One of the essential leadership traits is the ability to develop people. This is becoming more important as a current trend in leadership. But, are we really focusing on the right issues to develop the people we are responsible for?

In true servant leadership, the focus is on what’s best for the people we are leading, so their personal development becomes a primary concern. Several weeks ago I did a post on how Maslow’s Hierarchy relates to servant leadership. People desire to move to those upper two levels in the hierarchy where esteem, respect and self-actualization develop.

Typical corporate management is not really concerned with growth and development at that level; it’s more concerned wiith getting people trained up to do their job. Conflicts arise because people are coerced into doing work they find unpleasant, unsatisfying, and unrewarding.

There’s some amazing work being done showing that people grow most by using and expanding their strengths. But, think about performance reviews in a typical company setting. Most of the time is spent discussing an individual’s weakness and how they can improve in that area. Very little time is spent discussing their strengths and how to really excel in those. We actually have people focusing on and working in their naturally weakest areas where they get no particular pleasure or satisfying experience.

My wife recently asked me to watch an episode of Oprah with her. Oprah’s guest was Marcus Buckingham who is an expert in this area and has written several books about finding and using your strengths. You can view a free eight-part mini-course with Mr. Buckingham where he teaches about finding and using your strengths.
(http://www2.oprah.com/money/career/marcus/marcus_workshop_main.jhtml)

The message is that everyone has unique strengths and weaknesses. The biggest growth and most satisfaction comes from expanding our strengths and not from trying to transform weak areas into strengths. I’ve heard that before, but it did not sink in until I listened to Marcus Buckingham.

How does this apply to servant leadership? Mr. Buckingham’s program is directed at individuals and teaches them how to take control of their life and career by knowing and using their strengths. It seems to me that a leader, who is truly interested in serving the people around him or her, especially in a work environment, should really get to understand this concept. What could happen if leaders developed their teams around each team members’ strengths? 

I believe, using this approach, we can accelerate the growth and development of people on our teams and help the team reach significantly greater levels of accomplishment. It’s a win-win for everyone!

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