As a small business, one of the most important things that we can do is to make sure we leverage the strengths of our team members. Utilizing our strengths has a bigger impact than trying to improve on our weaknesses. That is why we are a team. Individually, we cannot all do all things—we rely on the strengths of many to create a better whole.
The goal to create a team of varied strengths starts with the hiring process and continues with acknowledgement of the ability for each member of our team to be a key contributor.
As a company that practices the Entrepreneurial Operating System (“EOS™”) we work to get “the right people in the right seats” and first and foremost this means that our team members share our core values. Then we want to make sure that people are operating to maximize their strengths and skills which often aligns with their passion as well!
To help us evaluate key strengths of new and existing team members we rely on a couple of key assessments which are the CliftonStrengths by Gallup® and the KolbeA™ Index (“Kolbe”) by Kolbe Corporation. CliftonStrengths helps us to understand the key strengths of our team. The Kolbe helps us to understand the intuitive instincts we have—the way that we naturally process information and how we take action on that information.
Importantly, there is not right or wrong or better or worse of any of the test outcomes. Everyone is unique and has significance with the potential for adding essential value to our team and to our clients!
Here is just one example specific to our team from the Kolbe, which has four categories of ranking which help to determine your modus operandi (“MO”):
One of our team members ranks lower on the Fact Finder category. This individual likes to get just the highest priority facts before beginning on a project. If you provide every detail this person’s eyes will glaze over and you will lose her! On the flip side, some of our team members rank high on Fact Finder. If you do not give them every detail, then they will stall and not as easily start the project. When we each understand each other’s MO then we know how to work better with each other. This helps each individual to be more effective and our productivity as an entire team is enhanced.
The Kolbe has also mapped our team against the four categories so that we can determine if we have any gaps. It is great to understand where we can improve as a team as this helps us to serve our clients better.
With CliftonStrengths we have also used an add-on tool called CoreClarity® which looks at the unique mix of an individual’s top five strengths and then provides further insight by placing you in one of 12 descriptions that provide further insights.
We would highly recommend using a professional consultant that specializes in assessments to assist you with interpretation and to make sure you get all the benefits possible from the information.
Assessments are an informative tool for both team members and companies. They can be fun to take. Especially remember that there are no rights or wrongs—everyone is unique and has endless potential to make a difference.