Making the most of your strengths in 2021

At Threedom we are all about understanding how to use our strengths to get the most out of all areas of our lives and just love helping others do the same.

Using Strengthscope profiles as a starting point we help individuals and teams really get to grips with their own strengths and understand how to improve motivation, engagement, communication and consequently results.

Following on from the year that was 2020 we wanted to bring the power of strengths based development to as many people as we can and so each month, throughout the year we will be focusing on just 2 of the 24 strengths identified in the profiles.

The important thing to remember is it isn’t about improving your weaknesses it is about recognising and minimising the risk of them, whilst utilising your strengths to achieve your goals. There are many possible routes to take to achieve the same result each with its own merits. You don’t need to be an optimist to see the opportunity in something and you don’t need to be a creative thinker to come up with new ideas. Using your strengths is about getting there the right way for you, not the way someone thinks you should.

 

Optimism and Self-improvement

January – New Year, New Start and all that nonsense. If you have set yourself some new challenges, given yourself a gentle reboot or are just carrying on regardless, January is a good month to look at two of the strengths which are particularly useful when tackling those well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions.

If you have optimism as a strength you will naturally see the positive in a situation, be quick to spot an opportunity and believe that you are able to positively influence outcomes. When faced with setting goals an optimistic thinker is much more likely to frame the challenge in a positive way. By doing this you are creating an appealing challenge to work towards rather than a negative one to work away from. Use the traditional health related New Year ones.

“I need to lose a stone and get fit”

Or

“I am going to be a dress size smaller and be able to run 5k”

Which is the most appealing?

Optimisitc thinkers do sometimes need to check themselves though and not get carried away with what could be. We regularly see people who have optimism as a strength use it a little too much and set unrealistic expectations of themselves and others. I will not, for example, lose 4 dress sizes in the next month, nor will I be able to run a marathon😉

Self-Improvement is frustratingly uncommon as a strength so if you have it cherish it. People who have self-improvement as a strength will use it to help them get the job done but rather than just delivering the task in hand, they will seek improvement and take responsibility for delivering it. In the current climate of uncertainty in all areas of our lives self-improvement is a strength of real value as it enables you to focus on what you can influence and improve, leaving behind some issues outside of your control.

Put them together and you have an amazing combination of strengths for driving change, taking responsibility and achieving great things. Wonderful for actually making it to at least February with your New Year’s resolutions when in the spirit of valentine’s day, we will look at the strengths of Relationship building and Critical Thinking.

Can’t wait until the end of the year to share with you all value that lies in each strength and how tapping into them can make an amazing difference to how you get things done? Please get in touch if you would like any more info, have any questions or would like to complete a Strengthscope profile to discover your strengths. We will be more than happy to enlighten you.