Part One: Your Difference is Your Strength

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1 42 43 Your Difference is Your Strength You cannot be anything you want to be but you can be a lot more of who you already are. Tom Rath You don t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over. Richard Branson

2 44 45 Time to reflect: Making culture a routine Spend five minutes at the start of this section writing down your thoughts on the following questions. Have they had a positive impact on anyone else? How? Highlight three practical changes you've made to the way you work recently. 04 If you don t feel like you ve made a difference, why is that? What's helped you achieve those changes? 05 List one thing you have learnt about yourself since you have started working through.

3 46 47 Recognising the strength (difference) in all of us We all have different strengths and the SoRL acknowledges this. In fact, it celebrates it. As we showed in the roadmap, the SoRL values encourage people to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and to make their difference, their strength. But to be able to make a difference, you first need to know your strengths. Embrace the Gallup theory of developing individual's strengths YOUR DIFFERENCE IS YOUR STRENGTH KEY MESSAGES Grow above the line attitude We are one Royal London When we work together and use our strengths we are stronger PURPOSE To change the way Royal London works for the better Putting the customer at the heart of everything we do Building stronger relationships and making connections within Royal London

4 48 49 Talent (a natural way of thinking, feeling or behaving) A few things to consider about strengths An individual s strengths suggest how they re likely to make choices in certain situations. Two people with very different profiles can both be excellent in the same role, but they will execute the role in different ways. Two people with similar strenghts can behave very differently. Strengths are not an excuse for behaving how we want to. Investment Managing the downsides of our strengths helps us maximise our impact. (time spent practicing, developing your skills and building your knowledge base) Strength (the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance)

5 50 51 Describe your strengths Have you completed StrengthsFinder 2.0? If not, get in touch with Once you've completed StrengthsFinder 2.0 and identified your strengths, answer the following questions. Action! Spend five minutes reflecting on how you recently used your strengths and how you ve managed a weakness. Try and come up with one example for each. What did you identify as your strengths? Choose three of your strengths and describe what they mean to you. Are there any areas where you could use your strengths differently?

6 52 53 Think above the line, not below the line Powerful Choices Responsible Open Undefensive Listening Responsive Co-operative Generous Out of control No choice Victim Justify Ignore Blame Arrogant Short-term gain

7 54 55 Three ways to use and improve your above-the-line thinking Our four values... Use regular culture catch-ups to celebrate team successes and discuss stumbling blocks. We are Empowered We are Trustworthy We Collaborate and We Achieve...encourage what we call above-the-line thinking. What do we mean by that? Put simply: it s a positive mental attitude. Instead of seeing yourself as a victim of circumstance over which you feel powerless to act (below-the-line thinking), you choose to frame a problem as an opportunity, or a series of challenges, and take responsibility for what you can do to overcome them. Chat with your line manager about how above-the-line thinking can help you achieve your objectives. Focus on making one small change to the way you work each month. And stick to it. Get to be really good at one or two things. And get to be decently good at a whole bunch of things. Drake Martinet, Vice Media

8 56 57 Three tips to feel more empowered Notes Present your best face to others, which is to say: do your best. When people see you looking and acting professionally they will assume that the same is true for your attitude. Your colleagues will place value upon this and treat you with respect. After all, this is who you are. Walk into work with your head held high. Be proud of who you are, be proud of what your accomplishments are at work and show that to others. They will interpret this as you feeling secure and confident. You will feel better about yourself. Find a niche at work where you can excel. In other words, focus on your strengths. Do extra work in this area and really become comfortable with it to the point of being able to teach it to others. Make it your difference.

9 58 59 When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things. Joe Namath You just have to be yourself and go full with confidence and be courageous. Gabby Douglas Action! Finding your Team Role Our brand position, Strength in Everyone, makes it clear that we believe that everyone who works for us has the power to make a difference, and that those differences taken together can add up to a big change. Your voice counts and we need your voice to realise our vision. It s the combination of those strengths and differences that make for great teams and a great way to find out where you contribute the most is by finding out your Belbin Profile. According to Belbin, most people have two or three Team Roles that they are most comfortable with and prefer; a few others that they can manage to cover if they need to; and finally the rest that they prefer not to adopt at all. Knowing your Team Role means you can ensure that you re playing to your key strengths.

10 60 61 Introducing Belbin s nine Team Roles. Which one are you? 04 Resource Investigator You provide inside knowledge on the opposition and make sure that the team s idea will carry to the outside world. Teamworker You help the team to gel, using its versatility to identify the work required and complete it on behalf of the team. Co-ordinator You re needed to focus on the team s objectives, draw out team members and delegate work appropriately. Plant You tend to be highly creative and good at solving problems in unconventional ways Monitor Evaluator You provide a logical eye, making impartial judgements where required and weighing up the team s options in a dispassionate way. Specialist You bring in-depth knowledge of a key area to the team. Shaper You provide the necessary drive to ensure that the team keeps moving and does not lose focus or momentum. Implementer You re needed to plan a workable strategy and carry it out as efficiently as possible. Completer Finisher You re most effective at the end of tasks to polish and scrutinise the work for errors, subjecting it to the highest standards of quality control. Find out more about Belbin s Team Roles at

11 62 63 Exercise Action! Complete your own Belbin Profile. Send an to: and they ll reply with everything you need. Once you can recognise your own Team Roles and strengths, it's time to see how good you are at recognising them in other people. Look around your team and see if you can identify which of the Belbin Team Roles everyone occupies using the table provided. Then set aside some time with your colleagues to discuss with everyone how you can best use of your combined skills. Name Team Role 1 Team Role 2 Team Role 3 Team Role 4

12 64 65 Follow-up questions What were your initial feelings when you reviewed the Team Roles of your colleagues? Becoming an effective 'influencer' What did you notice about the different strengths of your team? Today, organisations are moving away from hierarchy structures where the person at the top calls the shots towards flatter, team-based models. The theory is that with change and complexity comes the need to be more nimble, more inclusive of diverse thought and more collaborative. In this model, power is more about your ability to influence and get things done outside traditional reporting lines. How can you use the strengths of others to complement you and vice versa? By empowering our employees, this is what we are aiming to achieve through the Spirit of Royal London.

13 66 67 According to research by Discovery Learning, Inc. and Innovative Pathways there are five types of influencers: Asserting You insist that your ideas are heard and you challenge the ideas of others. Exercise Get to know your influencing style Do you assert, convince, negotiate, bridge or inspire? Do you tend to apply the same approach to every situation and individual? Spend some time working out what your natural inclination is. Convincing You put forward your ideas and offer logical, rational reasons to convince others of your point of view. Negotiating You look for compromises and make concessions to reach outcomes that satisfy the greater interest. 04 Bridging You build relationships and connect with others through listening understanding and building coalitions. 05 Inspiring You advocate your position and encourage others with a sense of shared purpose and exciting possibilities.

14 68 69 Exercise Exercise Decide who you need to influence Who is it that you need to win over at the moment? Think about what influencing style might be the most effective to achieve your goal. For example, if you re in a crisis situation where people are relying on you to be decisive and fast on your feet, an asserting style may be more effective. Understand where you need to improve Is the influencing style you need to take your strong suit? If it isn t, what can you do to develop your skills in that style? Consider finding a role model who is particularly strong in the style you re trying to develop and asking them for advice. Find a learning partner someone with whom you can work to gain confidence. You can learn more about influencing by going to