that they had achieved their goal, was like lighting a firework. Well, for most of the team.

“That was a brilliant session, everybody, thanks for contributing so openly. Oh, and by the way, I was joking about your feedback being hard to swallow. I found it very enlightening and believe it's helping me to get my act together and become a better leader. I think you'll be surprised about how helpful the insights you give each other are too,” Joe concludes.

“Joe. I need a word,” Phil states flatly as the others head to the door.

Phil was the only member of the team who had not completed the Strengthscope360™ assessment. Observing Phil's contribution – or lack thereof – during this session, Joe knows what he has to do.

“Sure, Phil, come this way,” he responds calmly, leading Phil to his office.

An animated and open discussion about Phil's comfort zone begins. Phil lists too many reasons why he cannot move beyond his comfort zone. He questions the reality of a stretch zone where people do their best work, or the need for one. He claims Joe's actions will push the entire team over the edge and into burnout territory. He also emphasizes the need for the team to get on with the “day job”, rather than being distracted by “all this culture change and development nonsense”.

Thirty minutes later, Phil emerges from Joe's office. The two have come to an agreement. While they concur that Phil has the right skills for the position, which is why he was recruited, his strengths and mindset do not lend themselves to easily adapting and thriving in the type of culture Tiger is encouraging. Phil enjoys the comfort zone and is simply not willing to do what is necessary to go beyond it. He has always dreamed of setting up his own business, one that fitted in around his family and lifestyle. Joe hands him a lifeline – a day a week as financial advisor to Tiger Recruitment for a period of three months, with an opportunity to be introduced to other organizations in the Tiger network. Phil is, in his own quiet way, very pleased with the agreement he has struck with Joe. Joe is frankly relieved, especially as he is confident that he can draw on the strengths of other members of the Finance team to cover for Phil's departure.

*

“You have the makings of a very powerful team here, Joe,” reassures Richard as he concludes his summary of the management team's Strengthscope360™ profiles.

“Between you, your team covers almost every area of that strengths wheel we talked about and, you have the right mix of strengths to improve the performance of this business. The not so good news is that you lack a team member with Developing Others as a core strength. This may become a limiting weakness if you do not address it intentionally.

“The next step is to look at these people to see where they fall in the passion–performance grid,” advises Richard as he brings a graphic up on his screen.¹

The clues given at the meeting earlier in the week, and the knowledge provided by the Strengthscope360™ profiles, make placing the management team members on this grid an easy task for Joe. The outcome though is a little worrying. With Phil (who Joe had once thought of as his heir apparent) gone, Mark falling into the disengaged underperformer area and Raj an engaged underperformer, Joe for the first time that week feels under pressure. Reminding himself of the need to choose a more positive mindset by asking himself what is good about his team currently, he notes that at least Gwen is a steady contributor and Sally is vital talent.

“How would it feel to have all members of your team sitting up there with Sally – a team of vital talent?” asks Richard.

“I have no idea, but if they were, I sure as hell wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation with you, Richard!” jokes Joe.

“Do you think it is possible?” pushes Richard.

“I think it's unlikely, given recent performances, but I'm guessing you're going to tell me that it is and that it's all about stretching their strengths,” replies Joe.

“Correct. By positively stretching each team member, aligning their strengths to their roles, setting appropriate goals and projects, there is no reason why your leadership team cannot all be contributing at the level that Sally is. The key is to set positive – not negative – challenges, Joe.

“What do you think the difference is between positive stretch and negative stretch, Joe? How will you know if you're on the right track?” asks Richard.

“I guess negative stretch is asking them to change too quickly. There'll be signs that they are hurting,” Joe responds, rubbing the back of his neck as he leans back in his chair.

“Kind of, but not quite. Whenever we try something new, it hurts a bit to start off with. If it doesn't, we're not really stretching outside the comfort zone. It's more about whether you're asking them to stretch in areas of strength or not, and whether they're feeling adequately supported.

“Positive stretch is usually in line with the person's strengths and needs the right level of support. Support should be provided from you, their manager, but can also come from co-workers, coaches, mentors and others. It also means intentionally building a positive, open work environment which encourages risk-taking, agility, teamwork, and shared learning. Negative stretch is unsupported challenge in an area of weakness. Like expecting a fish to swim out of water,” concludes Richard.

“OK. So what do I need to do next then, Richard?” asks Joe, picking up the pace.

“Well, you need to have some firm but supportive conversations with those guys and encourage them to set their own goals, while you focus on staying on course with yours. One thing that will help you stay in positive stretch is to take a good look around at who you have to help you. The best leaders I've ever worked with have not just sought support from coaches. They've also informally appointed support from their personal and professional networks,” replies Richard.

