Your employees are your company’s most valuable asset. As a leader, identifying the strengths and weaknesses in your team members can go a long way in ensuring they play their roles effectively. The information will help you make better job decisions, unlock their potential and equip them with the tools they need to thrive. Improving weaknesses and harnessing strengths will also enable you to build and sustain a high-performance team. This will in turn benefit both your company and team members. But how can you uncover these strengths and weaknesses? 

Read on to find out. 

BEING UPFRONT AND HONEST

One of the most effective ways to identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual team members is to simply ask them about their talents and passions. To get accurate and reliable information, be sure to have an open and direct conversation with each of your team members. 

You should also create an environment where employees can take risks and own up to their mistakes. Lastly, when assessing a team member, consider getting feedback from other employees and managers. 

VIEW USER PROFILES

Social media can play a crucial role in helping you learn more about employees. Most people build personal and professional profiles on these platforms. The profiles can provide valuable information regarding an individual’s skills, expertise, experience, interests, likes, and dislikes.

Understanding employee attributes will make it easier to know which specific roles and responsibilities to assign them. In the end, you will ensure that the abilities of every team member are utilized most effectively. 

LOOK AT PAST EXPERIENCE 

Instead of waiting for a performance review, you may want to take time to look at the past experience of each individual team member. This includes what they have done within your organization as well as with other organizations. The information will help you understand when and how a person shines.  

Past experience will offer an accurate picture of your team members’ strengths and weaknesses. You can then play to their strengths so each person can thrive as part of the team. 

LISTENING AND OBSERVING

When you work with someone daily over a period of time, it can be difficult to assess them objectively. Indeed, strengths and weaknesses are not always outright apparent. Listening to and observing your team members keenly will provide a different perspective to help you maximize their potential. 

Taking an interest in how people behave will help you note some key characteristics and a general pattern. This will enable you to objectively identify each individual’s strengths and weaknesses. 

INTERNAL COMPETITION

Competition makes for a great way to bring out the real character traits of employees. As team members focus on accomplishing the specific task, their strengths and weaknesses will be thrown into sharp relief. 

Leaders should encourage friendly internal competition among team members. During such events, the natural talents and abilities of your team members will emerge. This way, you can identify the right individuals to fill different positions within the team and organization. 

INTRANET ACTIVITY 

Just like social media platforms, company social intranets can provide valuable insights about the attitudes towards work, relationships, and networks of your team members. This is why you may want to monitor intranet activity when looking to learn more about your staff.

The content an individual posts, how frequently they ask for help, and if they are more talkative on the network than in real life will tell a lot about their personality. 

PAY ATTENTION TO SUCCESSES AND FAILURES 

Leaders should identify the individual members who are responsible for every success or failure of the team. This will help you to discover and evaluate both their positive and negative attributes. Lastly, take time to assess each person’s performance outside of the team structure. 

There are many helpful and healthy ways to strengthen your team. To enhance the productivity and commitment of individual team members, you need to focus on the positives. In addition, you should work on ways to create a pleasant working environment and keep your employees happy.