The Power of Strengths
Get ready to unleash your superpower
Strengths - What are they?
In the pursuit of understanding human flourishing, the concept of strengths gained prominence in 1999, as interest grew in finding ways to quantify the positive traits individuals exhibit, which support optimal functioning. The study into strengths enabled researchers to identify the specific ways people think, feel, and behave, and as a result, tools such as VIA Strengths and Strengths Profile (to name a couple) were developed. These tools define and assess the pre-existing traits we possess, which help us to realise our full potential and support well-being levels.
Whilst each tool has its own approach, strengths can be summarised as the positive traits individuals frequently demonstrate, excel at and which energise us. When effectively harnessed, these strengths enable us to show up as our best authentic selves and achieve or exceed our goals.
We can think of them as our unique Superpowers.
Why are strengths important?
We can apply our strengths within both our professional and personal environments to support three key areas of wellbeing:
Increase performance, growth and productivity focussing on strengths vs deficits alone, can support accelerated growth and enable us to tap into our underutilised capabilities to realise our potential. They enable us to expediate the achievement of goals and therefore can build confidence levels and a sense of accomplishment and achievement.
Raise levels of engagement and motivation through engaging in tasks which align with our strengths, we not only feel competent in the task at hand, but it can also boost our energy levels, whereas some other tasks may deplete them. Through this and developing an appreciation for the unique value we bring; strengths can help us to build a greater connection to our work and the team and organisation we’re operating within.
Fosters resilience and alleviate burnout through improving our sense of self-efficacy, connection to work and by re-energising us, we may notice we start to feel less depleted of energy and regain a sense of balance.
These benefits in turn can support our ability to problem solve, increase our sense of purpose, reduce stress, help us navigate change and improve our levels of satisfaction. When applied within teams, organisations and even our family, friendship and community groups, considering our strengths can help us to build and strengthen positive relationships, support achievement of collective goals and boost productivity and performance. Imagine a whole team of superheros with a variety of powers working towards the greater good!
How are strengths a superpower if we’re all measured against the same strengths?
It's important to note that strengths do not operate in isolation. They interact both with each other and with other aspects of our lives such as, our experiences, personalities, situations and values. While some strengths come to us more naturally than others, they are not static and we can develop and nurture these over time through practice and effort. Therefore, you may find that some strengths remain consistently high in your list when assessed over time, whilst others may move up and down the list and some may become more prevalent in specific circumstances. How they interact with each other and how we utilise them will be unique to us and it’s this blend of strengths and context and the interplay between them, which makes them our unique superpower.
By understanding how they show up for us individually, we can gain insights into how to best embrace them to add our value to our professional and personal environments. They can enable us to identify the roles, teams and environments we may excel within, the type of activities which will boost our energy levels and how we can support ourselves and complement others within our lives, to expediate growth, drive excellence and engagement and support us to authentically thrive.