Leveraging CliftonStrengths for Decision-Making
Understanding and leveraging your strengths is crucial for effective decision-making. In this post, we'll explore a structured approach to applying your CliftonStrengths for better decisions.
Practical Steps to Apply Your Strengths in Strategic Decision-Making:
Identify the Type of Decision You are Facing: Break down critical decisions to understand where your strengths can be applied.
Understand Your Strengths: Recognize which domain you and your team members excel in.
Reflect and Learn: Evaluate outcomes using combined strengths to improve future decisions.
1. Identify the type of decision you are facing
Not all decisions are the same. To make effective decisions, we first determine the type of choice we're facing.
According to Harvard professor Phil Rosenzweig, author of Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions, , two questions help identify the type of choice: (1) How much control do we have over the choices offered? and (2) How will success be measured—competitively or by personal best? Four types of decision-making emerge from this framework. For each type, knowing your strengths at the individual and team levels is crucial:
1/ Routine judgments and choices: Low control, with success defined personally, independent of competition.
Example: Choosing a software tool for your team. You control the selection, but the available tools are predefined, and your decision doesn’t necessarily affect your competitive standing.
Impact of Strengths: Learning about common biases, and how to avoid them, is key. You can learn about your biases and blindspots by getting feedback from trusted colleagues and by taking a talents assessment.
II/ Decisions influencing outcomes: High control over choices, success defined personally, independent of competition.
Example: Developing a training initiative for your team members that is tailored to the needs of the team and the organization.
Impact of Strengths: Understanding your team’s needs, strengths, and weaknesses, in the context of organizational goals is critical for effective decision-making in this space.
III/ Competitive bets: Low control over choices, success is gauged relative to competitors.
Example: Launching an existing product in a saturated market, where there is little influence on the product’s specs and success depends on standing out among many competitors.
Impact of Strengths: Requires a deep understanding of the market and anticipating competitors' moves. Small advantages can be significant, and knowing your strengths helps leverage these.
IV/ Strategic decision-making: High control over choices, success is gauged relative to competitors.
Example: Developing a new product for a new industry or market segment; innovating with a new product in a completely new area, requires in-depth market research, risk assessment, and strategic planning, along with relationship building for partnerships and teamwork.
Impact of Strengths: Requires inspiring, encouraging, communicating, and building long-term relationships, along with rigorous analytical thinking. Understanding your strengths and building a complementary team where there is a missing strength is essential in this space.
2. Understand your strengths
To leverage your strengths, you first need to know them. The CliftonStrengths® assessment reveals your talents for better decision-making. Understanding your innate talents helps you prioritize, delegate, and focus on what you do best. Using your unique talents regularly will boost your confidence and enhance your decision-making.
Identify which domain you are strong in and where you need support.
When you first receive your CliftonStrengths 34 Report, the amount of information might seem daunting. Working with a certified CliftonStrengths coach is one way to help you understand and apply your talents. Even before working with a coach, the 34 Report has a wonderful visual to help you get started.
Scroll to page 21 of the 34 Report for a visual of your top 10 talents across Gallup's four talent categories: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. At the top of this page, the assessment gives you what domain you lead with. Through the visual you can also see what domain you might be missing.
What each domain can mean for decision-making:
Executing Domain: You are likely thorough in your decision-making and all about making things happen. Executing strengths help you turn ideas into reality by ensuring progress through careful planning and organizing.
Influencing Domain: You are likely to take charge, speak up, and ensure others are hear, which enables you able to influence and lead others effectively. In decision-making, these strengths help you articulate your vision and persuade stakeholders.
Relationship Building Domain: You likely excel at understanding others' perspectives, building strong relationships, partnerships, and consensus. Use these abilities to gather diverse viewpoints and foster collaboration in the decision-making process. Considering various perspectives can lead to more comprehensive decisions.
Strategic Thinking Domain: You likely excel at absorbing and analyzing information for better decisions. When faced with a decision, tap into these strengths to collect relevant data, thoroughly analyze it, and consider all possible angles. Analytical thinkers excel at dissecting complex situations and identifying key factors.
Working with blidnspots
While leveraging your strengths is crucial, over-relying on them can lead to pitfalls. For example, those with "Analytical" strengths might experience analysis paralysis. Being aware of your strengths and their potential blind spots allows for a more robust decision-making approach.
Understanding your team’s combined strengths
Have each team member complete the CliftonStrengths Assessment and have them come to their own understanding of their strengths and blindspots.
From here, you can have a discussion about how each team member can contribute to the decision-making process and what their blind spots are so that you can develop strategies to mitigate them. Page 21 of the CliftonStrengths 34 Report can be a great resource as you conduct this exercise.
3: Reflect and Learn
After making a decision, reflect on the outcome. Use your team’s strengths to evaluate what worked well and what could be improved. This continuous learning process will enhance your decision-making skills over time and lead to better results.
By integrating your strengths into your decision-making processes, you can enhance your confidence and effectiveness as a leader. If you are interested in learning about how CliftonStrengths coaching can support you and your team in making complex decisions, let's connect. I invite you book a call with me to discover how I can support you.
