Understanding Your Strengths To Build Stronger Teams w/ Darren Virassammy
08/26/20 • 42 min
Meaningful organizational change comes when we focus on what’s right with people rather than what’s wrong. This means understanding that not everyone thinks and operates the way that you do. When we appreciate these differences, we see them as assets that create stronger leaders, teams, and organizations.
Darren Virassammy is a TEDx speaker and the Co-Founder and COO of 34 Strong. His team believes that everyone deserves a great place to work and that any workplace can be great. As a leading expert in the global workplace engagement community, the 34 Strong team leverages a strength-based approach to human development to create massive shifts within organizations.
When you understand how people in your organization learn best, you can identify how to best apply their strengths. Everyone thinks and processes information and ideas differently. Understanding this allows everyone to show up at their best. This creates a more effective and supportive work culture.
To breathe life into your strengths, Darren urges leaders to guide their people to identify what exhausts them as well as energizes them. To create the foundation for great workplaces, leaders should support an environment of trust, compassion, stability, and hope.
How can you recognize the individual strengths of your people? Let’s talk about it in the comments on the episode page!
In this episode
- What happens when we view differences as strengths
- How team-awareness starts with self-awareness
- The power of empathy to eliminate frustration
- Encouraging your team to pursue what gives them energy
- Leveraging the team’s strengths to succeed in challenging times
Quotes
“It has to start with how we look at ourselves. It’s the self-awareness to team-awareness when we’re working on the culture side. But we have to start with self-awareness.” [7:35]
“We have so many unknowns that are coming at us, whatever comes at me, whatever comes at our team, I just want to make sure that people’s minds and emotional energy is showing up at the strongest level that it possibly can.” [18:49]
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others. Our differences can be our greatest advantages.” [38:59]
Links
Follow 34 Strong on Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
Meaningful organizational change comes when we focus on what’s right with people rather than what’s wrong. This means understanding that not everyone thinks and operates the way that you do. When we appreciate these differences, we see them as assets that create stronger leaders, teams, and organizations.
Darren Virassammy is a TEDx speaker and the Co-Founder and COO of 34 Strong. His team believes that everyone deserves a great place to work and that any workplace can be great. As a leading expert in the global workplace engagement community, the 34 Strong team leverages a strength-based approach to human development to create massive shifts within organizations.
When you understand how people in your organization learn best, you can identify how to best apply their strengths. Everyone thinks and processes information and ideas differently. Understanding this allows everyone to show up at their best. This creates a more effective and supportive work culture.
To breathe life into your strengths, Darren urges leaders to guide their people to identify what exhausts them as well as energizes them. To create the foundation for great workplaces, leaders should support an environment of trust, compassion, stability, and hope.
How can you recognize the individual strengths of your people? Let’s talk about it in the comments on the episode page!
In this episode
- What happens when we view differences as strengths
- How team-awareness starts with self-awareness
- The power of empathy to eliminate frustration
- Encouraging your team to pursue what gives them energy
- Leveraging the team’s strengths to succeed in challenging times
Quotes
“It has to start with how we look at ourselves. It’s the self-awareness to team-awareness when we’re working on the culture side. But we have to start with self-awareness.” [7:35]
“We have so many unknowns that are coming at us, whatever comes at me, whatever comes at our team, I just want to make sure that people’s minds and emotional energy is showing up at the strongest level that it possibly can.” [18:49]
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others. Our differences can be our greatest advantages.” [38:59]
Links
Follow 34 Strong on Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
Previous Episode
How Twitter Thrives As A Fully Remote Org w/ CHRO Jennifer Christie
In March of 2020 when COVID-19 hit, many organizations updated their remote work policies at least temporarily to allow people to work from home. Twitter made headlines in May by announcing that a remote work option would be available to their 5,000+ full-time workforce, forever! 15Five CEO, David Hassell interviews Twitter’s head of HR to discuss what Twitter has learned from making this shift after several months.
Jennifer Christie is the VP of People and Chief Human Resources Officer at Twitter. She leads the global people team and works with the executive management team and board of directors to support the strategic direction of the company. Jennifer oversees talent acquisition and management, diversity and inclusion, people systems and analytics, organizational and performance management, and training and development.
