In this episode of The HR Uprising Podcast, Lucinda talks to Emily Hutchinson, the Director of EJH Consulting and a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, about the benefits of strengths-based organisations. Emily is also working on a book called ‘The strengths-based organisation’.
This Episode: The Strengths-Based Organisation with Emily Hutchinson
Why is being a strengths-based organisation relevant to HR? Because there is lots of evidence that helping others to play to their strengths in business is more powerful than remedial support i.e. focusing on weaknesses which is perhaps an older style of developing people. Emily works as an Occupational Psychologist within a technical organisation and shares the type of work she does as a practitioner and as an Academic. Discover more when you tune in.
Key Takeaways
- Traditional psychology tends to focus more on what’s wrong with people rather than what’s right.
- The strengths-based approach focuses on how individuals feel at their best, when you are in flow. It is different from competency which may be what you are good at but not what you love.
- The approach can be used in recruitment; team or career development or even performance management to bring the best out in people.
- Results are far better when people are playing to strengths because you are tapping into their intrinsic motivation.
- Awareness of strengths can overcome unconscious bias and significantly improve the interview process.
Best Moments
- “If we are able to help people in our business play or develop their strengths, it’s actually more powerful than working on weaknesses.”
- “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its’ whole live believing it is stupid”
- “The value comes if we can actually make a difference to the individuals who make the difference in the organisation and to the organisation themself.”
- “Tap into people whose intrinsic motivation is of just what they love to do rather than what they’re just good at.”
Valuable Resources
- You can access additional free HR Resources via the Actus Software website link below. Lucinda Carney is the founder and CEO of Actus Software: https://actus.co.uk/free-performance-management-resources/
- Other HR Uprising Podcast Episodes: https://hruprising.com/hr-podcasts/
About The Guest
Emily Hutchinson is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and the Director of EJH Consulting. For more than 20 years in her professional career, she’s had 25 years experience working with organisations and individuals to improve their performance.
- emily@ejhconsulting.co.uk
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/hutchinsonemily/
- The Strengths Profile that Emily uses: https://strengthsprofile.com
About The Host
Lucinda Carney is a Business Psychologist with 15 years in Senior Corporate L&D roles and a further 10 as CEO of Actus Software where she worked closely with HR colleagues helping them to solve the same challenges across a huge range of industries. It was this breadth of experience that inspired Lucinda to set up the HR Uprising community to facilitate greater collaboration across HR professionals in different sectors, helping them to ‘rise up’ together.
“When we look up we rise up”
Contact Method
- Join the HR Uprising LinkedIn community – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13714397/
- Email: Lucinda@advancechange.co.uk
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucindacarney/
- Twitter: @lucindacarney
- Instagram: @hruprising
- Facebook: @hruprising
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