Doing what you love...

Knowing the strengths of your team members is invaluable to you as a manager, but that knowledge isn’t something you can obtain simply by observing your colleagues or going through standard evaluations. No, since a person’s strengths are those activities that make him or her feel strong, the only way to know what people’s strengths are is to ask them.

But how can you trust that anyone truly knows what his or her own strengths are? Fortunately, there’s a simple routine that will give your people insight into the activities that strengthen them. Since we just celebrated Valentine’s Day, why not make this a week to focus on what everybody loves?

The technique couldn’t be simpler. Just ask your team members to follow these steps (and do it yourself, too):

First, try to make sure you have a notepad (a plain paper notepad, or a note-taking app on your phone/laptop will do) with you at all times during the week.

Make an extra effort this week to be aware and conscious of those times when you really get into what you’re doing. Stay alert for that “wow, that was awesome!” feeling you have when you’ve finished working on something you love.

Try to jot down those “Loved it” activities as soon as you’re aware of them. If you try to remember them at the end of the day or at the end of the week, you may struggle to recall things.

Remember: this is not about the outcome of the activity or about other people’s reactions to what you did. Getting praised always feels good, but you’re looking for what you loved doing before anybody else even saw the results.

Once you have your list of what you loved, look at each “Loved it” entry and ask yourself: what was it, exactly, that made me love doing that? Do I always love doing that? If not, what was it specifically about this time that made me love it?

For those activities you loved, ask yourself: how can I do more of these in my job? How can I offer these up to the team more often?

That’s it! Once you have your team members go through this exercise, make sure you address it in your next one-on-ones. Be prepared to coach and help them get to the heart of what strengthens them. Their results will provide great food for thought and may give you some insight into how you can use their strengths even more effectively on the team.

by Darren Hammond

Visit our Website www.africanmosaic.com

Solving Problems - Do you know how?

When you ask people, “What is the most effective way to solve a problem?” 83% respond, “Find out what is wrong and fix it.” It seems like common sense. However, the problem with this approach is that attention amplifies everything. You get more of what you pay attention to. So, if you’re paying attention to errors and what is wrong, your mind isn't focusing on what’s right. A more productive and positive approach looks like this:

1. Define the problem as objectively as possible. Leave out any judgments. Simply state the facts as if a video camera were replaying the issue to you.

2. Know that attention amplifies everything, so detach yourself from what you perceive as being the source of the problem. Your focus on it will exacerbate it. You are not fixing the problem. The problem is simply showing you something.

3. Change follows the line of your questioning. Ask, “What does it look like when it’s working?”

4. Define three steps that you can take to shift the situation toward the imagined future that your question helped you create. This is the best use of your energy.

5. Look for evidence that your steps are having the intended result. Keep asking, “What’s working?” and focus on further expanding the success of your intent. The problem will shrivel.

When problems do occur, don’t analyze them, break them down and ruminate over their meaning. They don’t mean anything. They just are. Shift your focus to what working looks and feels like and then dedicate your energy to manifesting that. Problems don’t magically disappear, but they do transform when your attention is given to generating a positive outcome, rather than to the negative that you’re trying to avoid.

-by The Marcus Buckingham Company

Visit our Website - www.africanmosaic.com

Talents and Change in the workplace

The only thing constant in life is change. Change happens in every role we play. As parents, our children grow up. Change. At our workplace, we get promoted or the company downsizes. Change. Our friends move to another city. Change. If change is the only constant, why are we resisting it so much? Here are a couple of reasons as outlined in Kinicki and Kreitner (2009):

An individual's predisposition towards change: some people learn to handle change and ambiguity as a child. These individuals will handle change with patience, understanding and flexibility. Those who did not learn how to handle change, will not trust the changes implemented. Some talents resist change. Gallup's definition of talent is “our natural recurring thoughts, feelings and behaviour”. According to the research done by Gallup, as seen in Clifton's StrengthsFinder assessment, there are some talents that are very comfortable with change, like the talent of Adaptability, Strategic and Arranger. There are some talents that are very resistant to change, talents such as Discipline, Belief, Analytical and Responsibility, Deliberative. It could be that the individual's predisposition towards change is because of the natural way they think, feel and behave. Nature and nurture.

Surprise and fear of the unknown: when you are not warned of changes, or the changes are so radically different from what you know, you fear the implications of those changes. The talent theme of Futuristic and Strategic has the ability to adapt quickly to the unknown. Could it be that their talents could cause less fear then over the unknown?

