Strong individuals, strong teams, strong companies, strong economy.

It is a symbiotic relationship. Individual strengths, collectively applied, build a strong economy. And, in return, a strong economy supports individuals. As such, the job market is predicated on the application of individual strengths. This application of strengths, built on increasing scale, creates a strong leadership model.

How do you create a strong leadership model in your company and your teams?

 Hire Strong Potential

Contrary to popular belief, leaders aren’t born, they are developed. But you do need to start with certain leadership characteristics because you can’t develop what doesn’t exist. We talked about those qualities in a previous article.

Inspire Team Creativity

In many arenas, people are being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI). Where a fair amount of logic and repeatable process are required, AI is being applied with increasingly effective success. But there is a higher level at which humans operate, and that level has yet to be replaced by AI. That is creativity. Humans at the core are highly creative. We identify and solve problems. We have ideas. We are innovative.

If you watch a child at play, you will see innovation. Unfortunately, as we grow into adults, we tend to grow out of imagination. The few that continue to imagine are the innovators among us.

As a leader, do you inspire your people to be creative? Do you give them time and space to think and share ideas, or do you simply treat them as the proverbial artificial intelligence in your organization? Productivity is important, but productivity without innovation will eventually stagnate the growth of your company.

Require High Performance

People tend to be aspirational. They aspire to grow, succeed, create, and help others…often until they become members of the workforce. And then it happens. They begin to put in their time, collect a paycheck, and go home each day. At first, they enjoy the challenge; but as they become familiar with the job, the challenge lessens, as do their aspirations.

Job satisfaction comes from each person being challenged to extend just beyond their comfort zone – from doing work within their strengths zone that is just beyond what they think they can do. Requiring high performance of each team member strengthens the individual as well as the entire team.

Acquire Honest Feedback

Building a team of leaders means each individual has a voice. As a leader, make it a practice to not only solicit honest feedback from your team, but to act on the responses you receive. Your team is composed of various individuals, each with a different vantage point. Listening to these vantage points gives you great insight into your organization and may help you identify issues before they become crises, or opportunities before they become commonplace.

As a leader, you can help build a strong economy simply by starting to build strong individuals and teams within your organization.

As the CEO of Strength Leader Development, Deb Ingino is a highly sought-after international executive mentor, coach, trainer and speaker. Deb is well versed in global business operations and helps business leaders and their teams to discover and leverage their strengths, so they can create highly collaborative teams that deliver great results. With a refreshingly direct style, Deb helps leaders and their teams to deliver profitable results. Connect with Deb to learn more about her mentorship and coaching programs to equip you with advanced strategies to elevate your results.