In one line: You grow fastest by understanding and investing in your natural patterns of thinking, feeling and acting, rather than by spending all your effort fixing weaknesses.
Core idea
Strengths-based development comes from positive psychology. Each person has recurring natural patterns, or talent themes, such as a drive to achieve, an instinct to analyze, or a knack for connecting people. A talent becomes a strength when it is consciously developed with knowledge and practice.
The program uses a well-known strengths assessment at the very start. It gives every participant a shared vocabulary for describing themselves and their teammates, and it serves as a reference point for later exercises.
How it works
- Take the assessment quickly and honestly. Go with your first reaction, avoid neutral answers, and answer for what you prefer, not what your current job demands.
- Read the results for recognition. Note the phrases that feel exactly right, and also the ones that feel wrong. Both teach you something.
- Look at the combination. Themes interact; the same top theme looks different next to different partners.
- Aim, don’t hide. A strength over-used becomes a liability (see Balconies and Basements). Managing a strength is part of developing it.
- Use it with teams. Knowing teammates’ strengths turns a group of people into a set of complementary roles.
In practice
Strengths results become most useful months later, in other exercises: choosing an engineering leadership orientation, writing a Personal SWOT, or comparing a self-view with a 360-Degree Assessment. A good habit is to ask a colleague or family member what they see as your greatest strength, and then compare their answer with the assessment.
Questions to ask yourself
- Which of my top themes do I use without noticing, and which do I suppress at work?
- When has one of my strengths caused a problem for others?
- Whose strengths on my team complement my blind spots?
Connections
- Shadow side: Balconies and Basements.
- Feeds: Engineering Leadership Orientations, Personal SWOT, 360-Degree Assessment.
- Capabilities exercised: Interpersonal Skills, Initiative.