Everything you need to know about strength based coaching

Strength Based Coaching

What is Strength Based Coaching?

To put it in it’s simplest points, strength based coaching is recognising the strengths of individuals in your team. As well as this it can be used to recognise the strengths of a team or individual even when they have fell short of their goal. I am a fantastic believer in strength based coaching as it can lead to a very positive outcome in the team.

How does it work?

The way in which strength based coaching works, is that when speaking with an sales person, we highlight their strengths. This could be anything from the effect they have on the team, metrics or even their attitude. As a result the sales person feels more motivated as they have been recognised for their skills and additionally feel more competent.

The other way in which I deploy the technique is by picking out positives when a sales person has missed their target, kpi or even demotivated by a result. I usually look at what they did well in a granular metric, for example conversion when they have missed their revenue target. Or another example would that they had great activity, but fell short on their quotes metric.

I would normally say, for example, it’s unfortunate they you did not reach your goal, but you showed a fantastic attitude through your determination and work ethic in making those calls.

This also highlights where the sales person is doing well and where coaching could be introduced in order to be better equipped for the next month. You are creating competency in your team, which is a big part of motivating people towards their goal and the company’s goals.

Conclusion

This style of leadership is what most of my philosophy is based on. When I worked in the finance industry, this was the style of coaching that they employed. It was the mantra of playing to your strengths, rather than spending time of your weaknesses. Of course, as time goes by you want to grow by addressing your blind spots, but to start with in your career you want to focus on your strengths and be a top performer.

This is an excellent way to manage if you have taken over a new team, or have a team that is struggling because of motivation or morale. It’s great when combined with one to ones, or with individual training. You will get the best out of your team if you focus on the strengths of each member.