Put Me in Coach:
Using Your Strengths to Prepare
for the Next Level
Tammy Aagard
University of Florida
Overview
• Shifting the paradigm: Weaknesses vs
Strengths
• What position do you play?
• Identifying your strengths using
StrengthsFinder 2.0
• Role of the Coach and Manager
• Strengths of teams
• Why people follow
• Leading for a lifetime
Shifting the Paradigm:
Weaknesses vs Strengths
• Focus has been on remediation of
weaknesses
– Self-help books
– Sessions at conferences
– Talk shows
• Why focus on strengths?
Talent X Investment = Strength
Baseball is an allegorical play about
America, a poetic, complex, and subtle
play of courage, fear, good luck,
mistakes, patience about fate, and sober
self-esteem.
~Saul Steinberg
What Position Do You Play?
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Pitcher
Catcher
In-field
Outfield
• Manager
• Coach
Strengths Categories
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Achiever
Activator
Adaptability
Analytical
Arranger
Belief
Command
Communication
Competition
Connectedness
Consistency
Context
Deliberative
Developer
Discipline
Empathy
Focus
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Futuristic
Harmony
Ideation
Includer
Individualization
Input
Intellection
Learner
Maximizer
Positivity
Relator
Responsibility
Restorative
Self-Assurance
Significance
Strategic
WOO (Winning Others Over)
Woo
Strategic
Significance
Self-Assurance
Restorative
Responsibility
Relator
Positivity
Maximizer
Learner
Intellection
Input
Individualization
Includer
Ideation
Harmony
Futuristic
Focus
Empathy
Discipline
Developer
Deliberative
Context
Consistency
Connectedness
Competition
Communication
Command
Belief
Arranger
Analytical
Adaptability
Activator
Achiever
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Strengths-Based Leadership
• Four Domains of Leadership Strength
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Executing
Influencing
Relationship Building
Strategic Thinking
Executing
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Make Things Happen
Implement solutions
Someone to Get’er done
Leaders have the ability to
“catch” an idea and make
it a reality
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Achiever
Arranger
Belief
Consistency
Deliberative
Discipline
Focus
Responsibility
Restorative
Influencing
• Help team reach a
broader audience
• Selling the team’s ideas
inside and outside
organization
• Take charge, speak up,
and make sure your
group is heard
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Activation
Command
Communication
Competition
Maximizer
Self-assurance
Significance
Woo
Relationship Building
• Glue that holds a team
together
• Ability to create groups
and organizations
greater than the sum of
the parts
• Involve people, reduce
distractions
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Adaptability
Developer
Connectedness
Empathy
Harmony
Includer
Individualization
Positivity
Relator
Strategic Thinking
• Focus organization on what
could be
• Constantly absorbing and
analyzing information to
make the team better
• Continually stretch thinking
for the future
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Analytical
Context
Futuristic
Ideation
Input
Intellection
Learner
Strategic
Playing All Positions?
• Does the leader need to be able to
cover all areas?
• Is that possible?
• How many leaders have spent
countless hours and a great deal of
energy trying to be “good enough” in
each of these areas?
The Coach/Manager
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Manager
Create and implement
team strategy
Lead team
Create batting order
Select starting pitcher
Decide when to bring in
relief pitcher
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Coach
Mentor and train players
Improve techniques and
form
Relay signals
Direct baserunners
I don't want to play golf. When I hit a
ball, I want someone
else to go chase it.
~Rogers Hornsby
The Strength of a Team
Team
Member
Executing
Assoc
Registrar
Arranger
Responsibility
Assoc
Registrar
Deliberative
Achiever
Consistency
Influencing
Registrar
Strategic
Thinking
Adaptability
Context
Input
Learner
Analytical
Prof Staff
Member
Support Staff
Member
Relationship
Building
Consistency
Deliberative
Focus
Maximizer
Adaptability
Empathy
Context
Input
Learner
Harmony
Analytical
Individuation
Ideation
Strategic
Learner
Team Member
Executing
Influencing
Relationship
Building
Strategic Thinking
Assoc Registrar
Achiever
Deliberative
Responsibility
Assoc Registrar
Belief
Arranger
Support Staff
Member
Achiever
Focus
Deliberative
Discipline
Relator
Support Staff
Member
Deliberative
Adaptability
Input
Intellection
Strategic
Support Staff
Member
Achiever
Adaptability
Input
Intellection
Support Staff
Member
Responsibility
Harmony
Developer
Learner
Input
Registrar
Restorative
Responsibility
Achiever
Arranger
Learner
Input
WOO
Maximizer
Relator
Positivity
Analytical
Common Themes of Strong Teams
1. Conflict doesn’t destroy strong teams
because strong teams focus on results
2. Strong teams prioritize what’s best for
the organization and then move forward
3. Members of strong teams are as
committed to their personal lives as they
are to their work
4. Strong teams embrace diversity
5. Strong teams are magnets for talent
Why People Follow
Baseball is like church. Many attend.
Few understand.
~Leo Durocher
Followers’ Four Basic Needs
• Trust
– Be candid even when delivering difficult news
– Successful teams spend little time talking about trust
– Trust dominates discussion for struggling teams
• Compassion
– Cares about employee as a person
• Stability
– Provide a solid foundation
– Stability in the midst of change (evolving, growing overtime)
– Nothing creates a sense of stability as quickly as transparency
• Hope
– Sense of direction
– Enthusiasm about the future
– Strive to initiate the future rather than reacting to the present
My Top 5 Strengths
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Maximizer
Individuation
Ideation
Strategic
Learner
Some people are born on third base and
go through life thinking they hit a triple.
~Barry Switzer
Leadership for a Lifetime
• Stay true to who you are
• Surround yourself with the right people
– Complementary strengths
– People who can do something better than you ever could
• Focus your self-improvement on bolstering
your strengths, not remediating weaknesses
• Understand why people follow and develop
them into leaders
• Personal success is an end in itself – Your
success as a leader is measured by what
continues to grow long after you are gone
Baseball is 90 percent
mental and the other
half is physical
~Yogi Berra
Questions?
Thank you
Tammy Aagard
taagard@ufl.edu
References
Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008) StrengthsBased Leadership. NY: Gallup Press.
Rath, T. (2007) Strengths-Finder 2.0. NY:
Gallup Press.