“What sort of support?” asks an intrigued Joe.

“Well, different types from different people. Typically they've turned to someone in a similar situation to themselves, with similar interests and career aspirations to support them as a collaborator; to someone with strong interpersonal skills and networks as a connector; to someone strong on empathy and encouragement to provide emotional support, kind of like a counsellor; to someone strong on optimism for encouragement; and to someone within the industry, steeped in experience, for long-term support, guidance and wisdom, kind of like a mentor. It's like selecting your own personal development board really²,” Richard explains.

“Shall we look at who might be on your board?”

Twenty minutes later, reviewing the strengths of those around him with Richard's help, Joe has written the following in his notebook:

Joe is reeling with shock from the realization that his estranged wife's strengths make her the perfect encourager and that Kelly's strengths and experience make her the perfect mentor. Strangely, he is more at ease with addressing the unfinished business relating to the management team's absence of vital talent, not to mention the Developing Others strength, than he is to asking these two for support. “How are you feeling, Joe?” asks Richard.

“Positively stretched, Richard! I'm very curious to find out what people's reactions are going to be to their profiles, and to what their suggestions are going to be around aligning their strengths to roles. Kind of like Sally yesterday, I'm just keen to keep up the momentum, to move from action to agility,” Joe responds, remembering the expedition analogy Richard had shared with him in their first session.

“I'm also thinking that I should ask the rest of the team to form their own personal development boards too. I think it's a powerful way to help keep yourself on track, or can be if you have the right support around you,” he adds.

“Good idea. Let's add that to the Strengthscope360™ review sessions we have with each of them then,” suggests Richard, as he prepares for the first such meeting with Mark. “We could simultaneously introduce them to the first behaviour linked to the third habit of Skilfully Executing”.

“Which is?” enquires Joe.

“Setting clear, stretching and achievable performance expectations and ensuring people are held accountable to these,” advises Richard.

“Well, I'm ahead of the curve here. I've already got that covered. What do I need to do next to be able to execute things skilfully?” asks a smiling Joe.

“Encourage the rest of your leadership team to adopt this behaviour and continue to take decisive action to deal with performance shortfalls and unproductive behaviour, just like you did with Phil. Encouraging the rest of the leadership team to do likewise too, of course,” Richard responds quickly, recognizing Joe's eagerness to learn as much as possible this session.

“OK,” acknowledges Joe.

“Regularly reviewing progress to stay on track and maintain momentum is the third behaviour linked to Skilfully Executing. Inviting regular input from employees and other stakeholders and building this into decisions and plans is the final behaviour. Shall we get to it?” asks Richard, as he and Joe prepare to enter their first one-to-one Strengthscope 360™ feedback session with Mark.

*

It is the next management meeting. Each member of the team has met with Richard and with Joe to look in detail at how to optimize their strengths and reduce their performance risks. At these sessions, Joe had been sure to encourage the new behaviours he was himself still learning, setting each of them specific goals. He had also taken some pretty decisive actions to deal with performance shortfalls within the team.

The team is about to find out…

“So, the good news is that we have a good spread of strengths and skills to help us get back on track. Perhaps you'd each like to share with us your feedback and plans?”

One by one, each member of the team shares their key strengths, observations about performance risks and plans about their goals and projects. Things are going really well. Raj is to head a stretch project around networks. Gwen is to lead one looking into culture and talent. Having identified that a key member of her team, the HR manager Jane, has Developing Others as a strength, she is to share a lot of this work.

There comes a surprise though when it's Mark's turn.

“So, do you want to tell them or shall I?” asks Mark, looking at Sally.

“Go for it. I'll join in where I need to,” Sally replies after a pregnant pause.

The tension is palpable. The team is still reeling with shock that Phil is no longer with them. They are wondering “What now?”

“So, guys. This is goodbye. It seems that I am not a natural Operations Director,” he states solemnly.

Sally, following his lead, stands up too. She announces:

“And it's goodbye from me also. Seems that I am not a natural Sales and Marketing Director.”

Raj and Gwen are stunned. They do not know where to look or what to say. They had been carried away by the positive wave of their own reviews and were just beginning to think that this stuff worked. They really had not expected this.

“Don't worry though. We're both sticking around, supporting each other in our existing roles, with a view to maybe swapping roles in the next quarter if that is what we think is the best thing to do for the business,” explains a playful Mark.

Gwen and Raj are visibly relieved, Joe and Sally amused, as Mark goes on to explain more.

