CSTD Webinar: Strengths-Based Leadership Revolution

Webinar presentation to CSTD members on The Strengths-Based Leadership Revolution

We need dramatically stronger leadership to address the massive challenges and changes engulfing us. But a torrent of studies show most leadership development approaches aren’t working. In a McKinsey & Company large scale global survey of CEOs and senior executives 76 percent cited leadership development as important. But our current approaches are falling woefully short. The study participants reported that only 7 percent thought their organization was effectively developing leaders!

A big part of this gap is caused by weakness-based approaches. Most assessments and needs analysis look for gaps. Focusing on the negative is highly ineffective and undermines participant motivation for change. In a series of pre and post studies Zenger Folkman examined the impact of leaders choosing to fix weaknesses versus building on existing strengths. 12 to 18 months later the leaders who magnified their existing strengths showed two – three times more improvement in leadership effectiveness than leaders who worked on fixing their weaknesses.

Learning Objectives:

  • Key research findings from ZF’s new book How to Be Exceptional: Drive Leadership Success by Magnifying Your Strengths.
    Learn the sixteen empirically identified key leadership competencies in five clusters that cause leaders and their team/organizations to flounder or flourish.
  • Understand the huge performance differences between “good” and “extraordinary” leaders and the dramatic impact on his or her team/organization.
  • Why building on existing strengths is up to 3 times more effective than fixing weaknesses.
  • How developing just three existing strengths out of sixteen competencies catapults a leader’s effectiveness from the 34th to the 80th percentile!
  • When to work on weaknesses.
  • Evidence-based strength development using Companion Competencies, cross-training, and non-linear approaches.
  • Why many 360 feedback tools are developing a negative reputation — associated with accentuating weaknesses — and how to correct the problem.