1. Building Stronger teams with
StrongSuits
Dave Corbet & Debbie Warrener
StrongSuits Ltd
Copyright StrongSuits Ltd 2016, all rights reserved
2. Lets play a game
• Deal the cards – 5 each
• Turn one card face up
• Take turns – do you want to swap?
• Explain why
• Discarded cards stay face up
• Declare when the cards in your hand are
right for you
6. There are four conversations the cards help teams have:
• Strengths
• Limitations
• Diversity and respect
• Team style – Communication, accountability, conflict
18. Diamonds
Reflective Standards Task
Team Exec
At your
best
Spades 0 3
Hearts 2 2
Clubs 10 5
Diamonds 1 3
Spades 5 3
Hearts 4 6
Clubs 2 2
Clubs Spades
Diamonds 2 2 Relationships Drive
Spades 3 0
Hearts 3 0
Clubs 3 4
Diamonds 4 9
Spades 5 7
Hearts 5 2
Clubs 2 1
Diamonds 1 3
People Hearts Expressive
Passion
Linda
Jean
StrongSuits team strengths map
Under
pressure
Pete
Aziz
19. Another game
Identify your strengths
• Split the cards into the 4 suits in order Ace
to King
• Choose the card from each number that is
most like you when you are at your best
• Which do you choose most of
Strongsuits is an innovative strengths-based people and organisational development tool that uses playing cards and games to help teams have fun and feel energised whilst generating high-impact conversations about how people behave and how they can develop.
StrongSuits is designed to help people build stronger teams
There are four conversations the cards help teams have:
Strengths
Limitations
Diversity and respect
Team style – Communication, accountability, conflict
The strongsuits cards help teams identify their own and others strengths
The stat is from stanford university in the US and is based on work they did with their engineering students
Each year students are enterd into a national competition in teams
At one time the teams were self selected –people tended to work with people they liked
The university the introduced a personality profile to select the teams
Over the next ten years teams from Stanford won three times as many awards as in the previous ten years
More than 40 studies including Researchers from McKinsey and Co have found similar results
Its not enough just to know each others strengths
The real key is diversity
But the problem is that we prefer to work with people who are like us – we might even feel that the people who don’t think and behave like us are irritating or annoying
Exercise - What are your strengths?
Arrange the cards in four suits
Go through the cards and pick one card from each group of 4 – when you are at your best which strength most applies to you
Count the cards – which suit do you have most of?