This is part of a series of articles on the different types of strengths that each of us as individuals have. You can take a look at the ACHIEVER strength that I discussed in the first post in the series.
Everyone is born with talents. Talents are our natural way of thinking, feeling and behaving that can be productively applied. When we invest and develop our talents, they then become strengths. A strength is the ability to consistently do an activity to near perfection. It is about the WAY we achieve success, and all of us have a ‘way.’
There is an assessment called Strengths Finder, and it takes about 45 minutes to do online, answering various questions. Once you are done, it then sends you a strength report. There are 34 strengths in total and the assessment calculates your most dominant strengths from number 1 to number 34 in sequence of their dominance. You choose whether you want the report of your full 34 or just your dominant first 5 strengths.
In this issue we are going to look at the strengths of DISCIPLINE and EMPATHY.
DISCIPLINE
“Your world needs to be predictable. It needs to be ordered and planned. So you instinctively impose structure on your world. You set up routines. You focus on timelines and deadlines. You break long-term projects into a series of specific short-term plans, and you work through each plan diligently. Faced with the inherent messiness of life, you want to feel in control. You must understand that not everyone feels your urge for predictability, they have other ways of getting things done. Likewise, you can help them understand and even appreciate your need for structure. Your dislike of surprises, your impatience with errors, your routines, and your detail orientation don’t need to be misinterpreted as controlling behaviours that box people in. Rather, these behaviours can be understood as your instinctive method for maintaining your progress and your productivity in the face of life’s many distractions.” Tom Rath, StrengthsFinder 2.0.
Our accountant Taku has Discipline in his top 5. He is very organised and plans his work meticulously. You would have to work very hard to change his plans, so you’ll have to have extremely convincing reasons to do so. Do not attempt to have a meeting with him without an agenda. Winging it is highly frowned upon by him, because you should have planned beforehand. After all, how can anything be implemented without a plan?
He is very responsible with money, and a great adviser to those looking to save and make the money last longer. He quickly recognises distractions and unnecessary rabbit holes. He gives his family security through predictability. Everything should be in its place. Where there is order, there is effective productivity. Progress is then easy to gauge and monitor, in a transparent and reliable manner. He brings stability, confidence and accountability to the team.
Now let’s look at the strength of Empathy.
EMPATHY
“You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective or feel pity for each person’s predicament – this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right phrase to express their feelings – to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.” Tom Rath, StrengthsFinder 2.0.
Faith is a colleague who has Empathy in her top 5. She is a shop manager in the Central Business District. Empathy is her ability to anticipate the actions and responses of her employees and customers because she can put herself in their shoes. This allows her to act in anticipation to how the people would probably react, and she is seldom wrong. Both her customers and employees feel understood and valued by her. Her team loves working with her.
This also helps her position people with the right roles and responsibilities, with the ability to be able to diagnose where relational issues may arise. She is a great mediator, able to see both view points, and help others take cognisance of the different views as well. Her people smartness gives her wisdom on how to speak and address people of varying backgrounds. This is highly valuable in her work environment, where she is constantly addressing customers, suppliers and colleagues, in a thriving and busy agricultural shop.
Joyce Mutangara is a wife, mother, pastor, legal adviser and strengths coach. She loves to give inspiring personal interaction, through authentic discussion, and exploration of talents that motivate people to achieve optimum performance through intentionally deploying their strengths. For more information or access to her work and to get personal strengths coaching, you can email her: joycemut@gmail.com or visit her blog Joyce’s Blog.
