Searching for Patterns

A client of mine was telling me about one of her staff members, who was struggling to discover his strengths. This individual, let's call him Jake, took the time to review and recall his best days. Jake noticed something interesting -- one time he could be performing a task and have a great time -- really feeling like he was working from a place of strength. Another day, a similar task let him feeling cold, bored, and engaging a weakness. The tasks were similar -- and Jake became confused about his strengths!

As my client worked with him to look for the patterns of circumstances underlying the times he felt he was engaging his best strength, Jake had an ah-ha! He realized that his strength was not about the task or the skill at all -- it was all about the relationships he was engaged in when performing the task. When he performed this task alone, he was disengaged. When he performed it with colleagues and others at work, he had a great time. Soon Jake, and his boss, realized that Jake's strength is in relationship. He loves working with others. He enjoys the interplay and the creativity -- and he manages to build collaborative relationships into most all of his work.

Now Jake has a much clearer handle on his strengths, and looks for ways to invite others in whenever possible, so he can enjoy using his relationship strengths. Jake is playing his strong hand!

Andrea