Climate of mistrust: mistrust between management and employees can cause the change process to fail, for no other reason than mistrust. Mistrust causes secrecy which causes mistrust. A trusting environment causes managers and employees to be open and honest with one another about the changes that are being implemented and the implications thereof. If there is trust between the parties, both will walk the extra mile to implement the changes necessary for success. Some talents may look like they are mistrusting. Talents like Deliberative and Analytical, Relator, Competition,

Fear of failure: employees and managers alike might cause doubt in capabilities. They might loose self-confidence and their self-efficacy might decline, which has an impact on their work. Loss of status and/or job security: technological changes threatens job security, as technology is doing more and more of the work previously done by employees. Middle management resist changes because restructuring often means they loose status or get downgraded to a lower level. Talents that fear failure are Responsibility, Maximizer, Competition and Significance.

Disruption of cultural traditions and/or group relationships: when new teams are formed, diversity appointments are being done or team members are being promoted, there's a change in the relationship dynamics. It takes time to adjust to these changes, sometimes there is no adjustment. The talent of Includer has a need to feel that no-one is left out. Harmony wants peace. Empathy will feel the disruptions very intensely.

Personality conflicts: conflict between different personalities will cause delay and major disruptions in the change process as some employees will fight change just because they don't like the person implementing the change. Employees that could fight change head-on might have the talent of Command, Belief or Responsibility.

Lack of tact and/or poor timing: the way announcements are made about change can bring resistance to change. No sensitivity or lack of information will bring major uncertainty. Implementing change at the right time is also important. Talents that need time to adjust to change is Belief, Deliberative, Responsibility, Analytical and Intellection

Past success: people believe that strategies that worked in the past will also bring success now. The talent of Context will be the most likeliest to have this view. Context looks at the blueprint of the past, takes the nuggets and wants to implement it in the present.
People might resist change because they are in a comfort zone.


Magriet Mouton is a Level 3 Executive Talent Guide, and Head of Talent Mosaic Association

Retaking the Clifton StrengthsFinder – should I, or not?

Gallup (www.gallup.com) has the following short statement on the StrengthsFinder website regarding this question:

Your first completion of the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment will yield the purest and most revealing results. For this reason, each Clifton StrengthsFinder access code is valid for only one time through the assessment. Taking the Clifton StrengthsFinder more than once may actually skew the validity of the results. The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment measures the presence of talents by presenting you with pairs of statements, and by then challenging you to make a top-of-mind choice between the two. The 20-second time limit and your unfamiliarity with the statements ensure your assessment's accuracy by making it difficult to over-think your responses.

Here is a more expansive explanation regarding this question. In my view and experience, having worked with the Clifton Strengthsfinder as a Level 3 Coach daily, for years, I firmly support the view that taking the Strengthsfinder again – especially after you have read more about the 34 talent themes, or even more after you have been properly coached, is NOT a good idea. Here is why:

1. Manipulation: You can, deliberately or subconsciously, alter or manipulate the results by taking the assessment a second or even a third time. The StrengthsFinder assessment was designed in such a way that it assesses your preferences on a wide range of tasks, emotions, actions and situations. When you take it the first time, you actually have no idea what the question is assessing. The more you get familiar with the different talent themes and their working, the more you are able to actually discern which specific talent theme is being measured. Therefor you are able to alter the results – either by choice, or subconsciously.

2. Incremental changes: You talents do not alter or change with time, although the specific sequence within the Strengthsfinder results may alter if you redo it. Our research has shown that your Top 10 talents remain predominately the same within the assessment over time. You might get slight variations within the Top 10, for instance, your nr 3 talent theme might move down to nr 6, and your nr 5 might change places with nr 9…etc. but it nearly never happens that a nr 2 theme, for instance, will “ fall down” all the way to a nr 16, for instance. If you re-do the test, only in the Top 5 report, against what are you going to measure the possible changes? As 34 are measured, and you just see 5, how on earth are you going to be able to make any realistic conclusions about any changes you can see...?

3. Top 5 Report limitations: For the exact reasons given in point 2 above, it will make a lot more sense and be of a lot more value for you and / or your team to rather get hold of your Full 34 Talent Report, than to retake the assessment. In any case, how would you ever know with which exact talents your “changes” changed places with, if you only retake your Top 5 assessment? This makes very little logical sense to redo the Top 5 in this regard.

