Forming Beliefs about Strengths – Pitfalls to Watch Out For
A recent discussion by Jeremy Utley about analytical versus creative thinking got me thinking about how we as individuals form beliefs about the relative value of certain strengths, and how those beliefs and resulting organizational dynamics can limit our personal and group effectiveness.
Like many beliefs that build up over time, beliefs about the values of certain strengths form from our earliest experiences. Often these beliefs get reinforced at the organization, industry, or societal level. Sometimes they are very personal to ourselves. Either way, we can forget over time that these beliefs are not universal truths — like laws of math or physics — but vary from person-to-person or context.
Let me illustrate with an example of my own beliefs about one of my strengths.
I’m an analytical person. I have a talent for analytical thinking such as understanding how pieces fit together, ascertaining cause and effect, and drawing generalizations from empirical data. This talent has become part of my identity. That aspect of my identity has a positive implication, because throughout my life I have had experiences where my analytical talents lead to success, praise, and reward.
This is all well and good, to a point. What happens when I start to believe that “analytical” is better than other talents such as creativity or empathy? Especially if it is left unspoken, this belief will permeate my interactions with others, and as a leader holding this belief I will likely create an organization that limits its effectiveness in many ways.
Let’s consider some of the likely impacts of this belief on an organization:
❌ By prioritizing analytical thinking we will close off other approaches that could reveal critical insights
❌We will likely hire for people who share the same talent, thereby limiting the overall power of the team
❌Team members will learn that “the way to be successful” in the team is to think analytically and thus fail to explore how their other strengths could also lead to success
❌Engagement will falter for team members who do not feel the leader values their particular strengths
So what to do?
As with so much of leadership and team dynamics, a foundational task is to build self-awareness. Ask yourself, what do I believe about your strengths and where do those beliefs arise? We must challenge ourselves to understand how those beliefs play out in our behaviors, decision making, and work. We can then build strengths-based organizations that foster engagement and lead to better business outcomes.
My work as a certified Gallup Strengths Coach allows us to use an established framework to assess our strengths, generate insights into how we use our strengths, identify potential blind spots, and build teams where everyone brings their individual strengths to achieve group goals.
To learn more, connect with me here or at john@aconnectedcoach.com