Gallup Leadership model

Background

There is a long tradition within management and leadership thinkers regarding the benefits of building on the strengths of employees. Donald Clifton is seen as a major contributor to this movement through research that he began with Gallup consulting and analytics firm in 1999, and which it is claimed involved over 20,000 in-depth interviews with senior leaders and studies of more than one million work teams. Building on the findings from this and other research projects, Clifton and other thinkers connected with Gallup developed their model of strengths-based leadership which has been adopted across the world. This is supported by an online self-assessment for leaders which helps them to recognise their strengths (the Clifton StrengthsFinder).

The model was predominantly developed for the private sector, although it has been adopted within public sector organisations too, with a focus on those with a designated responsibility to lead a team. This contrasts with other models which see a more emergent and fluid approach to leadership.

Main principles

The Gallup Leadership model seeks to address what the authors see as two commonly held organisational myths:

  • Anyone can be competent at a task if they work hard enough at it.
  • We can develop most within our areas of weakness.

Instead, they believe that we all have individual talents but these are enduring and unique, and that we can grow most in our areas of strength. Instead of everyone being able to do everything, the model proposes that the better approach is to build teams in which the combination of individual strengths ensures that all tasks are achieved to a high standard. Investing in the strengths of individual staff members is also seen to engage them better in their work.

The Gallup model suggests three main elements of strengths-based leadership:

  • Effective leaders invest in their followers’ strengths: Rather than spend time trying to help or manage people to do something that they find difficult better, a leader should understand the strengths of their individual staff members and invest in helping them to demonstrate and build on these in their work.
  • Effective leaders build well-rounded teams: The model proposes that teams collectively need to have strength in four areas: executing (being able to make things happen), influencing (helping the team to reach a wider audience), relationship building (being able to bring a team together and work collaboratively), and strategic thinking (focusing on what could be in the future). The role of the leader is to ensure that the team as a whole contains these strengths.
  • Effective leaders understand the needs of followers: Through understanding the unique attributes of followers, leaders can build the aspects that followers, as identified by Gallup research, commonly share as being important in a leader. They show compassion and care about the individual as a person, they provide stability and therefore confidence in the team and its direction, they give hope that the future can be better and is therefore worth investment of their time and energy, and that they can trust the leader through their respect, integrity and honesty.

Gallup Leadership model: Main principles

Effective leaders:

Implications for strengths-based leadership

The Gallup model takes a different starting point for strengths-based practice which is more focused on organisations achieving their objectives than society improving as a whole. It can be criticised for its emphasis on the individual leader rather than a more collective approach. Its emphasis on understanding the people within a team, engaging with their interests and aspirations, and using the collective strengths of a team are helpful principles within any sector. Similarly, taking time to reflect on our own leadership strengths will enable us to build on these as we seek to influence and encourage others.

For more information:

Strengths-based leadership programme