4. Clustering: Then, if you have been properly coached, you will also understand that the exact sequence of your talents, like for instance from nr 1 – 5, does not nearly play such an important role in understanding yourself than does knowledge and understanding of the effect of the dynamics (mix) between the Top 5 talent themes. Your talents should rather be understood within specific “clusters”, and the importance of the dynamics within those clustering should be understood. So, the dynamics between your Top 5 clustering is vital; then the dynamics between your Top 10. Your lessor talents (i.e,. nr 11-20 then plays a specific role, as does your Non Patterns (bottom 5 clustering). Retaking the Top 5 assessment 2, 3 or a dozen times won’t cast any light on this important aspect.

5. Importance of Talent Roles: If you understand that specific talent themes within your Top 5 and Top 10 combination have specific roles, you will also understand why retaking the assessment serves no real purpose. Understanding your Core Theme, Ignition Theme, Relaxing Theme and possible Guilt Theme, serves a lot more purpose within personal or work environment that being obsessed with the order of a Top 5 report.

Finally, I sometimes come across people who are negative towards the Clifton Strengthsfinder simply for the reason that they say “it can be manipulated”. Well, you should be pretty darn good to manipulate an assessment when you have no clue as to what it is assessing – the way it usually is the first time you take the test. But, sure, I agree it can be manipulated when you take it a second or third time round. Of course! My reaction to this critic is simply: with all due respect, look deep inside your own self as to why exactly you will want to answer honest and straightforward questions in such a way as to manipulate the outcome. What about yourself then don’t you like, and do you want to change?

The Clifton Strengthsfinder is one of the most researched assessment tools on the market, and is backed up by more than three decades of on-going research by the Gallup University. It is a phenomenal tool that leads to phenomenal results…that is, if you simply use it the way it was designed to be used.

By Dries Lombaard, Director: Strategic Leadership Institute

Transformational & Transactional Leadership

Leadership is a very important part of running a successful organisation. Leadership is strongly linked to various employee attitudes and behaviours. Leadership also influences employee engagement in an organisation. Two dimensions of leadership include transactional and transformational leadership. Transactional leaders believe that employees are motivated to perform based on reward or punishment. Clear expectations are given and when those expectations are met, there are rewards.

Transactional Leadership

This dimension of leadership focus on clarifying employees' role and task requirements. It provides followers with positive and negative rewards based on their performance. Transactional leadership implements the fundamental managerial activities such as setting goals, monitoring progress towards the goal achievement and rewarding people according to their performance towards the goal achievement. This kind of leadership uses extrinsic motivation to increase productivity.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders cultivate trust, develop leadership qualities in others, are servant leaders who sacrifice and serve as moral agents. These leaders focus themselves and their employees on objectives that transcend the immediate needs of the work group. Whereas transactional leaders use extrinsic motivation to increase productivity, transformational leaders use intrinsic motivation, trust, commitment and loyalty to move employees to greater productivity. This does not mean that there is no place for transactional leaders. The best leaders learn how to display both dimensions to various degrees. It is important for employees to understand what they should do and what performance looks like. Transformational leadership increase performance beyond expectations.

Written by Magriet Mouton

One year of Scribbles!!

The first "Scribbles"was published today, exactly a year ago....

This has been some journey! Throughout this year we have published at a rate of around one article a week.

Our objective has been to keep resourcing people, especially our Talent Guides and the people they coach, with ongoing information on talents, leadership and character.

We hope you find this Blog meaningful, and that it provides you with insight and food for thought. Please give this link, http://www.africanmosaic.blogspot.com/ to others and encourage them to sign in for the free updates.

For more information on Africanmosaic and what we do, please visit our Website at http://www.africanmosaic.com/ .

Keep on embracing uniqueness, and growing strengths!

Dries Lombaard
C.E.O. Africanmosaic

The advantages of identifying and understanding your...Spiritual Theme

Some people identify with a so called spiritual theme in a huge way. This is one of your themes that you leverage most in your spiritual journey, or on your spiritual pathway. It is very active in your faith life. No matter what religion or faith you belong to, you might identify with the spiritual world most through a specific one of your Top 5 themes.

In order to identify my possible Spiritual Theme, ask questions like the following:

• Through which one of my Top 5 talents do I connect with God the most?
• Is there a specific one of my themes that becomes very active whenever I practice my faith?
• With which one of my Top 5 themes do I feel most comfortable within spiritual or aith environments, like when I go to church?

