Elevating Your Team’s Influence: The Power of Influencing Strengths

In every organisation, certain individuals naturally steer conversations, sway decisions, and drive actions. These are the people with strong Impacting and Influencing strengths, a crucial category in the StrengthsFinder* framework that can dramatically shape your team’s trajectory and success. (See below for more information).

Why value and develop Impacting and Influencing strengths? Individuals with these attributes excel in persuasive communication, leadership, and championing ideas. They are pivotal in rallying teams, securing stakeholder buy-in, and ensuring that initiatives gain the momentum they need to succeed.

🌟 Command®: Takes control in uncertain situations, providing clear and confident direction. 

🌟 Significance®: Driven by the desire to be impactful, these individuals strive to lead in ways that are visibly and materially significant. 

🌟 Woo® (Winning Others Over): Skilled at networking and creating immediate rapport, making new acquaintances feel valued and engaged. 

🌟 Self-Assurance®: Embodies a strong inner confidence, trusting in their abilities to manage challenges effectively.

Benefits of harnessing these strengths:

🚀 Leadership Development: Encourages a culture of leadership and initiative among team members. 

🚀 Enhanced Persuasion: Improves the team’s ability to advocate for projects, influencing outcomes positively. 

🚀 Boosted Morale and Motivation: Creates an environment where team members are inspired and energized to contribute their best.

However, it’s crucial to balance these strengths to prevent potential pitfalls such as overpowering others’ ideas or overlooking analytical feedback. Effective teams combine these influencing capabilities with reflective and analytical strengths, ensuring decisions are both forward-thinking and grounded in reality.

Strategies to maximise Impacting and Influencing strengths: 

🔍 Foster Collaborative Leadership: Encourage influencers to collaborate with teammates who bring complementary strengths, promoting a balanced approach to leadership. 

🎯 Set Clear Objectives: Define and communicate clear goals to align the influential efforts with the organisation’s strategic vision. 

💬 Provide Constructive Feedback: Regular feedback helps individuals with these strengths understand the impact of their influence and refine their approach.

As leaders become more senior they recognise the value of building stakeholder relationships and impacting more widely.

*Clifton Strengths® is a widely-used online tool that helps millions around the world discover their innate talents and areas where they excel. This tool prompts users with a series of questions to pinpoint each team member’s key strengths, categorised under four areas: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. Originally developed by Gallup and Don Clifton, it’s also referred to as StrengthsFinder. For additional details, click here.

Would you like to explore how the Clifton Strengths Finder can enhance your team's capabilities? Feel free to contact me for a chat.

Kate Jennings