Page 76 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

WHATAMIKNOWNFOR? (IDENTITY)

holds executive retreats in modest surroundings to main-
tain its cost consciousness. BP leaders look for opportunities
to work on energy outside traditional petroleum sources.
Good companies know their signature strengths and their
capabilities and align their services and their management
practices with them. A company brand presents a point of
view about the company, proposes a lifestyle consistent with
that point of view, and shapes customer expectations.
Sometimes when employees’ signature strengths inter-
sect with the signature capabilities of their workplaces there
is a seamless fit; other times there is a clash of values and
goals. Have you ever been in an organization where you felt
out of place? This happened when we entered an exclusive
clothing shop on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. We clearly
did not belong. We knew it, and the staff knew it. Our per-
sonal identity did not mesh with their corporate identity.
We would have needed more than a complete wardrobe
overhaul to work in such a place; we would have needed a
complete overhaul of our personal signature strengths.
As a leader, you create a more abundant organization
when you help employees clarify their personal identity
and enhance their signature strengths and then help them
see how those strengths fit with the goals and values of the
organization. As diagrammed in Figure 3.1, the steps in this
process are:

1. Help employees define and grow their personal
strengths.
2. Define and build organizational capabilities required for
success.
3. Meld personal strengths and organizational capabilities.

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