Why it helps to understand my Spiritual Theme

Identifying the spiritual theme helps a lot especially if you are a spiritual person, or someone of faith. It then opens new understanding, not only about your own faith life, but also about your relationship with God.

FAQ’s on Spiritual Themes

• Can your Spiritual Theme change over time? - Yes, absolutely. It is part of your spiritual journey and could change with it.

• Could I have more than one Spiritual Theme? - Yes you could. Just be aware of the fact that there could be dynamics involved.

• Does everyone have a specific Spiritual Theme they could identify? - No not at all. When someone is coached one should be very sensitive with this theme, as it becomes very personal to people - just like the Guilt Theme might.

• Can my Spiritual Theme be the same as my Core or my Ignition or Relaxing Theme? - Yes it could.

• Are certain Talent themes more prone to be Spiritual themes than others? - Yes. The most common Spiritual Themes out there are themes like Connectedness, Belief, Relator, Intellection, Restorative, Harmony, Positivity, and either Context or Futuristic - although it could be any pother theme. Can you think why these themes are common?

PS - For more on the application of Strengths and Talents in a Faith based environment, read the book “Living Your Strengths” by Albert Winseman. (Gallup Press)

- By Dries Lombaard, C.E.O Africanmosaic

This concludes our series on different types of Talent Themes.

If you would like to be trained in these and other skills as a talent Guide, visit our website at www.africanmosaic.com

The advantages of identifying and understanding your...Guilt Theme

The presence of a Guilt theme could have an enormous impact on your talents and your effectiveness. Many people are not aware of the presence of their Guilt theme, and therefore they stumble over it every time they use it. The guilt theme is also one theme that very often leads to someone not wanting to see a specific theme in their Top 5, or not really identifying with it. It gives a negative feel towards the beauty of the theme.

In order to identify my possible Guilt Theme, ask questions like the following:

• Is there one of my Top 5 Themes that immediately “weakens” me when I think of it? I feel it is a burden to have this talent?
• Is there one of my themes that I just cannot celebrate and embrace, no matter how I try?
• Is there a specific talent theme that I feel is “wrong” to have? You know that you have it, but you wish you did not because it cannot be positive in your view.


Why it helps to understand my Guilt Theme

Identifying a Guilt theme sometimes comes immediately to someone…but this is one theme that you should not force to identify. But, should it be there, you must face it. The advantage of identifying your Guilt theme lies in the fact that you can now see how your inability to embrace and celebrate the good of the theme has hindered your thought, feelings or behavior. There could be many reasons for the existence of a guilt theme, but some of the most common are upbringing, religious vies or traumatic or negative experiences connected with a specific theme.


FAQ’s on Guilt Themes

• Can your Guilt Theme change over time? - Yes, and it should not only change, it should actually be resolved and dissolved. A guilt theme is not a good thing within the strengths based approach. Sometimes people might need therapy to change their view of a specific theme.

• Could I have more than one Guilt Theme? - Yes you could. Even 3 or 4 are in some cases possible…

• Does everyone have a specific Guilt Theme they could identify? - No. Not all people can identify with a Guilt Theme concept, and therefore it must never be forced.

• Can my Guilt Theme be the same as my Core or my Ignition or Relaxing Theme? - Yes it could. Especially when it is the same as your Core Theme, it should be addressed with urgency in order for you to embrace it.

• Are certain Talent themes more prone to be Guilt themes than others? - Yes. The most common Guilt Themes out there are themes like Responsibility, Competition, Significance, Deliberative, Discipline, Adaptability, Belief and Woo - although it could be any other theme. Can you think why these are common guilt themes?

- By Dries Lombaard, C.E.O Africanmosaic

Next Time we explain more about your Spiritual Theme

For more about us, visit our website at www.africanmosaic.com

The advantages of identifying and understanding your...Relaxing Theme

Your Relaxing theme helps you to “shut down”. It tends to relax and calm down your thinking, feeling or behavior. This “relaxing” or “calming” effect could be linked to ideas, actions or feelings. This specific theme act like a relaxant that slow you down, and even helps you rest. It might be used intentional or unintentional. The more you understand the dynamic of this Relaxing Theme, you understand how to leverage it best for your own advantage and management of your energy.

