A strength is the combination of natural talent, hard work and a deep satisfaction. It is doing what you love to do, work that energizes you and work in which time seems to pass without notice. All of us have strengths and when given the opportunity to apply our strength, we are at our happy best.
In a 2008 study Marcus Buckingham reported in his book The Art of Management that only 11% of Canadians said they spent most of the day playing to our strengths.
Meanwhile a Gallup poll showed that those who have a chance to play to our strengths every day are:
• 50% more likely to work in teams with lower employee turnover
• 38% more likely to work in more productive teams and
• 44% more likely to work in teams with higher customer satisfaction scores.
Clearly, playing to your strengths has its benefits. So the question is, how do we increase the time we are applying our strengths? One of the ways to do that is to form teams where each member contributes to the team’s success using their particular strength.
if you do what you love, you will never work a day Click To TweetWhile sports teams do this best, I have been fortunate enough to be part of a remarkable team of writers where I was truly working in my “zone”. Each member of that team had particular strengths – one was an incredible project manager, another was a technology whiz, yet another gifted with headlines and catch phrases, one liked to do technical writing, one was good with human stories , one easily worked with executives, and one was a great editor. The team’s production output was extraordinary, the team didn’t disagree on assignments and members were mutually supportive. Today, members of this team work in different companies and businesses but, as a testimony to the (pardon the pun) strength of this team we still consult each other when we are writing something that needs an added touch.
When I rejuvenated JAd’E Communications, I thought long and hard about what I like to do and what I am good at doing. It has already paid dividends. Of course, there is still work that comes to me which does not play to my strengths and that’s when I look for strategic partners who have that as a strength. That ability to recognize and work more in my strengths has made me happier and more productive and has enhanced the satisfaction my clients have in my work.
As the old adage says, if you do what you love, you will never work a day. I can honestly say that’s the way I feel about my work. You can’t be any luckier than that!