Embracing your Strengths: Part 2 of the 7 Step Plan

This blog is a continuation of a 7-part series that sets out a “Step by Step” plan to discover what really matters in your life and to set you off on a path to “live your life on purpose”. The overall outline of the 7 Step Plan and Step 1 have been covered in earlier blogs. This blog focuses on Step 2.

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Recently I was having a conversation with Shakira (a client) about her performance appraisal feedback. There was lots of positive feedback. She was diligent, reliable, & loyal. She produced very high-quality work, was a fact based, data driven thinker and excelled in collecting and analysing all the information needed to make good decisions. Nearly all of the feedback focused on what Shakira did well but there was one comment “Shakira could be more outgoing with her peers” that Shakira wanted to spend all her time talking about during her coaching session: that one perceived “weakness” or development area.

When looking at Shakira’s CliftonStrengths profile I could see the following in her top 5:

As a strengths-based coach, I am focused on how clients can learn, grow and develop to become the best “version of themselves” and Shakira’s profile gave me insight into why she received such positive feedback. She was playing to her strengths in performing her job. We agreed that there was a high correlation between the requirements of the role and her strengths, and I encouraged Shakira to recognise herself in the feedback and to give herself credit for using her strengths so productively.

We explored the developmental feedback. Firstly, validating the value to be gained from becoming “more outgoing with peers” and then exploring whether and how this would make her more effective in her current role or prepare her better for the next role.

Quite often feedback given says more about the strengths & style of the person providing the feedback rather than the requirements of the role. In this case, Shakira’s line manager had a charismatic and outgoing personality. He thrived on meeting new people and influencing others. He trusted his own judgment when making decisions. From Shakira’s description I hazarded a guess that he had Woo (Winning Others Over) and Self-Assurance near the top of his Talent themes. Over the years he had honed and developed these into strengths in order to excel. Unfortunately, he had fallen into the trap of thinking “that if Shakira was a bit more like me” then she would be even more effective.

Nevertheless, Shakira acknowledged that she could be even more effective in her role if she had better relationships with her peers. However, she hated engaging in “small talk” and did not want to go to the pub with her peers after work. We talked about how she could “use the strengths that she does have” to appear more outgoing with peers. By seeing it as her Responsibility to engage with her peers to gain their Input and to share her Analysis she would feel that she had a valid reason to engage with her peers more often. Through sharing information and analysis over time she could build trusted meaningful Relationships with some of her peers. In this way,

Shakira was using her strengths to achieve a desired outcome rather than trying to change herself into someone else. We devised an action plan that Shakira could genuinely commit to delivering upon. In follow up sessions, we discussed how her new approach to engaging with her peers was working and made small adjustments to ensure that Shakira remained “true to her authentic self”.

This is an example of a strengths-based coaching conversation and I realise that this may be unfamiliar to some. So much of our education system and society in general is geared towards fixing weaknesses rather than focusing on strengths. It takes time and practice to embrace a strengths-based approach to development.

So why focus on your strengths?

Gallup research says that people who focus on their strengths are 3x as likely to report having an excellent quality of life and 6x as likely to be engaged in their jobs.

Just as importantly, you can get a much better “Return on Investment” by focusing on your strengths.

For example, the Nebraska School Study Council launched a 3-year study to determine the most effective techniques for teaching speed reading. More than 1000 students were tested for speed and comprehension. The results were dramatic. The poorer readers (those with an average of 90 words per minute) at the beginning of the study increased to an average of 150 words per minute. You might think that this is a good result. However, those more able readers (with an average of 350 words per minute at the beginning of the study) skyrocketed to an average of 2900 words per minute by the end of the study. The conclusion was clear. Applying improvement techniques to something where the individual already has strong skills yields much higher results than for those who were less naturally able readers.

When doing strengths-based coaching there are three stages to explore:

1. Name It

The CliftonStrengths online assessment is designed to identify your natural talents across 34 themes. More than 20 million people have taken the assessment and the research behind the strengths-based movement has been around for 4 decades.

Depending on your responses to the online assessment questions, 34 themes will be ranked in order of intensity. The chance of you having exactly the same Top 5 talent themes in exactly the same order as another person in the database is 1 in 33 million. So you really are unique!!

I talk about Talent Themes rather than Strengths. Talents are naturally occurring patterns of thought, feeling or behaviour that can be applied productively. Only if you invest in these Talents do they become Strengths. A Strength is the ability to consistently produce a positive outcome through near-perfect performance in a specific task.

The first step in a Strengths journey is to be able to describe your strengths and be able to recognise them in yourself. Within the CliftonStrengths 34 report there are customised descriptions of each person’s Top 5 strengths. These have been formulated based on the detailed answers to the assessment questions. This means that, even if you have a theme in common with another person, your particular “version” of that theme is unique to you. A Strengths coach can help you to identify the nuances of your unique talents.

2. Claim It

In this second stage of the strengths journey, clients learn to “love” his/her strengths profile. People often have pre-conceived notions about what they “should” or “should not” have in their profile in order to excel in their lives. For instance, often leaders do not like having “Harmony” as a top theme. Through coaching the client can learn how to appreciate the power and opportunity offered by having Harmony. Harmony is about finding common ground and building consensus which can be highly valuable skills for a leader to possess.

Clients will also learn to appreciate how their talents can be useful and reach a commitment to develop the talents that they do have (rather than obsessing about the things that they do not have).

3. Aim It

In this third stage the coach helps the client to intentionally invest in the development of his/her talents to achieve the desired result. We explore how to combine and calibrate your talent themes. We look at how you can collaborate with others who have complementary themes and how you can defuse tensions that can arise when people have contrasting talent themes.

What about Weaknesses

Contrary to popular belief, weaknesses are not necessarily the things that are at the bottom of a client’s strengths profile. In CliftonStrengths terminology, a weakness is anything that gets in the way of your success. Even if a theme is lower down in a client’s strengths profile, it is often possible to accomplish a similar outcome using strengths that are in the Top 10 of the client’s profile. Also people can apply those talents in the bottom half of their profile but it is likely to be more draining of a the client’s energy and the result is likely to be less consistently good than when using his/her strengths.

More often than not, weaknesses are actually strengths that have been over-used, calibrated incorrectly, or used by default rather than as a result of conscious choice. Because our talent themes are so much a part of “who we are” we often take them for granted and do not realise when we are allowing them to get out of control. For instance, I have Focus in my Top 5 Talent themes. When applied productively this means that I can concentrate without getting distracted on the task at hand until it is finished. When it is over-used, Focus means that I can block out everything other than the task at hand even when there are other matters or people who would benefit from my attention in that moment.

Discovering, embracing and applying your Strengths is a critical step on the journey to “Live your Life on Purpose”. It is through understanding and investing in your Strengths that you can gain enhanced self-awareness and understand what gives you energy and happiness in your life.

To find out more about your Strengths or to take the CliftonStrengths 34 assessment go to

https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/Purchase/en-US/Product

Step 3 of the plan is to identify your key beliefs, values and drivers and this will be the subject of a blog in a few weeks time.

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If you would like to learn more about strengths-based coaching or the 7 Step Plan to Living Life on Purpose contact me on ad@annemariedurbin.com or visit www.annemariedurbin.com