Thursday, February 19, 2026
Alignment can be groupthink in disguise.
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 | Decoding the human algorithm | | | | | 1. Conflict Avoidance Is Undermining Your Team's Decisions | | | Use CliftonStrengths to Build Creative Tension Does this sound familiar: Your team uses CliftonStrengths like a map to avoid conflict and tension. In which case: - Each strength gets its own swim lane.
- Leaders reward speed and cohesion.
- Strengths language becomes a protective shield.
- Poor, one-dimensional, or untested ideas move forward without resistance.
Exceptional Teams Know How to Use Strengths Productively Amid Conflict When strengths go unmanaged, teams tend to: - dominate decisions or narrow options too early
- repeat familiar patterns, even when conditions change
- miss important perspectives that would improve the outcome
- choose what feels right to a strength rather than what's best for the team
When strengths are mature, teams: - hold clear points of view without silencing others
- pull in complementary strengths at the right time
- keep tension focused on ideas, risks and outcomes, not identity
- think more clearly under pressure
Design Strengths-Based Tension on Purpose Intentionally create room for strengths to push against each other. This means: - giving specific strengths permission to challenge direction
- letting others slow the pace or test assumptions
- keeping disagreement active long enough to sharpen the thinking
How to Do This in Practice For your next high-stakes decision: - Name the strength responsible for challenging the thinking.
Examples include Strategic®, Analytical® or Deliberative®. - Name the strength responsible for commitment or momentum.
Examples include Achiever®, Activator® or Command®. - Decide when debate ends and execution begins.
Don't shut down tension too early, but also don't let it linger without resolution. The Takeaway Pressure exposes how a team handles its strengths. High-performing teams know when to challenge thinking and when to move decisively. Build Better Teams | 2. Why the Best Ideas Don't Come From One Person | | | | “One person's idea is great, but as we bring other ideas into a collaborative and safe environment … that ultimately creates the best outcomes.”
— Diane Hoskins, Global Co-Chair, Gensler High-performing leaders build an environment where people share ideas that compete, combine, grow and evolve. Listen to Diane Hoskins discuss the importance of bringing together people who trust each other to co-create ideas in this Leading With Strengths interview. Watch Now | 3. Learn How Your Team Actually Works | | | | If you lead a senior team, intuition isn't enough. Instead, treat your team like a system. Focus on this: - recurring decision patterns, not individual behavior
- which strengths reinforce each other, and which override others
- where trust accelerates thinking and where it suppresses it
Use Gallup's new Team and Partnership AI Insights to help you see these patterns and manage how strengths interact when the stakes are high. Learn More | 4. How to Improve Team Performance With Your Top Strength | | This section is personalized for readers who have discovered their CliftonStrengths. If you haven't taken the assessment yet, you're missing insights designed specifically for your natural talents. Discover your CliftonStrengths and get even more value out of this newsletter. Already know your CliftonStrengths? Make sure you're getting the most relevant insights. Subscribe to this newsletter using the email address linked to your assessment results. | | | | | Build the Ability to Turn Strengths Into a Team Performance Advantage | The Gallup Global Strengths Coach course equips leaders and coaches to deliberately shape how strengths interact, improving decision quality, execution and performance under pressure. Upcoming Sessions | | | | Manila, the Phillipines (English) | | | | | | | | | | | | Japan Standard Time (Japanese) | | | | | | | | | | | Was this email forwarded to you? Never miss another newsletter. Subscribe here. | | |
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