To identify your Relaxing Theme, ask yourself questions like:
• Is there a specific theme that tends to “kick in” and help my thought, feelings or behavior to relax?
• Is there a specific one of my Top 5 themes that I know I need in order to relax or calm down?
• Which one of my Top 5 themes seems to have the strongest calming effect on me?
• Which one of my Top 5 themes do I see most prevalent in times like vacation, weekends or when I practice a hobby?

Why it helps to understand my Relaxing Theme
Just like the Ignition Theme, understanding the impact and effect of your relaxing theme will come to good use. It has the opposite effect than a Ignition theme, and therefore you might want to avoid it when you need to pick up speed and get started. But it is very useful when relaxing, and even helping you sleep.

FAQ’s on Relaxing Themes
• Can your Relaxing Theme change over time? - Yes, just like with your Core Theme and Ignition Theme, this theme is dynamic and not static. But it tends to be more “stable” than for instance an Ignition Theme.

• Can my Relaxing Theme be lower than my Top 5? - Yes, and like an Ignition Theme it often is. It is then advisable to explore other themes with your Talent Guide in order to discover a possible theme.

• Could I have more than one Relaxing Theme? - Not really, because just like with your Ignition Theme, usually what happens is that another theme reacts to the Relaxing Theme immediately. This is theme dynamics in action.

• Does everyone have a specific Relaxing Theme they could identify? - No. Not all people can identify with an Relaxing Theme concept, and therefore it must never be forced.

• Can my Relaxing Theme be the same as my Core or my Ignition Theme? - Believe it or not, but it is possible. If that is the case, it surely needs a lot of management. It will be scarce though.

• Are certain Talent themes more prone to be Relaxing themes than others? - Yes. The most common Relaxing Themes out there are themes like Activator, Adaptability, Harmony, Relator, Ideation, Input, Intellection, Woo and Restorative - although it could be any theme. Can you think why these are more common?

- by Dries Lombaard, C.E.O. Africanmosaic


Next time: Your "Guilt Theme"

Want to know more? Go to www.africanmosaic.com

The advantages of identifying and understanding your...IgnitionTheme

Your ignition theme helps you to “get going”. It tends to stimulate your thinking, feeling or behavior. This “ignition” or “spark” could be linked to ideas, actions or feelings. This specific theme acts like a starter that energizes you, and gets you going. It might be intentional or unintentional. The more you understand the dynamic of this Ignition Theme, you understand how to leverage it best for your own performance and energy.

To help you identify your Ignition Theme, ask questions like:

• Is there a specific theme that tends to “kick in” and help my thought, feelings or behavior get into action?
• Is there a specific one of my Top 5 themes that I know I need in order to get started?
• Which one of my Top 5 themes seems to energize me?


Why it helps to understand my Ignition Theme

Should you identify and understand how your Ignition Theme functions, you will be able to leverage it at the right moments and at the right time. This is not only beneficial in order to use it when you need to start and ignite, but also when to avoid using your ignition theme because you need to relax. Stimulating your Ignition Theme at night, for instance, could lead to not being able to sleep.


FAQ’s on Ignition Themes

• Can your Ignition Theme change over time? - Yes, just like with your Core Theme, this theme is dynamic and not static.

• Can my Ignition Theme be lower than my Top 5? - Yes, and it often is. It is then advisable to explore other themes with your Talent Guide in order to discover a possible theme.

• Could I have more than one Ignition Theme? - Although you might think it is possible, usually what happens is that another theme reacts to the Ignition Theme immediately. This is theme dynamics in action.

• Does everyone have a specific Ignition Theme they could identify? - No. Not all people can identify with an Ignition Theme concept, and therefore it must never be forced.

• Can my Ignition Theme be the same as my Core Theme? - Absolutely. This actually often happens.

• Are certain Talent themes more prone to be Ignition themes than others? - Yes. The most common Ignition Themes out there are themes like Activator, Achiever, Competition, Focus, Discipline, Maximizer, Command, Strategic, Learner and Positivity - although any theme could be one. Can you think why these are common Ignition Themes?




- By Dries Lombaard, C.E.O. Africanmosaic

Next time: More about your Relaxing Theme

Want to know more? visit our website at www.africanmosaic.com

The advantages of identifying and understanding your... Core Theme

We are starting a new series this week, all about the advantages of identifying and understanding certain Theme traits within your Top 5 Talents. Africanmosaic Talent Guides have been trained to assist people with the process of this identification and understanding. We strongly advise that you contact an accredited Talent Guide to assist you with this, rather than just trying to make sense of it on your own. The true power of this comes through a journey with a Guide.

