SHRM26 Debrief · Leadership & Development · #2089
Igniting Hidden Strengths for Breakthrough ROI
with Stacey Chazin
"Strengths are individual, but the use of a strengths-based lens is organizational."
What it was about
HR professionals default to a deficit lens (fixing what's wrong), but shifting to a strengths-based lens, identifying and intentionally using people's innate strengths, drives measurably better individual performance and organizational outcomes.
By the numbers
72% lower turnover
Organizations applying a strengths-based lens see significantly lower turnover.
six times more engaged
Employees who use their strengths daily are six times more engaged in their roles.
29% higher profits
Organizations applying a strengths-based lens to employee support and role/task assignments.
Key notes
- Shift from asking 'what's wrong' to asking 'what's right' when supporting employees, using the Appreciative Coaching framework.
- Identify your own and others' 'positive core' by reflecting on peak experiences: times you felt most effective, energized, and proud of your work.
- Notice energy levels in employees. When someone 'lights up' talking about a task, that's a clue to an innate strength worth naming and reinforcing.
The contrarian takeTraditional leadership models prize loudness, extroversion, and thinking out loud on the spot, but quieter, more deliberate strengths, like an introvert needing time before answering, can produce better, more well-considered ideas than in-the-moment responses.
Take this back Monday
Do this for your team
In your next 1:1, ask each employee 'when do you feel you're doing your best work?' and name the strength you hear back specifically.
Say this in your next leadership meeting
Employees who use their strengths daily are six times more engaged, and strengths-based teams see 72% lower turnover.
Watch out for
- Defaulting to a deficit/gap-focused lens, especially during periods of organizational stress, instead of looking at what's already working.
- Assuming an employee should perform a task the way you would, ignoring that strengths show up differently in different people.
- Misreading quieter or slower-to-respond behavior (e.g., silence after a question) as a lack of competence rather than a strength like careful, considered thinking.
Fun fact · Stacey Chazin
She's a certified Myers-Briggs practitioner who coaches high-performing introverts to build influence without burning out or faking charisma.
If this landed, see these
↳ Go deeperThe Leadership Clarity Gap: Why "Authentic Leadership" Fails Without DefinitionNaming strengths only works if leaders can define what good looks like in practice.⇄ The counterpointThe Secret Superpower of High Functioning Leaders: How Process Intelligence Creates Aligned, Accountable TeamsArgues systems and metrics, not individual strengths, are what actually sustain performance.✦ The unexpected oneBeyond the Gut Feel: How AI-Powered Structured Interviews Are Transforming Hiring OutcomesNaming strengths on the job raises the question of whether hiring even screens for them in the first place.