What are your Dominant Pairs of Strengths? (podcast)

Welcome to the Leadership Vision Podcast where we share our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of a strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture.

On today’s mini-podcast episode, we have a question for you. This is part of our monthly series of Strengths reflection questions that present just one question, but we hope it will lead you to ask yourself and those around you several other questions to deepen your understanding not only of how your Strengths manifest on a team but also understand your role on a team, in a family, or any other context in which you exist.

We feel it’s important to reflect on where your Strengths have come from and how your Strengths have shaped who you are today. Because we also believe that that knowledge will help you get to where you want to go tomorrow and help you reach your highest capacity for influence.

We feature a new question every month so I encourage you to go back and listen to the other episodes if you haven’t already.

The August 2019 Strengths Question

We believe that simple questions are best for getting the gears of our minds turning. That said, this question may require a bit more thought on your end if it’s new to you. It also may appear to be three questions, but it’s one main question, with two followups:

1. What is your dominant pair of Strengths?
   1. How do you use that dominant pair?
   2. How do your other Themes of Strength support them?

Let’s unpack these a bit.

1. What is your dominant pair of Strengths?

We have an activity we do that helps participants understand which of their Five Themes of Strength is most dominant. To do this at home, read through the descriptions for all five of your themes (or read ours here). Make some sort of notation by the statements or sentences that really jump off the page. At the same time make a different notion for the parts of those descriptions that do not resonate with you.

After you’re done, simply look at the Themes that have the most positive marks. This isn’t scientific by any means, but it is one way to help you see which of your Themes may be more dominant.

For me, and I’ve mentioned this before, Ideation is by far my most dominant Theme of Strength. It’s part of every aspect of my life, and the one I identify with the most. For me, it has the most positive upswing, but can also be the most challenging for me to harness.

You may have noticed that I used the word “pair” in this part of the question. To identify your dominant pair. Strengths never work alone. Look at which Theme had the second most positive marks and consider those two Strengths your dominant pair. My dominant pair of Strengths can change a bit depending on the context, but Communication is my second most dominant Theme of Strength. Ideation and Communication, therefore, are my dominant pair.

2. How do you use that dominant pair?

I would answer this part of the question like this: ideas come fast and furious and I have an urgent need to communicate those ideas to people. Sometimes, I can take one big idea, and spin it out into multiple, different but related ideas, and share that with a group. Other times, I can take a whole bunch of ideas and try to find the best idea or solution to a problem from that group, and help others get on board with that.

I could go on an on about this, but it doesn’t really matter. The point here is that everyone is unique, and the point is to get you thinking about which of your Themes may be more dominant, and how you use those Themes to get work done, build relationships, solve problems, or help move a group or cause towards it’s intended mission, etc.

3. How do your other Themes of Strength support them?

The final part of this question is about supporting Themes of Strength. Adaptability is one of my Themes and a huge help when I need to adjust ideas on the fly or change my method of communication-based on the audience I’m talking to. My Theme of Futuristic shows up in the way my ideas – and the way I communicate them – always thend to be future-focused. How will this idea, communicated in this way, impact what happens down the road? And finally, my Theme of Maximizer is always looking for the best of the best idea and I try to communicate it in the best of the best way.

What About You?

So what are your dominant Themes of Strength? As I said, this isn’t a scientific process, but rather, an opportunity to think about what makes you unique in perhaps a new way. After you’ve reflected a bit, we’d love to hear your answers, so drop us an email or share a comment on our blog, or via social media. As always, we’re here to help you on your journey to becoming more aware of how your Strengths shape you as a person of influence.

About The Leadership Vision Podcast

The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of a strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. We believe that knowing your Strengths is only the beginning. Our highest potential exists in the ongoing exploration of our talents. Subscribe to the Leadership Vision Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Please contact us if you have ANY questions about anything you heard in this episode or if you’d like to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.