Leading with the Developer StrengthsFinder Talent

Developer StrengthsFinder TL;DR

The Developer StrengthsFinder talent means the growth of others fuels you. You are drawn to help people make progress and celebrate the steps they take. 

You can leave a legacy one person at a time.

You want to help others win. And when they win, you win. 

If you’re already familiar with StrengthsFinder, you can skip over the next section.

How do you lead well with Developer in your StrengthsFinder top 5?

So you’ve taken the StrengthsFinder assessment, received your results and found Developer in the list. Now you’re wondering how to grow or leverage this strength in your leadership. 

I love to see others grow and develop. It's my favorite part of coaching, as I've led teams and coached leaders for years.

These are four strategies I’ve seen help developers grow themselves

1. Level up your coaching skills.
2. Build a toolbox.
3. Lead by building your people.
4. Don’t forget to develop yourself.

Level up your coaching skills.

Someone with the developer Strengthfinders talent is a natural coach. Turning this talent into a true strength will take learning new skills and practice.

There are many free and paid resources for coaching out there. These can help you learn coaching frameworks and specific skills, but there are two essential strategies when it comes down to how to grow as a coach.

1. Be coaching. Coaching is something that you primarily learn by doing. Offer to coach your friends or coworkers in areas they want to develop. 
2. Be coached. Getting a coach for yourself helps you grow personally, and you essentially are an apprentice learning from their coaching. 

Build a toolbox.

There are some excellent frameworks out there. I was trained to use the coach model, a simple and practical framework that focuses on asking questions. Asking questions allows the person you’re developing to discover rather than be told. 

I’ve found many people grow and develop by doing. Because of this, facilitation becomes an essential tool in the developer’s toolbox. 

There are no lost causes in your eyes because you know everyone can grow and develop.

I recommend collecting facilitation activities you’ve seen be effective to help others discover and grow. As you get more experience, you’ll likely start building your own tools as well. 

Lead by building your people.

If you’re a leader, then your people are your priority. I’ve seen healthy, high-functioning teams consistently outpace other teams with more experience and resources. 

Using a tool like strengthsfinder can help those on your team develop individually and see how they complement each other as a team. 

You don’t want to see people stay stuck but instead see their potential be realized. 

I love taking teams through exercises where they see the team’s collective strengths and weaknesses. It raises their awareness of how they can be better together. 

Don’t forget to develop yourself.

If you want to see people develop and reach their potential, you must see yourself included in that group. 

I see this similar to how an airline safety briefing tells you to put on your oxygen mask first and then help someone. When you’re being developed, you’re in a healthy place to help others grow too. 

If you’re unsure what this might look like, I’m offering a handful of free 30-minute coaching sessions each month. Let’s connect and explore the next step for you to develop as a developer. 

As you learn to lead using your developer strength, you can see people go from potential to fruition. 

You can have a significant impact. Imagine at the end of your life a gathering of people you've helped to grow over the years. You can leave a legacy one person at a time.

Developers can struggle with an antipattern of codependence when they bear the weight of others' growth. Learning the strengths antipatterns will allow you to continue growing as a healthy, intentional leader. 

You are on an extraordinary journey to living and leading from your strengths. You can explore the list below to learn about the rest of your top 5 strengths.