Our first focus will be on your "Core Theme". You can also think of this as your "main Talent", your "strongest Theme" or as we sometimes refer to it, your "Funnel Theme".

Identifying your Core Theme:

An important thing to realize about your Core Theme, is that it does not necessarily follow the order of the StrengthsFinder Report. That means that your Core Theme is NOT per definition your Nr 1 Theme on your Top 5 Report. It could be any one of the Top 5 Talents. Identifying it is therefor a very practical exercise of self awareness and experience. The best way to do this is to ask the following questions:

• Which one of my Top 5 Talents are most visible in everyday life, both to myself and others?


• Which Talent will I never trade for any other one, because I will feel helpless without it?


• Which Talent gives me the most energy when I use it?


• Which Talent Theme out of my Top 5 will others use most to describe me?


• Through which one of the 5 Talents do the other four talents "flow"and become active?


• If I could describe myself by choosing one of my Top 5 Talents, which one will I choose?


• If you think of a "funnel", which one of the 5 will be at the spout (bottom) of the funnel, so that the other talents works "through" this theme in order to be active?

Although the identification of your Core Theme is a very personal exercise based on self awareness, it is very important that you will be able to describe and support your choice to a talent Guide. Sometimes we could be projecting and mislead ourselves within this process. It is also a good idea to get some confirmation by explaining and discussing this with people you know well, especially colleagues and people who see you "in action"often.

Understanding your Core Theme:

Your Core Theme has a tremendous influence on your Talent mix and dynamics. (To understand your personal talent dynamics, talk to your Talent Guide). Of the 5 "spices"that your Top 5 Talents adds to your mix, your Core Theme will mostly be the strongest and add the most spice and taste to your thoughts, feelings and behaviour. When under pressure, your Core theme will kick in strongest and drive your performance. Understanding this allows you to play to your strengths much more effectively and with more intention.

Your Core Theme also gives you a specific identity, in that it becomes your springboard for the way you approach problems and challenges. Knowing this gives you an edge.

Understanding how your Core Theme shapes your other 4 Talents (and, in the case of you knowing your Full 34, it shapes all the rest) to the extent that it becomes an important part of your decision making and interaction with others. The Level 2 Talent Guides (trained to facilitate teams), will tell you how important Core Themes become in Team dynamics and performance. Knowing your Core Theme, and embracing and celebrating it, therefor gives you and those around you and advantage for interaction and strengths based performance.

The other advantage of understanding your Core Theme and identifying it, is that it helps you with clear identity. Someone who embraces and celebrates their Core Theme will be outspoken with certainty, and therefor confirm it by saying "I am a Maximizer", or "I am an Activator", or "I am a Woo".

FAQ's on Core Themes:

• Can your Core Theme Change over time? - Yes, it can. This does not mean that it changes in every situation you find yourself in. But, the influence of different environments and seasons of your life could definitely have an impact on where your Core Theme will position itself in terms of your Top 5 Talents.


• Could your Core Theme be lower than the Top 5...like at nr 6 or 7? - Yes, but very, very seldom. The whole definition of a Core Theme causes it to be strong, which will place it within a Top 5 in nearly every case.


• Could I have more than one Core Theme in my Top 5? - Yes. It is rare, but your Talent Guide is also trained to help you confirm if this is the case. Then you should embrace that fact. It has an interesting dynamic if that is the case. You will then define it by saying "I am a Strategic Achiever", or "I am a Harmonious Relator". Your Guide will help you to confirm the order of these two talents in the definition.


• Does everyone always have a Core Theme? - Yes, although you might be in a space where you are unsure of what it is. Never force the identification. Give it a lot of thought and time if you are uncertain. This often happens when you are in a space where your environment are changing, like in a new job or when you have relocated. Never force the identification of a Core Theme. It will not help anything if you do not affirm and embrace it.


• Can I intentionally decide to change my Core Theme? - Not really. When you do that, it is more the skill of leveraging your strengths and playing to it in a specific situation. But you could give more attention to focusing on a specific Talent at any given time. This is actually more the art of talent Dynamics than it is changing your Core theme.

[Next time: The advantages of identifying and understanding your...Ignition Theme.]

- by Dries Lombaard, C.E.O. Africanmosaic.

Want to know more, or become a Talent Guide yourself?

Visit our website at www.africanmosaic.com