Strengths vs. Weaknesses - A case study that won't waste your time
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Transcript of Strengths vs. Weaknesses - A case study that won't waste your time
Strengths vs. Weaknesses
A case study that won’t waste your time.
Arranged by Jared Harding, Sr. Client Executive, [email protected]. Research conducted by Zenger Folkman ©2016
The Big Question
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Which has more impact on personal improvement,
fixing weaknesses or building strengths?
The Big Question
3
Because you are clicking through these slides I am
guessing you are going with building strengths…
The Big Question
4
But what’s the usual reaction when this
happens…
The Big Question
5
The Big Question
6
The Big Question
7
Still going with strengths?
The Big Question
8
It’s true we are culturally wired to focus on fixing
weaknesses.
The Big Question
9
At Zenger Folkman, we believe the most effective
path to improvement is building on strengths.
The Big Question
10
In fact, people improve to extraordinary levels when focused on their strengths.
The Big Question
11
Since you think I am making this up, let’s look at a case study of a large financial
services organization.
© 2016 Zenger Folkman
Case Study
Large U.S. Financial Services Organization
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The organization believes that ensuring future organizational success will come by increasing the level of leadership effectiveness across the organization.
The Challenge:
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Sr. Division Leader – “We measure everything else in this company: profits, margins, productivity, turnover, etc., but I don’t have a clue how our leaders would stack up with those in other organizations.”
The Challenge:
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People Perspective
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Leverage a data-driven, strengths-based approach to accurately measure, benchmark, and identify the most impactful path for development with the top three leadership levels.
The Solution:
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Senior HR Director – “Zenger Folkman’s strength-based approach created so much positive momentum that improvement was inevitable.”
The Solution:
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People Perspective
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The 18 month program included a 360 pre-assessment, follow-up surveys, group workshops, accountability from managers, continuing dialogue with direct reports, and a final 360 post-assessment.
The Solution:
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The Results:
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Oh, you want to see the numbers,
Just keep clicking, just keep clicking…
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The Starting Point
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50thPercentile
This is the Zenger Folkman
GLOBAL NORM a dataset of 80k+ leaders
How did the financial leaders compare to the
global norm after their first round of 360 feedback?
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The Starting Point
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50thPercentile
This is the Zenger Folkman
GLOBAL NORM a dataset of 80k+ leaders
57thPercentile
The Case Study organization’s
ORG NORM of top three levels of leaders
LL51.2© 2016 Zenger Folkman
The Starting Point
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50thPercentile
This is the Zenger Folkman
GLOBAL NORM a dataset of 80k+ leaders
57thPercentile
The Case Study organization’s
ORG NORM of top three levels of leaders
7 points higher is not a bad starting
point, but this was a surprise to all the leaders in
the group.
The Starting Point
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One leader commented, “We just assumed we
were terrific leaders but we never had a way to
assess our effectiveness compared to others.”
The Starting Point
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Getting an accurate sense of where a group is
starting from provides additional motivation for
improvement.
Reassessment Results
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After 18 months of development activities,
how did the leaders score overall in the
reassessment?
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Reassessment Results
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65thPercentile
The post-assessment
ORG NORM #2 of top three levels of leaders
57thPercentile
The pre-assessment
ORG NORM #1 of top three levels of leaders
The average for the entire group raised 8 points with the post-
program results.
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Reassessment Results
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65thPercentile
The post-assessment
ORG NORM #2 of top three levels of leaders
50thPercentile
Zenger Folkman
GLOBAL NORM a dataset of 80k+ leaders
The group average ended
up 15 points higher than the global average.
Case Study Insights
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And I hear crickets….
I get it. An 8 point increase doesn’t seem
like that big of deal.
Case Study Insights
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That’s because it isn’t.
Case Study Insights
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The big insights actually came when
we divided the leaders into three groups.
Case Study Insights
The first group included leaders who chose to fix a
weakness but didn’t have a “derailer” or “fatal flaw.”
