Understanding "Strength" from a Strengths Coaching perspective

By Dries Lombaard



"Focus on your Strengths".

You must have heard this often before.  Still, how many of us understand what it really means?

What do you reply when asked in a job interview to elaborate on your "Strengths" and "Weaknesses"?  

I can tell you what the most common answers are to this question:

"I am a hard worker."

"I am very reliable."

"I am good with people."

"I get things done."

Serious. That seems to be the depth of our general understanding of what strengthens us.

And when asked about weaknesses, we do not do much better:

"I am a perfectionist."

"I take on too much."

"I say what I think."

"I dream too big."

Oh my word....

Through my interaction with people during the past decade as a Strengths Consultant, and in more than 7000 hours of Strengths-interaction with individuals and teams, I realized that one huge mistake is to assume that people understand what "Strength" and "Weakness" really mean.

Most often, they understand a Strength to be either a virtue, or a skill.  

It is neither.

As for weakness, in almost all cases they understand a weakness to be the detriment they experience when their Strengths play too strong.

So, let me explain the meaning of Strength and Weakness, from a Strengths Coaching perspective.

1. Strengths align with natural Talent.

In order to understand where your true strength is located, you first have to understand your natural talent.  With talent I do not refer to physical talent like athleticism or being musical. I refer to the natural wiring you have within your emotional, intellectual and physical sustainability.  Still too vague?  OK, let me unpack it like this:

•   Talent is natural energy.

• Do you have the natural energy to spend time with people in an emotional setting?  That's a talent.
• Do you have the natural energy to spend time analyzing numbers, patterns or data?  That’s a talent.
• Do you have the natural energy to finish everything you start, no matter what the circumstance?  That's natural talent.
• Do you have the natural energy to come up with brand new ideas, to brainstorm and to be creative with your mind?  That's natural talent.
• Do you have the natural energy to confront challenges with vigor and with certainty?  That's natural talent.

•   Talent is natural need.

• Do you have the natural need to research, gather information, read and collect interesting stories or facts?  That's a natural talent.
• Do you have the natural need to spend time with people with potential, in order to develop them with small steps of progress and growth?  That's natural talent.
• Do you have the natural need to take risks, go it alone and do things that most people rather won't try?  That's natural talent.
• Do you have the natural need to be ordered, neat, structured and plan everything you do in detail before doing it?  That's natural talent.

•   Talent is not mere ability. Talent is sustainability.

• The fact that you can do something, even do it very well, is not a measure of talent.  That is an indication of skill. Talent is measured by your sustainable endurance to keep on engaging with aligned activities in an above average manner of performance and passion.

•   Talent do not "change" (get replaced) over time.

◦   From late puberty or early adulthood, talent is pretty much hard wired within each one of us. It was formed by both nature (our DNA) and nurture (our upbringing). Your values can change over time. Your interest can change. Your passion can change. Your ability can change. Your experience can change. Your knowledge can change. But your talents - the sustainable energy and need that feeds you from within and drives you in a specific direction of performance?  That is developed over time. Don't confuse a talent being developed with a talent being changed or replaced.

•   Talent can be clearly defined - just like knowledge or skill.

◦   The energy and need that you experience within your thought-patterns, your emotional patterns or your behavioral patterns, can be clearly defined and explained. It is not vague and mysterious,  Research over the past fourty to fifty years has contributed to a wealth of definition of human talent.

•   Talent can be measured - just like knowledge or skill.

◦   The Gallup Organization is a world leader in research and the collection of data and information.  You probably heard about them with the well known "Gallup Polls", relied upon during the American Presidential elections.  Gallup is also a leader in the research of human talent.  With the groundbreaking work started by the late Dr Donald Clifton (1924-2003) and continued to this day, Gallup developed an online assessment to measure the natural levels of your talents within a sequence of 34 defined Talent Themes, the Clifton StrengthsFinder. Ranking it from "strongest" to "weakest", it is probably the best tool available for personal awareness and development of natural talent into Strengths.  

2. Strengths must be developed - or they stagnate.

•   A well-managed talent becomes a strength. A mismanaged talent becomes a detriment.

◦   Once you understand the natural energy and need connected to your talents, you have the duty and the challenge to manage that specific energy and need well.  If you do, your energy and your need creates the sustainable fuel for you to reach new levels every day.  If you don't, that very same energy and need can become the detriment and boulder in your way towards performance and satisfaction.  This is exactly why people see some of their strongest energy - mismanaged - as a weakness, like too perfectionistic, procrastination, too driven, too soft hearted, dreaming too big or making decisions too fast.  It is not a weakness, it is mismanaged energy that causes a detriment. And you CAN manage your natural talents well, if you know how to control the energy and the need.  (This is exactly where Strengths Coaching becomes so essential and valuable!)

