Each organization is unique, and its culture is cultivated in every single interaction between employees. In other words, the employees are the ones who shape and define the workplace atmosphere. But an ever-so important factor that links the whole group together is the leader. The leader’s responsibility is to guide, steer, nurture, coach and of course, lead the team. And one of the most important facets of leadership is knowing what makes every team member stand out from the crowd, its unique strengths. But what does that actually mean?
When defining personality, psychologists say that every person is born with 24 character strengths. Growing up, each of us develops these strengths differently, making us one of a kind.
That's why job interviews don't focus only on technical aspects. Research shows that a high IQ and a good knowledge base are not enough for outstanding achievements. The traits that actually matter are self-determination, self-discipline, and grit. Therefore, progressive HR specialists will tend to look for gritty and resilient people to hire. But is that enough to make a company shine? Sadly, no.
An organization with teams full of individualistic employees doesn't correlate to success. The reason behind this fact is a simple one. Getting people to work together for the same purpose is challenging, regardless of the project's nature. For a group to perform well, the members need to sync and be happy with their task at hand.
Based on science, the 3 character strengths most correlated with one's well-being are hope, gratitude, and love. In turn, the bottom character strengths linked to happiness are prudence, judgment, and self-regulation.
Therefore, as a leader, you want to work with people who love what they do, have high hopes for their careers, and are thankful for the opportunity they are given. You most definitely don't want to surround yourself with individuals who are afraid to speak their minds and are judgmental with everyone around them.
So once again, we feel the need to highlight that the secret glue keeping a team together is happiness. Furthermore, we want to underline the fact that happiness is a collective feeling. Thus, you should make sure that the optimistic thoughts are the ones that spread within the team.
This being said, let's put the dots together. As a good leader, you should know what motivates your team members and what your employees' personality traits are. As a good leader, you should empower the pessimists and help them get past their hurdles. Finally, as a good leader, you should encourage your team members who have their hearts set on the goal and help them spread their enthusiasm with their co-workers. Yet, none of this is possible without you, the person in charge of their guidance, truly knowing the human behind each job post description.
