Strengths Canada

Today is International Day of Happiness!

What makes you happy? What makes you smile?

Let’s hope a lot of things, but if we do this within the context of Strengths, if you think back to when you did the CliftonStrengths assessment, what made you truly happy? What CliftonStrengths talent do you have that you are so happy that you have?

We all have many reasons to smile. International Day of Happiness is a reminder for us to reflect and think about all the wonderful people, things, experiences – and talents – that we have and make us happy.

I think that these lines from the poem "A Gathered Distance," by Mark Tredinnick, articulates Strengths well:

A garden is never
Finished, and nor are you: Become, I think, a garden again,
And never, like a garden, cease.

There are just four barrier labels remaining. Most of these can seem pretty harsh. They are:

Self-Assurance – Arrogant, over-confident, self-sufficient

Significance – Attention hound, showboat

Strategic – Always has to try something different

Woo – Phony, superficial

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Being aware of the barriers to your talents is helpful in so many ways. Here are five more talent themes and their barrier labels:

Maximizer – picky, never satisfied

Positivity – naïve

Relator – cliquish cronyism

Responsibility – can’t say no or let go

Restorative – perceived as negative because of association with problems

With the Super Bowl happening last Sunday, there has been a lot of attention on American football. At the end of a session last week, the VP of the team talked about the importance of Strengths. He talked about Bill Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl champ and former coach of the New England Patriots. I think that this is a great story.

A lot of people wonder why Belichick is such a winner, but it isn’t a surprise to the VP. He said that whereas other coaches acquire a player and then try to mold the player into who they want him to be, Belichik would ask the player, ‘What are your strengths?’ After finding them out, Belichik would get his coaches to work on that player’s strengths so that they could be the best that they could be. He wasn’t interested in making a player what they are not. Afterall, the player got to the NFL by using his strengths, not by trying to be who they are not.

Maybe we should also be that type of player.

A talent theme doesn’t become a Strength unless it works for you and others. For all of us, we must be careful that we don’t underuse or overuse our talents. Barrier labels give you clues about what you should watch out for with your talents.

Here are some barrier labels for five talent themes:

Includer – Indiscriminate

Individualization – Sacrifices group need for individual needs

Input – Packrat with too much lying around

Intellection – Isolated and aloof

Learner – Curiosity may lead to irrelevance or non-productivity

If you have any of these talent themes up high in your list, do any of these barrier labels resonate?

This passage is music to the ears of a Communication person.

People with the Communication talent need to express themselves since they think as they speak. If they aren’t allowed to speak, it will stop them from using a talent that is central to who they are.

If we silence a Communication person, they will shrink. They just must make sure that they allow other people to also express themselves. It is a two-way street.

It is a new year and with a new year a lot of us want to “get better”, whether it is reading more, learning more, exercising more, etc. With our Strengths, we also want to get better. And sometimes that involves considering how we might fall into bad habits with our natural talents. When we have a talent, there is a possibility that we will use it in a way that doesn’t help us or others.

Here are some barrier labels for five talent themes:

Empathy – Bleeding heart
Focus – Destination mentality may limit enjoyment of the journey
Futuristic – Head in the clouds
Harmony – Afraid of conflict
Ideation – Impractical

If you have any of these talent themes up high in your list, do any of these barrier labels resonate?

We are nine days into 2025. How many of your New Year’s resolutions have not yet been broken?

Unfortunately, it is really difficult for our brain to acquire a new skills; our brain likes to do what it knows. How many times have you walked into a room (that you walk into many times) and then one day notice something that has been in the corner for, maybe, years? How is it possible that you missed it all those times that you entered and left the room?

The reason is because that item, that skill, that tendency, is not a part of your natural ways of behaving and being. Since that item in the corner isn’t a part of your typical patterns, there are things that just won’t dawn on you. It doesn’t mean that you can’t acquire a new skill – you can – but it takes a lot of work.

To make a change to your life, maybe even just a basic one, consider the following:

• It takes 66 days in a row of repetitive new behaviour to acquire a basic new skill. If the skill is really simple, it takes less time; if it is a more complex skill, then more days.
• The new skill that you are trying to acquire must be done in tandem with something that you already do. For example, if you want to eat better, you must create a rule in your head that every time you open the refrigerator door each day, you must eat a baby carrot (that is assuming that you open the refrigerator door several times in a day, which most of us do). When you want to start doing more exercising, every time you do a particular activity in your day, you must do the same exercise.

If you follow the above, you can make a change and develop new skills. The reason why Strengths makes sense is that we don’t have to put in as much work as it requires when acquiring new skills. But if you want to fulfill those resolutions, this is what is required!

Happy Holidays to you and yours and all the best in 2025.

It is tough to look at the negative aspect of our top talents, but this can’t be ignored. Because our top talents are so predominant, if we don’t keep the negative aspects to our talents in check, they can veer into being a problem.

Look at the following barrier labels. If you have any of these talents, do you see how the talent could be problematic? If you recognize it in yourself, the next step is to think about how you can stay aware of the barrier label and try to mitigate it.

Consistency – Rules trump relationships and results
Context – Stuck in the past
Deliberative – Overly cautious
Developer – Wastes time on low performers
Discipline – May be resistant to change

There can be issues with our top talents and we must pay special attention to them, grow them, use them with intensity, or pull them back when necessary. Each one of our talents has a Barrier Label. Here are five to think about:

Belief – Set in our ways
Communication – Blabbermouth
Command – Bossy, dictator
Competition – Sore loser
Connectedness – Flaky, new-ager, not in touch with reality

Do you have any of these at the top of your list? I do and it gives me food for thought.