How can leaders build team trust when people think, communicate and work differently? Understanding different working styles helps teams turn potential friction into stronger performance.

In this Best Of conversation, I speak with Claire de Carteret from Gallup about the relationship between strengths, leadership bias and trust within teams.

Claire shares the example of a fast-paced leader who unconsciously judged candidates according to how quickly they walked and spoke. Recognising this bias helped her appreciate what a slower, more deliberative person could bring to the team, including deeper analysis and greater awareness of risk.

In this Best Of, we discuss:

- Why different working styles can create tension in teams

- How a leader’s strengths can become a source of bias

- Why cognitive diversity makes teams stronger

- How to identify complementary strengths and partnerships

- Why strengths-based leadership makes difficult conversations easier

- Why focusing on strengths does not mean ignoring weaknesses

Claire de Carteret is a leadership expert from Gallup. In this conversation, she shares practical insights into strengths-based leadership and how leaders can get the best from people whose natural approach differs from their own.

I’m Claire Gray, a leadership and team facilitator, executive coach, speaker and author of Thriving Leaders and Thriving Teams. Through Thriving Culture, I help leaders and teams unite, align and achieve.

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https://www.youtube.com/@thrivingculture

Watch the complete conversation with Claire de Carteret:

https://youtu.be/wZFFB0NBVrM?si=X01gmOieAFenLIOD

Chapters

00:00 How to build trust quickly

01:00 The hidden bias towards speed

02:00 Seeing different working styles as advantages

03:00 Why differences strengthen teams

04:00 Leveraging strengths and team blind spots

05:00 Finding complementary partnerships

06:00 Strengths and difficult conversations

07:00 When feedback feels punitive

08:00 Strengths don’t mean ignoring weaknesses

#teamtrust #strengthsbasedleadership #highperformingteams