Even before COVID, Twitter allowed employees to work remotely as part of their larger strategies around decentralization and Diversity & Inclusion. Now as a fully remote organization, in order to maintain the camaraderie that existed in the office, Jennifer and her team find ways to maintain deep connections between “Tweeps” in the remote space. Additionally, they have shifted their benefits plan to support people’s health and well-being in a new reality where gyms are closed and people need certain staple equipment to be successful at home.
Hopefully, in the next year or so, the health risk will abate and people will begin returning to the office once it is safe to do so. Twitter, like many other businesses, are planning a “return to office” strategy. At Twitter, offices will be available for the people who want to return to a shared physical working space. For now, Jennifer shares how to maintain social and emotional connections without a physical office and why it’s imperative that companies start planning for this readjustment now.
How has Covid created new roles for HR within your organization? Tell us in the comments on the episode page!
Also in this episode:
- Going fully remote and returning to the office
- Helping employees with resources, setting boundaries, and remote benefits
- “Camp Twitter” - Supporting parents when school and camp are closed
- Diversity & Inclusion at Twitter - a comprehensive strategy including transparency, and setting goals that optimize for D&I efforts
- HR as strategic partner to the Board and the rest of the C-suite
Quotes
“If we want to be able to attract and retain this growing employee base that is growing very rapidly, we’ve got to start shifting our culture. We have to shift how we work if we’re going to be inclusive of that work style.” [0:57]
“We want to try to engineer a different experience so people don’t feel compelled to come back to the office if they don’t want to because they feel like they’re missing out on something.” [13:33]
“I don’t think you can nail inclusion if you don’t have a diverse workforce. Decentralization is a key driver of that.” [27:05]
Links
Washington Post: “Twitter Employees Don’t Ever Have to Go Back to the Office (Unless They Want to)”
Next Episode
How Procore Constructed A Positive Company Culture That Was Built To Last w/ Steve Zahm
What does company culture have to do with business results? At 15five, we see an incredibly strong link between the two. So does today’s guest who has used culture and values to build a pool of enthusiastic employees who are motivated to do their best work every day.
About Steve Zahm
Steve Zahm is the president and Chief Culture Officer of Procore where he’s responsible for human resources, learning, development, and facilities and real estate. Steve is focused on the creation and scaling of positive workplace culture as a sustainable competitive advantage for achieving superior business results.
Why Culture is a Strategic Advantage for Business
As the Chief Culture Officer, Steve works to make his company’s culture one of its greatest assets. He sees an undeniable connection between the culture of a company and its success.
Good workplace culture pays back in so many ways. It attracts the best and most enthusiastic talent. When a company has a positive culture, employees are easier to attract, maintain high levels of engagement, and create a competitive advantage.
Putting Your Values Into Action
Stating your values isn’t enough. You need to take deliberate action to ensure that your stated values prosper within your company. You have to hire and fire according to your values. When managing your employees, put the language of your workplace culture front and center. Ultimately, training in accordance with your values ensures that everyone knows how to do their best work in alignment with the company’s vision.
When your workplace culture is able to do this, your people will become strong advocates of your values. This naturally leads to a strengthening of these values into something larger than the founders could have done on their own.
In This Episode
- The role and value of Chief Culture Officers [0:50]
- Signs that your culture is working [7:23]
- The attributes of a positive culture [9:18]
- Intentionally setting up company values to be acted upon [13:08]
- The dangers of not operating according to your stated values [20:08]
- How founders impart their personal values to their company [21:50
- How workplace culture can evolve for the better as a company scales up [27:07]
- The power of strong workplace culture to respond to crisis [28:56]
- Practical steps to creating an inclusive work environment [33:33]
Quotes
“People don’t realize that businesses invest in culture because culture improves the business.” [1:56]
“With culture, not only do you have to speak the language, you have to do the language. You have to do things that are in accordance with your values.” [21:07]
“A crisis is a horrible time to find out what your values are as a company. It’s a great time to have your values as a company.” [30:06]
“One of the goals to enable the success of the business has to be letting my people do their best work. Every single day I should be pushing to get every employee that can into that state of flow.” [36:30]
Key Takeaways
1. Having a clear company vision will lead to a more engaged and motivated workforce.
2. A strong company culture will differentiate your company and make it more robust when there is a crisis.
Links & Resources
Find Steve Zahm online at Procore
Check out Procore’s free courses
Learn about Procore’s social impact work
Follow 15Five on Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin
Links & Resources
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