What is Strength Coaching
Strength coaching has its roots in positive psychology which is one of the trends in the business world presently. Adaptations of positive psychology at the workplace have shown to improve psychological well-being and help the employees overcome the challenges faced at the workplace with more ease. It is defined as the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups and institutions. Research shows that when managers focus on employees’ strengths, employee engagement, optimism and productivity all increase.
The Role of DiSC in Identifying Strengths
DiSC is a tool that enables employees identify their dominant dimension, be it Dominance, Influence, Steadiness or Compliance. Some people may have more than one dominant dimension which, being one or multiple, can be interpreted and utilized as their strengths. Using this tool, the coach can guide the employees to explore their experiences and help them access their strength coaching. The coach can help the individual or team create a language of strengths since most people only realize their strengths as a mix of personal qualities, characteristics and behaviors that they identify during peak performance.
Creating and Utilizing a Language of Strengths
This language of strengths allows them to isolate these strengths so that they can be used on their own in other workplace situations. The strengths identified can be aligned to the individual or the teams work and various workplace scenarios where these strengths can be applied can be discussed with the coach guiding them to find additional scenarios or strength combinations that can be put to good use. The strengths can be shifted around to implement the best available strategies to handle any given scenario.
Transforming Challenges Using a Strengths-Based Approach
The coaching process also gives employees far more ways to complete a given set of tasks than is obvious at the first glance. It is often possible to transform a challenge itself using a strengths-based approach. When tasks are shifted or approached using a method based on the strengths of the individual or team, they are more likely to have increased intrinsic motivation, feel greater job fulfillment and experience improved job performance. Even the most high-powered individuals and high-performance teams can find ways to enhance their jobs by applying strengths in new ways.
Guidance and Applications of Strengths in Workplace Scenarios
While leading a discussion on the applications of the identified strengths, some individuals may need more guidance than others and the coach can prompt them and lead them to identify and align the strengths with the scenarios. Sometimes individuals or teams may not fully understand the meanings of a few strength coaching identified. In such case, the coach takes it upon their plan of action to begin with explaining the strengths holistically before discussing the application strategies.
Long-term Benefits of Utilizing Strengths
When employees utilize their strengths at the workplace, they are more productive, engaged and satisfied, and they experience greater well-being. Although productivity, engagement and satisfaction are three key short-term goals for most organizations, cultivation of greater well-being will benefit the employee and the organization in the long-term in terms of productivity and innovation. This would enable the organization to grow and keep the competitive edge for a long period of time, for a time longer than if there was low investment in the growth and well-being of their employees.
