5 scientifically proven reasons why strengths should be strengthened

When was the last time you did something that completely absorbed you? A situation in which you became completely immersed in what you were doing and forgot about time, while everything else faded into the background?

Usually these are situations that present a certain degree of challenge, but in which we can use our skills and strengths to master the situation successfully. This mixture causes people (in their respective circumstances) to perform at their best. And this is exactly what PERMA-Lead Positive Leadership is all about when we talk about commitment.

But how often can employees actually bring their skills and strengths to the workplace? Gallup studies, in which a total of more than 1.7 million employees were asked the question "Does your work give you the opportunity to do what you do best every day?" The result: Only 20 percent of employees feel they can use their strengths every day!

One of the reasons for the result of this Gallup study is one that managers can start from. In many companies, personnel development is predominantly weakness-oriented. This is no great surprise since another study shows that the majority of managers are convinced that the greatest scope for performance enhancement lies in people’s weaknesses. Employees whose so-called ‘fields of development’ have been identified are sent to seminars, purchased coaching units and sometimes assigned mentors to support them in their development. This process is not, in itself, at fault. 

However, my criticism comes from the fact that, frequently, no strengths are identified and further developed during the course of these processes. Employee development is therefore usually oriented towards development to the point of inconspicuousness. Even when employees are identified as "high potentials", specific further training programmes are often designed to train them in what is missing, for example to fill a management position. Rarely do the programmes focus on finding and integrating individual strengths. However, being able to use one's strengths in work means not having to bend oneself to being successful. Being able to use strengths brings energy. To have to bend consumes energy.

The world-famous economist Peter Drucker has already commented on the subject: "Every personnel assessment and evaluation must first and foremost relate to what a person is capable of. An employee should therefore never be entrusted with a management task if he is struggling with his people's lack of competence instead of using their strengths.

But what strengths are there at all? The models are different. The 24 VIA strengths are excellent for practical use in companies. They are scientifically sound and can be tested free of charge online at the University of Zurich (www.charakterstaerken.org). 

The research relevant for companies and organizations clearly confirms that a strength-oriented management style offers measurable advantages for the entire company. I would like to present you with 5 selected research results.

Reason 1: Strength orientation influences fluctuation

Studies show that employees who believe that they can contribute their strengths to their work are 50 percent more likely to work in departments with lower staff turnover and 34 percent in business units with higher customer satisfaction. This shows that strength orientation is a highly relevant factor in deciding whether to remain in the current workplace.

Reason 2: Strength orientation increases the flow and thus the job satisfaction

To be absorbed in something for a few minutes or even hours, completely forgetting about time and space - a feeling that you certainly know. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, calls this state "flow". The ingredients that trigger this state are now sufficiently confirmed by research. What is needed is an optimal relationship between what one can do and the challenge posed. In other words, using one's own strengths in a situation that is experienced as challenging but not as overstraining or underchallenging. This flow effect in working life was investigated in a particularly complex study at the University of Singapore.

For this purpose, people had to regularly state their current condition with regard to flow during their work over a longer period of time. At the end of each working day, participants completed an additional psychological questionnaire. The result shows that the experience of flow during the working day has a strong influence on the emotional state and job satisfaction of the employees at the end of a working day. The more flow at work, the better the impact!

Reason 3: Strength orientation increases performance

In a worldwide study, more than 1,000 employees were examined for the impact on their jobs of being able to use their strengths in the workplace. The results show that these employees show measurably more performance and more positive work-related behaviour as well as fewer damaging behaviour patterns if they can use their signature strengths. The same research team also showed in another study that managers have a significant influence on the extent to which employees live out their strengths through the support they provide.

Reason 4: Strength orientation reduces behaviour damaging to the company

In a large-scale study, the researchers divided more than 1,000 employees into three categories:

• those who felt that their managers were mainly focused on the strengths of their employees;

• those who felt that their managers focused mainly on the weaknesses of their employees;

• those who felt that their manager did not focus on strengths or weaknesses (employees are ignored).

The results were impressive: Only one in a hundred employees, whose managers were perceived to focus on strengths and positive character traits, showed behaviour damaging to the company. This figure is remarkably different for employees who were of the opinion that their managers focused predominantly on weaknesses and negative character traits. In this group, 22 percent already showed behaviour that was actively damaging to the company. The exciting thing about this study, however, is that a third group of employees was identified. Namely, those who feel ignored by their manager. In this case, the manager focuses neither on strengths nor weaknesses or certain characteristics - the employees do not feel perceived by them at all. In this group, a staggering 40 percent of employees showed tendencies to harm the company. What do these results mean for day-to-day management? It is a clear task for managers to remain in regular communication with their employees and give feedback. Not giving feedback, just because there is nothing to complain about, obviously seems to be a much more damaging leadership behaviour than giving negative feedback.

Reason 5: Strength orientation among employees affects customer purchasing

In our own studies we have found that when employees can utilize their strengths in their workplace, this has a measurable influence on the purchasing behavior of customers. In order to measure this correlation, we investigated whether, in stores where customers buy more than average, employees also experience more than average that they can use their strengths in the workplace. The result speaks for itself: Where customers buy an above-average amount, employees describe a 9-percentage point higher perception of being able to live out their strengths. Strength orientation is thus a benefit to employees as well as for the economic success of the company itself.