1
Fixed Weaknesses
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Group Norms from Initial 360 Assessment
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54thPercentile
The pre-assessment
GROUP #1 NORMFixed Weaknesses
Case Study Insights
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The second group are the leaders who focused on building their signature
strengths.
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2
Built Strengths
1
Fixed Weaknesses
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Group Norms from Initial 360 Assessment
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54thPercentile
The pre-assessment
GROUP #1 NORMFixed Weaknesses
56thPercentile
The pre-assessment
GROUP #2 NORMBuilt Strengths
Case Study Insights
34
The final group did have a “derailer” or “fatal flaw.”
3
Had Fatal Flaws
2
Built Strengths
1
Fixed Weaknesses
Case Study Insights
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Fatal flaws are the one instance where we recommend fixing a
“weakness.”
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3
Had Fatal Flaws
2
Built Strengths
1
Fixed Weaknesses
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Group Norms from Initial 360 Assessment
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54thPercentile
The pre-assessment
GROUP #1 NORMFixed Weaknesses
56thPercentile
The pre-assessment
GROUP #2 NORMBuilt Strengths
20thPercentile
The pre-assessment
GROUP #3 NORMHad a Derailer or Fatal Flaw
Case Study Insights
37
Let’s see how each of these three groups measured up in their 360 reassessment.
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2
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Norm Comparison with 360 Reassessment Results
Group #1 Fixed Weaknesses Group #2 Built Strengths
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54th 56th
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Norm Comparison with 360 Reassessment Results
Group #1 Fixed Weaknesses Group #2 Built Strengths
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54th
66th
56th
+ 12 Points
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Norm Comparison with 360 Reassessment Results
Group #1 Fixed Weaknesses Group #2 Built Strengths
40
56th
82nd
+ 26 Points!
66th
+ 12 Points
54th
Strengths vs. Weaknesses
The good news is that groups #1 and #2
improved their overall effectiveness.
Strengths vs. Weaknesses
But, those who built strengths yielded over 2x the improvement than those who fixed
weaknesses.
The Big Question
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Clearly, building strengths has the most impact on improving effectiveness.
Strengths vs. Weaknesses
What about group #3 that had the career derailers?
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Group Norms for Leaders with Fatal Flaws
Group #3 Possessed Fatal Flaws
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20th
50th
+ 30 Points
Group #3 – Addressing Fatal Flaws
46
Wow! The group that made the most dramatic
improvement was the group that addressed
their derailer.
The Big Question
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Going back to the original question, is the winner building strengths or fixing weaknesses?
The Big Question
48
Let’s look at the final numbers again for all
three groups.
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Reassessment Effectiveness Scores by Group
Group #1
Fixed Weaknesses
Global Avg. Group #2
Built Strenghts
Org Avg. Group #3
Had Fatal Flaws
49
50th
66th
82nd
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Reassessment Effectiveness Scores by Group
Group #1
Fixed Weaknesses
Org Avg. Group #2
Built Strengths
Global Avg. Group #3
Had Fatal Flaws
50
50th
66th
82nd
65th
Group #1 rises to meet the org average for
effectiveness.
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Reassessment Effectiveness Scores by Group
Group #1
Fixed Weaknesses
Org Avg. Group #2
Built Strengths
Global Avg. Group #3
Had Fatal Flaws
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50th
66th
82nd
50th
Group #3 rises to meet the global average for effectiveness.
Outcome of Fixing Weaknesses
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Leaders that fixed weaknesses did improve, but only rose to average levels globally or within
their organization.
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Outcome of Building on Strengths
Group #2
Built Strengths
Org Avg. Group #2
Built Strenghts2
Global Avg. Group #3
Had Fatal Flaws
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82nd Building strengths was the key differentiator of
leaders who rose to an extraordinary level.
Closing Thought
54
We believe that employees are inspired and enabled to become
extraordinary...
Closing Thought
55
…when they are engaged in building their
signature strengths.
Thank you for viewing!
Was this helpful, insightful, slightly entertaining?
Let me know your thoughts:
Jared Harding
Sr. Client Executive [email protected]
801-995-4382