Vampires

You've probably seen them featured in airport bookstores: Stephenie Meyer's vampire series. Designed for young adult women, and written by a BYU graduate and mom, The Twilight Saga features Bella, a high-school girl who falls in love with Edward, a "vegetarian" vampire (yes, these vampires don't bite people!) who both live and attend high school in the small town of Forks, Washington. How does such series of books appeal to readers of all ages? Great writing and intriguing, if somewhat unusual, plots!


I completed the last of the four-book series, Breaking Dawn, this weekend. I wanted to share with you a quote from Eleazar, who, in conversation with Edward and Bella, speaks of the special and unique talents of each vampire. He says (page 597), "Yes, no talent ever manifests itself in precisely the same way, because no one ever thinks in exactly the same way."


This is brilliant! Though (most of) our talents are not vampire-like, Eleazar speaks so well to strengths -- both yours and mine. Even if you and I share the same list of strengths, we will manifest them very differently, depending upon how we think, our values and passions, our personalities, and our styles of communicating. Our strengths are unique! We have the opportunity to apply our strengths, each of us, in a unique way and in the venues we choose.


And we don't need to bite anyone on the neck.

Nope. No defintive leadership strengths

Sometimes I am asked, "What strengths are necessary to be an effective leader?" That question leads to an odd response -- "all of them" and "none of them" both seem to work! The reason is, there is NO single strength shared by leaders. The essential component of using your strengths to lead is not possessing a particular strength -- it is knowing and using your own unique combination of strengths in the service of leadership that creates effective leadership.

Donald Clifton researched leader strengths for 30 years. You know his name -- after his death, the StrengthsFinder instrument was renamed to honor him, the Clifton StengthsFinder. When asked about his greatest discovery after all those years of research, Clifton replied: "A leader needs to know his strengths as a carpenter knows his tools, or a physician knows the instruments at her disposal. What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths -- and can call on the right strength at the right time. This explains why there is no definitive list of characteristics that defines all leaders."

Know your strengths intimately, and apply them when you serve as a leader...that's the key! You already have the right strengths to enable your leadership.

(quote from The Gallup Management Journal newsletter, Finding Your Leadership Strengths published by Gallup Press, Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, December 11 2008)

Can Strengths be Applied to Any Role?

I've been in e-mail conversation with a reader of our book -- I thought you might find it interesting! She poses, essentially, this question: How can somebody play to her strength when there are few job openings and remuneration that make the most of her strengths?

The assumption in this question is that certain strengths are more applicable to certain roles -- and the corollary, that certain roles require certain strengths. For simplicity sake, let’s assume all available jobs are technical IT jobs. If I have no strengths that can be used in the field of technology, I will not succeed and I will not contribute. However, what I believe is much more likely to happen, is that each and all strengths can be applied to most any role. If your strength is data analysis, where is that needed in the development and support of technical innovation? If my strength is creativity, how can it be utilized in the design and creation of technical products? If Carol’s strength is in relationship building, how can it serve IT customer management? If Tom’s strength is in design, how can his strength be used to market products and services?

Basic to this philosophy is our belief and experience that all strengths are useful … and that it is the great diversity of our strengths that creates innovation, inspiration, and engagement. This is one of the great benefits of looking through the lens of strength – our strengths are applicable across a wide range of jobs, organizations, and roles. If I have strength in seeing the big picture, I can apply that in the field of literature, or IT, or social justice. What is imperative is that workers and leaders look deeper than technical skills, to the underlying strengths that can feed and nourish the business, especially when combined with the strengths of the person in the next cubicle, and the other person down the hall.

I would love to hear your further thoughts on these questions …

The World to Come

In 2006, it was Gonzales and Daughter Trucking Company by Maria Amparo Escandon; in 2007, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This year, our local public library chose The World to Come by Dana Horn as the book of the year. All over Bend, Redmond and other locales in Central Oregon, book clubs read this book, and the library offers films, talks, book discussions and, best of all, visits by the author, so we can read this book as a community. It’s a great time and we all gain from the discussions!

The World to Come begins with the theft of a Chagall painting, and then follows the history of the painting back to those who owned it and to Chagall himself. It’s a good read!

On page 84 there is a comment that is haunting me. I.L. Peretz is speaking to Der Nister (these men are poets and authors who write in Yiddish -- a whole world I knew nothing about!) Peretz says, "Your purpose as a writer is to achieve one task, and one task only: To build a paper bridge to the world to come."

We all write. For some of us, writing is a strength born out of innate talents in creativity and clarity. For others of us, it is something we do simply to communicate in today’s world of electronic communication. I wonder what is possible if we each accept the responsibility that each time we write -- whether we’re writing a book, a holiday card, or an e-mail – we write from the perspective that this bit of writing is building a bridge to "the world to come." This bit of wisdom inspires me to think more carefully about what I write and to ensure my words open up possibilities and options and dreams and visions ... and not shut them down. This wisdom is doubly important for leaders, especially today as we often communicate to our followers in written form.

As you prepare your next e-mail or blog comment, please consider if your words build a vision; if they inspire and engage; if they enable others to see the next step in creating the future.

How are you building "a paper bridge to the world to come?"

Andrea

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

Strengths Rule!

I serve on a volunteer Board of Directors. Because it is a volunteer position, and we have a few standing committees, but lots of ad hoc committees, board members clearly have the opportunity to play to their strengths every time we meet. Jan, who has analytical and detail strengths not only serves on the Finance Committee, but she is always first to volunteer for any projects that require data review and analysis. Nancy is organized and structured -- perfect for the Board Chair role! She also writes very well, and it a final editor on most everything. Dan, new on the board, has strengths in humor and vulnerability. He's always willing to ask questions -- and we are all grateful for the clarity (and often, laughter) that emerges.

It intrigues me that, when given the option, we naturally and easily gravitate towards our our unique hand of strengths, producing not only success, but also joy and satisfaction!

Andrea

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting us and our blog! We hope you are enjoying reading Play to Your Strengths! We would love to hear about your first clear insight into your own strengths. Andrea’s first insight was the “Ah Ha in the Kitchen” (page 59) when she suddenly realized there was a clear pattern among her innate talents and gifts — a strong poker hand – and not some random assortment! Carol had an epiphany about her strengths many years ago when she solicited feedback from close friends and colleagues and discovered an uncanny similarity amongst their observations. The feedback solidified for Carol that there was no mistaking which strengths she demonstrates robustly and consistently in her life. What’s your first insight? Let us know!

Andrea & Carol