LFYS Sets Up Teams and Individuals for Success – Every Time
By Olga Messios
As a human resources professional and a leadership coach, I am always looking for good tools – in fact, I’m certified to administer several well-known cross-cultural, stress management, and emotional-intellectual intelligence assessments.
Olga Messios
So when a I heard about Leading From Your Strengths from a former colleague, I was intrigued. She had been part of a Christian workshop where the tool had been used. “It was one of the best experiences I have ever had with a team,” she told me.
I googled Ministry Insights and bought a profile code for myself so I could try it.
I was amazed – on many levels.
The profile report has depth yet is extremely useful and practical. I could immediately see the value that this tool could have for both individual and for teams. And the cost! LFYS is so affordable that it can be used for more than just individual coaching. I could lead an entire team through LFYS for the price of one or two corporate assessments.
To learn more, I completed Ministry Insights’ Level One online certification. Once again, I was surprised. The online training was engaging and easy to follow. I loved the biblical teaching and the way in which Christ is the center of the tool. The profile addresses both spiritual and personal core values that everyone can resonate with, including those who are not Christians themselves. Using the profile gives me an opportunity to share God’s Word in a very constructive matter that I know will impact any individual that I engage with, irrespective of their own personal expression of faith.
I completed the certification in 2014 and have been using LFYS as my key assessment tool since then. It’s a tool that sets up a team for success.
The Impact for Teams: Complete Culture Change
One experience demonstrates how the LFYS profile and process have a significant impact for teams.
I was called in to work with a leader and team that were struggling to acclimate to each other. The leader was only a few months into his role and was incredibly frustrated. He was considering a complete overhaul of the team. Meanwhile, the team members were underperforming. As a first step to address these challenges, I asked each individual to complete the LFYS assessment.
The results could not have been more dramatic. The leader scored as an extreme Aggressive in problem solving and extreme Pioneer in risk taking. The rest of the team, without exception, were strong Reflective problem-solvers and Structured risk-takers.
As I worked with the leader and team to unpack this data, they finally understand what triggered their frustration and why. Their strengths were completely different! We went on to address specific situations they encountered working together. What diminished others’ motivation? What could they do to enhance each other’s performance? How could they learn to value each other’s strengths?
The exercise was so successful that it led us to look beyond the leadership team and have the rest of the staff complete the assessment. In the days and weeks to come, the leaders used the LFYS data to identify set up groups of team members to address specific issues, enabling their natural strengths to be fully utilized for the best advantage of the organization. Over the months, the LFYS process led in a complete culture change.
Now, three years later, the team is flourishing. Team and individual performance are excellent. The staff engage as a unified whole with greater space that accepts and embraces diversity and the value each person brings to the team. The organization has even changed the way in which they undertake recruitment, recognizing that in the past they hired candidates who were like-minded versus seeing the value in being challenged and unlocking the greater intelligence that diversity brings.
The Impact for a Coach: A Success Every Time
As a coach, the LFYS profile and process give me a platform to engage the individual. The report offers quick and accurate detail. Users receive the content well, even those parts that come as a surprise, because the results are clearly explained. The data helps me focus on priority areas of communication and ways to engage the user, teams, and stakeholders.
As a professional, one very important element of LFYS is its provider support. I receive immediate and personal responses to my questions. When I was new to the tool, the Ministry Insights team helped me acclimate and even offered one-on-one Skype calls at no cost. Even today, I always request team Strengths Wheels and know I will receive the data in a timely way. I can rely on the Ministry Insights team to support me to be successful with any issue that may arise. This is a wonderful asset – one I have not experienced equally elsewhere and only enhances my experience with LFYS.
I use Leading From Your Strengths in every human resources and coaching context that I can. The profile resonates in both secular and Christian contexts and with people of all cultures all over the world, including Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Africa, South America, Pacific and Australia. I feel very confident in the successful outcome of the workshop when I am partnering with Ministry Insights to use LFYS.
The profile has been a success every single time I’ve used it, and there are very few things in life that rate that singular achievement. It is by far my favorite assessment tool.
It amazed me when I first used it.
It continues to amaze me now.
More about Coaching with the Profiles
Tony Husted: Coaching the Coaches with the LFYS Profiles