Using Personal Strengths to Support a Thriving Workplace Culture

Introduction

A passion for thriving: Two business founders, who both left corporate roles to follow their passions, discuss prioritising organisational culture.  My conversation with Carly Cannings from The Happy Business School about how strengths play a vital role in creating a happy, thriving workplace culture.

the conversation

CARLY: I work with organisations of all shapes and sizes to help them create people-centric cultures where happy people can thrive at work. I talk a lot about leaning into our strengths more but how do you suggest organisations integrate strengths-based practices into their day-to-day work?

NIC: Integrating strengths into organisations needs to start with increasing individuals’ awareness. Once leaders have an awareness of their own strengths and the strengths that are in their teams they they can get conscious about using it and build the foundations; building the project teams containing the strengths they need, creating roles and development paths for individuals stretching their strengths, and starting open conversations to resolve conflict from an understanding of each other’s strengths and perspectives.

NIC: When organisations get you in to support turning their focus to happiness in the organisation, where do you suggest they start? How do they know if their teams are really happy?

CARLY: That’s a great question and you’ve hinted at the answer in the second part of your question! The starting point has to be taking a temperature check. This means understanding what people are enjoying and what they aren’t when it comes to their work and the environment they’re working in. Quite often the organisation will have some idea of this through staff survey data and anecdotal evidence from feedback and conversations across the business. There are some great tools out there that employers can use to take a regular check of employee happiness such as Friday Pulse. As part of my work I’ll also run workshops and focus groups which help build a deeper understanding of how people are feeling and what the areas for improvement are. 

CARLY: People sometimes misunderstand my work and assume I’m a wellbeing practitioner when in fact I’m a workplace culture consultant. Whilst I help teams learn tools and techniques to become happier at work, I also spend a lot of time with leaders helping them create the right environment for people to be able to flourish. What are some common misconceptions about strengths-based development that you’ve encountered?

NIC: The biggest misconception around focusing on strengths is that it’s pink and fluffy. In reality, teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5% greater productivity and their organisations have 14.9% lower turnover. The tool I use is backed by the British Psychological Society and the chances of you having the same significant seven strengths as someone else is 1 in 1.3 billion, how is having three or four people in the world with identical strengths as you for valuing diversity? We don’t just look at strengths, whilst it’s absolutely the focus if you need a weakness to achieve your goals we’ll look at techniques to support you with that. Another thing we identify is when you use your strengths to the extreme and the impact isn’t positive…definitely not pink and fluffy!

NIC: When I work with teams the true results come when tools and techniques become habits and behaviours change for the long term. Assuming this is the same for you, how do you support organisations in maintaining the focus?

CARLY: You’re absolutely right – the magic really happens when the tools and techniques I teach become habits. In fact I do some specific work about how to form happy habits so people can take what they’ve learnt and really embed it in their day-to-day working lives. When we understand a bit more about how our brains work we can start to make them work for us rather than against us. That’s at an individual level.  At an organisational level there has to be a real appetite to create a culture that supports people to thrive. If there is that drive and I can give them the tools and techniques to support their journey that’s a winning combination. 

CARLY: I think the landscape of work is changing at a pretty rapid pace and I’m really interested in the future of work and how organisations will need to adapt to meet the needs of their customers and employees in the years ahead. Do you see any emerging trends in how organisations are using strengths-based approaches to shape their cultures?

NIC: Having a focus on strengths results in more positive work cultures. Our workforces have a choice and the organisations I work with, who are focused on strengths, are keen to be employers of choice. Organisations are often looking for leaner structures, getting more strategic about how their people are working allows them to be lean and effective. So turning strengths into the language within the organisation is now more often starting from the top down. The board celebrating the strengths they are seeing and endorsing the fact people don’t have to be good at everything but can thrive by embracing their unique strengths.

Conclusion

In today’s rapidly changing workplace, fostering a culture where individuals can thrive is key to long-term success. By integrating strengths-based practices and prioritising employee happiness, organisations can create environments that celebrate uniqueness, boost engagement and drive productivity. Leaders play a crucial role in embedding these approaches into the organisation’s DNA, turning tools and techniques into sustainable habits that shape positive behaviours and cultures. 

To learn more about how The Happy Business School can help you create a thriving workplace culture go to https://thehappybusinessschool.co.uk/ or connect with Carly on LinkedIn.