strengths vs. weaknesses - a case study that won't waste your time
TRANSCRIPT
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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
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The Big Question
2
Which has more impact on personal improvement,
fixing weaknesses or building strengths?
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The Big Question
3
Because you are clicking through these slides I am
guessing you are going with building strengths…
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The Big Question
4
But what’s the usual reaction when this
happens…
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The Big Question
5
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The Big Question
6
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The Big Question
7
Still going with strengths?
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The Big Question
8
It’s true we are culturally wired to focus on fixing
weaknesses.
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The Big Question
9
At Zenger Folkman, we believe the most effective
path to improvement is building on strengths.
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The Big Question
10
In fact, people improve to extraordinary levels when focused on their strengths.
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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.
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© 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:
16
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:
18
Oh, you want to see the numbers,
Just keep clicking, just keep clicking…
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The Starting Point
19
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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LL51.2© 2016 Zenger Folkman
The Starting Point
20
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
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The Starting Point
21
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.
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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.”
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The Starting Point
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Getting an accurate sense of where a group is
starting from provides additional motivation for
improvement.
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Reassessment Results
24
After 18 months of development activities,
how did the leaders score overall in the
reassessment?
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Reassessment Results
25
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.
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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.
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Case Study Insights
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That’s because it isn’t.
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Case Study Insights
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The big insights actually came when
we divided the leaders into three groups.
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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
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Case Study Insights
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The second group are the leaders who focused on building their signature
strengths.
32
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
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Case Study Insights
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The final group did have a “derailer” or “fatal flaw.”
3
Had Fatal Flaws
2
Built Strengths
1
Fixed Weaknesses
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Case Study Insights
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Fatal flaws are the one instance where we recommend fixing a
“weakness.”
35
3
Had Fatal Flaws
2
Built Strengths
1
Fixed Weaknesses
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Group Norms from Initial 360 Assessment
36
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
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Case Study Insights
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Let’s see how each of these three groups measured up in their 360 reassessment.
37
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
39
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
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Strengths vs. Weaknesses
The good news is that groups #1 and #2
improved their overall effectiveness.
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Strengths vs. Weaknesses
But, those who built strengths yielded over 2x the improvement than those who fixed
weaknesses.
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The Big Question
43
Clearly, building strengths has the most impact on improving effectiveness.
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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
45
20th
50th
+ 30 Points
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Group #3 – Addressing Fatal Flaws
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Wow! The group that made the most dramatic
improvement was the group that addressed
their derailer.
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The Big Question
47
Going back to the original question, is the winner building strengths or fixing weaknesses?
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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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LL51.2© 2016 Zenger Folkman
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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LL51.2© 2016 Zenger Folkman
Reassessment Effectiveness Scores by Group
Group #1
Fixed Weaknesses
Org Avg. Group #2
Built Strengths
Global Avg. Group #3
Had Fatal Flaws
51
50th
66th
82nd
50th
Group #3 rises to meet the global average for effectiveness.
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Outcome of Fixing Weaknesses
52
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
53
82nd Building strengths was the key differentiator of
leaders who rose to an extraordinary level.
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Closing Thought
54
We believe that employees are inspired and enabled to become
extraordinary...
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Closing Thought
55
…when they are engaged in building their
signature strengths.
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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