•   Talent + Knowledge + Skill + Experience = STRENGTH.

◦   Talent alone is mere potential.  In order to use your talent well, you need to develop it.  And developing talent is done in practice - by using it.  

◦   Talent and knowledge:  Knowledge is an essential building block of talent.  You need to have knowledge about the specific talent (awareness), but then, you need to acquire knowledge in the specific area where the relevant talent(s) provide energy and need.  Often knowledge is directed towards "passion" or "interest", and that is correct.  But once you understand your specific talent needs and energy, you can become much more specific within the knowledge you acquire in order for the talent to become a strength.

◦   Talent and skill:  You can acquire pretty much any skill you want.  Limit to skill lies in physical, emotional and intellectual ability, but still one can go very far with "hard work".  Skill is the abilities you develop.  Talent is the sustainability to keep on using skills.  Again, if you develop and acquire skills within the correct alignment of your talents, you are on a pathway to success and engagement that may surprise you!

◦   Talent and Experience:  Talent, just like skill, must be practiced.  It is a matter of "use it or lose it".  You need to become, and to stay "talent fit."  The more experience you have within your talentedness, the stronger you will play and the more value you will add to whatever you do.  Experience means most when it is gained very specifically and focused.  If experience is not aligned with talent, it is mostly only wasted time.

•   Talent development is intentional.

◦   All too often do I encounter people who believe that talent will develop and grow simply like the body does.  It probably will, but if not exercised, fed and developed with intention, your talent potential will not be reached.

◦   No matter what industry, field or discipline:  if you study people who are successful and fulfilled, and recognized as being so, they will be able to share with you a life story of intentional talent development - aligned with the acquisition of knowledge, skill and experience.

•   The development of talent is measured in TIME.

◦   Time is basically the only measurable element we cannot get back, once we have used it.  That is also the reason time is so precious.  Talent development is directly and proportionally in line with the time you spend to develop it.

◦   Many individuals and companies are not willing to make the investment of time within talent development.  The result is that they can only rely on the knowledge, skill and experience people bring - and all too often the energy lacks, and the needs of individuals are not fulfilled.  Disengagement follows.  Be willing to invest time in talent development.  The return on this investment - if done intentionally and accurately - will be beyond belief.

Next time when you are asked the question "What are your Strengths?", I hope you are able to NOT give a mundane, generic answer, based on general abilities.

I hope you clarify the question by maybe first asking "Do you mean my Strengths, or are you referring to my knowledge, skills and experience?".  That will already make them think twice about their own question....

Remember that your Strengths are a combination of what Strengthens you out of natural energy and natural need, combined with relevant and specific knowledge, skill and experience.  If I am asked the question "What are your Strengths?", I will reply in more or less the following way:

"I have a well developed Strength in moving people with high potential towards new levels of performance they did not see as possible. I know how to spot the exact potential in people, and then I have the skill and experience to help people excel from good to great faster than expected.  This is also known as the Maximizer Strength.

I have enormeous capacity for information - obtaining it, researching it, processing it and turning it into skill. New information, learning and ideas are my thing, and when I have the freedom and opportunity to use my capacity for reading, researching, writing and teaching, I have the skill to share the information in ways that help others understand, grow and excel. I obtained the skill and experience to be a brilliant facilitator, teacher and trainer.

This is also known as a combination of the Strengths of Learner, Ideation, Input and Intellection.

I also have the well developed Strength to be very responsive in the moment.  I can change direction in an instant. I love pressure and respond to new agendas, schedules and challenges with high energy. I developed the management of this energy to a degree that is became a Strength which sets me apart from most others.  You will not easily catch me off balance.  As long as it is within my field of expertise, you can bring it on without even giving me a heads-up.  I will respond, and respond brilliantly. I am flexibly and responsive to the utmost. This is also known as the Strength of Adaptability.

I bring with me also a natural radar for risk.  I need time to think things through, and if you want someone to play devils advocate and spot the risks in a planned action or direction, I am your guy. I can look at the facts and data in a very sceptical and analytical manner, and once I believe it can be done, you can rest assured that all boxes are checked. Some call it pessimism. I call it a Strength, because I can apply it well.  So if you want a Strength of careful consideration before action, built on facts and deep deliberation, I am that person. It is also known as the combined Strengths of Analytical and Deliberative.

If you can live with the above energy and needs combined, and be assured that I am very aware of the pitfalls of each, and therefor I have spent many years in developing my knowledge, skills and experience around it in order to use it best, then I am your guy.  These are my Strengths."

Next time:  Understanding Weakness from a Strength Coaching perspective

Dries Lombaard is the co-owner of Strategic Leadership Institute and Neuworx, and has more than 7000 hours of Strengths Coaching experience over the last decade.  He is leading a vibrant and growing network of Strengths Coaches in Southern Africa, and works with corporate and multinational leadership and management teams and C-level leaders as a Strengths Coach and training facilitator.  

