The Strengths-Based Leadership RevolutionLast week I delivered a 50 minute webinar on The Strengths-Based Leadership Revolution hosted by the Canadian Society for Training and Development. We wrapped it up with 10 minutes of thoughtful participant questions and discussion. This archived webinar is now freely available here.

Given the breadth and depth of our Strengths-Based Leadership Development System a shorter presentation like this is always challenging. Should I focus on one aspect of this multi-faceted new approach or give a broader overview? This is like the one week tourist trip Heather and I took to Rome a few years ago. We started with a city tour to get a broad overview of all the main sites. This helped us decide where we wanted to spend more time and go deeper.

The Strengths-Based Leadership Revolution webcast is a “city tour” of the main components in this unique new approach. It’s taken me some time to get my head around just how radically different this leadership development system really is. So I condensed and put together a very fast moving tour that covers:

  • Key research findings from the new book How to Be Exceptional: Drive Leadership Success by Magnifying Your Strengths (just reviewed by The Globe & Mail at Excellent? Counterintuitive tips on how to be exceptional).
  • The sixteen empirically identified key leadership competencies in five clusters that cause leaders and their team/organizations to flounder or flourish.
  • The huge performance differences between “good” and “extraordinary” leaders and the dramatic impact on his or her team/organization.
  • Why building on existing strengths is up to 3 times more effective than fixing weaknesses.
  • How developing just three existing strengths out of sixteen competencies catapults a leader’s effectiveness from the 34th to the 80th percentile!
  • When to work on weaknesses.
  • Evidence-based strength development using Companion Competencies, cross-training, and non-linear approaches.
  • Why many 360 feedback tools are developing a negative reputation — associated with accentuating weaknesses — and how to correct the problem.

The webinar is specifically designed for Learning and Development professionals concerned with developing leadership skills in their organizations. Here are comments from participants:

“Eye opening; it makes me re-think my entire coaching/feedback approach with my staff and the organization.”

“I will look at how I can leverage these resources in my design and implementation work.”

“I will reassess our 360 assessment tool and encourage top management to assess strengths. I’ll also re-assess professional development plans with this new perspective.”

If you’re in the Toronto area on October 25, please join our complimentary Developing Exceptional Leaders executive briefing and panel discussion for a longer “city tour” of the Strengths-Based Leadership Revolution. We’re also providing our first Extraordinary Leader public workshops in Toronto on November 29 (hosted by Canadian Tire) and Calgary November 13.