“You see, when I got my profile it all became obvious. My top three strengths are Relationship Building, Flexibility and Collaboration. I'm really people-focused. Reading that was one of those lightbulb moments; I realized how much I missed using these strengths in a sales environment. I realized that I was frustrated in an operations role, which requires different strengths,” Mark shares.

“And when I got my profile, I realized that my top strengths, Efficiency, Detail Orientation and Optimism, were not being given enough space to flourish. Although I do enjoy working with people, I'm very process-driven and having sorted out all the processes in sales and marketing, I'm up for new challenges. When we had our one-to-ones with Richard and Joe, it soon became clear that there was a possible answer, a job swap. We chatted and it makes sense but we have agreed to be cautious and work more closely together over the next three months, before making any lasting changes,” interjects Sally.

“And I for one am delighted to be working more closely with Sally in my natural habitat, sales and marketing. I'm in my element when networking and doing deals. Without jumping straight into strategy, I've a feeling the way to increase sales in the current environment is to drive new products through new partnership initiatives, so that's my stretch project. I know how to do this. I've done it before. I want to do it and I know that Sally's extraordinary ability to plan and execute projects, improve quality and remain positive and upbeat will serve us all better if she has the time she needs to look after realigning our processes to be more streamlined and customer-driven,” enthuses Mark.

“Yes!” laughs Sally. My Efficiency and Detail Orientation strengths will enable me to work with you all to realign our processes so we can deliver more value to customers. My Optimism strength may be in what Joe calls ‘overdrive’ here but I'm really looking forward to this opportunity,” she adds.

The team congratulates Mark and Sally, they are all upbeat and appear energized and high spirited about the exchange. Joe decides to remind them of a few basics whilst the mood is right.

“So. Looks like we have a plan coming together. I just want to remind us all, including myself, of a few housekeeping items … ground rules if you like. Just because Gwen and Jane are leading on the culture project doesn't mean we can sit back and watch. Each and every one of us around this table needs to start building Developing Others into our daily routine. This is especially important as none of us have this as a natural strength. We need to be really intentional about it if things are going to change around here.

“From now on, we all know what we're accountable for and we all know what each other's natural strengths are. We know we can call on the strengths of each other and those around us. The more we do this, the better we'll get at it.

“Let's remember, we will be a lot stronger if we work together to help each other overcome our weaker areas and other performance risks. We're going to need to do this to meet the challenges ahead, especially when we roll out the news about the pay freeze I shared with you each at our one-to-ones. The goal of the next management meeting is to decide how to communicate this to the rest of our teams in a way that will help them to accept it.

“Oh, and remember the personal development board idea we talked about at the one-to-ones? Please consider setting one up. I think it will really help us all,” concludes Joe, who is really rather pleased with his team. He doesn't feel like he's lost a key member. He feels like he's found four.

Emboldened by his success, Joe decides to take the step of sharing with Kelly what he has been working on, and asking her to take on the role of mentor in his personal development board.

Having clearly defined what he wanted from her the night before, he prepares himself mentally before making the call. Whilst sharing the role of mentor and boss is not exactly textbook management technique, Joe reasons that he has far more to gain than to lose from such an arrangement. He makes the call…

“Right, Joe. I know I told you not to come to me with complaints about your team but I was not expecting this!

“It all sounds nice to do and I hear that it's getting some results but I'm not hearing enough yet. It sounds like this whole strengths thing is just going to eat into time, not to mention money. If I'm going to invest in this I really need you to show me how this is going to turn us around and help us make the numbers,” Kelly summarizes.

“And have you even told your staff about the pay freeze yet?” she adds, clearly irritated.

“Not yet, Kelly. I've told the leadership team, but we've decided not to share the news more widely just yet. We want to give them something to believe in before we take away something they expect. Don't worry, we've got it covered. And we've ensured that this has not cost you anything to date, Kelly. We have financed it from existing budgets. All I ask is for you to take on the role of being my mentor and help me to better understand the trends and innovations in the US recruitment market, so I can bring the best of it over here.

“And I don't think it is down to just me to show you how this is going to turn us around. Come over and meet the team. Each of them has a story to share. Each of them is achieving some quick wins that will demonstrate how we're going to do more than just make our numbers, pay freeze or no pay freeze,” Joe replies, realizing that he is actually enjoying this conversation.

“OK. I'll come. I'm making no promises Joe, but I will come and I will listen. And I will be happy to act as your mentor too,” Kelly concludes.

Joe puts down the phone, leans back in his chair and looks out over the park. Smiling, he picks up his pen and journal and completes another entry.