Why you should be able to play ALL of your Talent Themes - not only to your top 5 Strengths

by Dries Lombaard - Executive Coach: Strategic leadership Institute

Before you make the assumption that I have shifted my view away from a "strengths focus", let me assure you it is not the case.  We absolutely will always have most sustainable energy and best results if we play towards our natural talent needs and energy.  I am being prompted for some time now to write something to bring another perspective on the "Strengths Stampede" as some refer to it, especially when it comes to unlocking of your Top 5 Strengths Report from the brilliant Clifton StrengthsFinder online assessment.  In my view, the Top 5 StrengthsFinder report should be viewed merely as the cover page of a menu. Not only have you not seen all on offer - you haven't tasted anything yet!

When I say we should understand how to play to ALL of our talent themes, I refer to the fact that we are confronted regularly in life with situations where we are forced out of our rhythm and natural energy created by our natural Strengths.   If that happens, we cannot stop working, living or playing.  We need to function as best we can.

If we view the All 34 StrengthsFinder Report as generated by Gallup, we clearly see that our strongest energy and need lies towards the top of the sequence list (first 10-12 themes), and our strongest resistance, and draining effect, lies towards the bottom of the list (last 5 - 8 themes). Unfortunately these are not revealed in the Top 5 Report - from there its immense limitations.

We should always push towards our strongest themes....and we should always try and avoid our weakest ones.

Let me share a metaphor that I use a lot to explain to people how to interpret the sequence of all the 34 StrengthsFinder themes.  I find the metaphor of the game of golf works extremely well to explain the dynamic of our 34 talent themes in action.  Even if you haven't played a single shot of golf in your life, everyone is familiar with the most basic practices of the game - and the most basic layout of a golf course - being the fairway, the putting green, the rough, the bunkers and areas that are "out-of-bounds".

Playing your best game - stay on the fairway

Everyone loves the look of a beautiful fairway.  The gentle slopes, the green grass - cut neat and short, the clear view towards the putting green.  Playing on a fairway is why most people love the game of golf.  You can drive the ball with gracious power and see it fly through the blue sky, bouncing....rolling....stopping clearly visible a few hundred yards down the course.

A nice brisk walk towards your ball, aligning with the direction of the flag, and with a lower number club you graciously lift the ball with a perfect loop towards the green.  Yeah!  That's what the game is all about!

You can view your Top sequence of talent themes as your personal "fairway".  Generally it will be your top ten to twelve themes - maybe a few less, maybe a few more.  How many themes there are making up your fairway is less important than your understanding of it.  You should know the bends, the slopes, the challenges and the flow of your fairway.

And, as any golfer will tell you, you need to try and stay on the fairway.  That is actually the whole point of the game. Play the fairway towards the green, then put the ball into the hole.

Sounds easy, right?  Definitely easier said than done.  That is exactly the joy and challenge of trying to master the game!  The point is, with your talents, you should play on your fairway. Each one of us has our own very unique fairway, and that is where our game will excel most and where we will become the best we can be - while enjoying the game!
And of course we do not have the absolute luxury to play on our own fairway 100% of the time. Sometimes we will be part of a group or team that will play a course which are new and foreign to us.  Do we pack up and go home because of this?  No of course not.  It simply means that the game will be more challenging to us, and we will have to rely a lot more on our skills and tools (clubs) than on our natural game.  But we can still have a great game, no doubt.

Leaders can adapt their game

The famous South African golfer, Gary Player, once remarked (after a journalist called a shot of his a "lucky shot"):  "Yea, the more you practice, the luckier you get."
The more we play towards out natural talents, the more flexible we also become to adapt our game towards challenges like the weather, obstacles or unknown courses.  In leadership or management, this is a crucial skill and ability to develop. You simply do not have the luxury to lead or manage people and insist on playing your own fairway all the time.  Your success as a leader will be directly tied to your ability to let your followers play their natural game on their natural fairway most of the time - as long as the score card counts towards the favour of the team.

Playing from the rough

It is somewhat unheard of that a golfer will play through 18 holes without once landing up in the rough.  And of course this is no shame or tragedy - it's simply part of the game.  Frustrating, yes. But when it happens we simply adapt in order to play further.
The analogy here is that whenever we have to "tap into" our supporting or lessor talents (usually numbers 12 or 15 down to about numbers 25 or 28), we find ourselves "in the rough".  This is where, just like in golf, we are in a situation that requires more from as and takes us out of our comfort zone or "natural game".  It is regarded as simply a circumstance that is part of the game and we should deal with it best we can.

Most helpful in these situations are the tools and skill we can draw from. Just like we have a golf bag full of clubs, each for a different shot, we can draw on resources and tools when we find ourselves in the "rough" with our talents.  (Keep in mind that one of the best resources there is, is another person who finds your "rough" similar to his or her "fairway").
Of course practice makes perfect no matter where you play from. It is best to spend most time practicing your fairway shots - after all, precision with those shots will keep you on the fairway.

Here is the most important rule to remember when you find yourself off the fairway and in the rough. "When in the rough, always play back to the fairway."  As simple as that.  Sometimes a very short chip-shot will be enough to have you back in the clear, and the damage done will be minimal.  Taking the risk to use force and drive through the bushes or branches towards the pin may very well end up having you in a much worse position than you were in.

The principle from this analogy:  you can, and should tap into your supporting talents, when ever necessary to do so.  You have a lot more than your dominant 10 or 12 talents at your disposal!  It only takes a decision to play a different, and a bit more uncomfortable shot. With the right tools and some practice this may even become quite easy to do. This said: it is still not the same as playing your fairway.

Those irritating bunkers...or being "out of bounds"

If ever you've played a round of two of golf you will know what this means. That sinking feeling when you see your ball disappear into a sand bunker, or, even worse, into a pool of water.  This is basically what everyone avoid on the golf course.  Often bunkers or pools of water are also strategically placed near the putting greens where it can easily be a trap you find yourself in.
When it come to your StrengthsFinder talent themes, this analogy refer to your so called "Non Patterns. Those are usually the last 5 or 8 talents listed on your Full 34 Sequence Report.

Just like with a bunker on the golf course, we instinctively will try to avoid these themes.  We resist them just as we resist bunkers or water on the golf course.  And, when we do find ourselves within this situation, it can be extremely tricky to get out of it.  When "out of bounds" like a ball in water, we are penalised with an extra shot against our name.
And still, it is part of the game and part of the challenge.  It will be very immature to pack up your clubs and go home the first time you hit a bunker.  You cannot avoid the obstacles - and in the same way you cannot avoid the draining effect of your Non Patterns being in play in life or work. It is a reality.

Again, there are specialised tools to get us out of such situations. You should rather not play without your sand-wedge as part of your kit. Practicing bunker shots will also be wise - as long as you do not spend most of your time practicing those shots, as a far better strategy will always be to avoid the bunkers. Nobody aim towards a bunker or towards water.

Similarly, we naturally will not aim towards our weakest themes. We will naturally resist it. But, in life and work, we cannot avoid it either. At times, we will have to play from a bunker, or even be penalised for a shot being "out of bounds".  It is part of reality.  Remember: playing a great bunker shot is not impossible - it's just not sustainable.

Playing the (real) Strengths game

Playing towards your Strengths means you will be confronted with all 34 of the talent theme patterns in some way.  Therefor, the revealing of only your Top 5 talent theme Report is in my view similar to playing at a driving range only, and boasting that you play golf.  Nice, clear and open grass in front of you. No obstacles. The only challenge being to find the sweet spot of your club.

You only really start understanding your talents, and developing your strengths, once you get out on the course, and experience the challenge of all the themes within you being challenged at any given time.

In the same way, if you are under the impression that knowing your Top 5 Themes only will be sufficient in taking on the challenges at life and work, you unfortunately will never experience what the real game is about.  Life is not only about your strongest few strengths.  It is about all your strengths, about tapping into supporting talents with skill, and about knowing exactly where the bunkers and water are so you can avoid it.

If I want to teach you how to hold a golf club and the basics of the game, I will start at the driving range.  I will never sell that to you as being golf though.

And most of all, reading every book about golf will help your understanding of it.  If you want to really improve your skills and game, you will need at least some coaching.

Finally: play towards the flag

If you play a driving range, you play for distance and practice.  If you play the course, you play towards the flag.

You should aim your natural talents - formed into strengths through added knowledge, skill and experience - at the flag which indicates your exact target.
The flags of the pin is not always visible from the base of the tee-off, but your fairway will indicate the direction you should play.

Having no direction you play towards, is merely practicing.  There is a time and a place for that, but be careful to not become the master of the practice shot, while the joy and achievement of the real game escapes you.


Oh, yes, just in case you don't know it, golf is about having fun.  Yep, it can be played professionally but even those pro's will tell you that if the fun is out of it, there is little motivation left.
If playing towards your strengths is not fun, you are missing the fairway somewhere. The nature of your talents are energy and need, and that per definition will be satisfying and an enjoyment to experience.

Dries Lombaard is the co-owner of Strategic Leadership Institute and NeuWorx, and has more than 7000 hours of Strengths Coaching experience over the last decade.  He is leading a vibrant and growing network of Strengths Coaches in Southern Africa, and works with corporate and multinational leadership and management teams and C-level leaders as a Strengths Coach and training facilitator.