Strengths Coaching Approach for working with "Bob"

“Oh no!” you think to yourself, as your boss tells you that you have to work with “Bob” on this next project. You and Bob are like oil and water. Your stomach churns just thinking about having to work with him.

You’ve likely experienced this at work at some point during your career: having to deal with the one or two colleagues with whom you simply cannot work. They drive you crazy for one reason or, perhaps, for a thousand reasons. You dread having to work together and, it’s likely, they dread working with you. Why is that?

A few examples might be that your colleague:

is so focused on the numbers and data that she never takes the feelings of others into account when making team decisions;
seems to get overly emotional about seemingly mundane business interactions and bursts into tears without warning;
seems to take all the credit for team’s success but accepts little blame when things go awry;
never communicates at all or, perhaps worse, over-communicates and shares too much;
dominates the discussion during meetings and does not letting others speak or, maybe, they never speak and appear to be “in another world” as the meeting drags on and on;
is a “big picture” kind of thinker and, yet, she leaves all of the pesky details of making the vision a reality to others;
is addicted to checklists, timelines, schedules and acts like a dictator to make sure you’re meeting your deadlines, too;
unfairly gives preferential treatment to certain others in his clique, but seems to treat you differently;
is always jumping in to start projects but he never seems to finish anything;
can never start anything because they have to think through every possible outcome before they will take action or make a decision;
thrives on drama and attention; or
is seemingly always involved with the projects riddled with problems and delays.

Surely, you could add more and more examples to this list.

Wouldn’t it be great if you gained understanding about what your talents and strengths are and how they relate to the talents and strengths of others? Knowing what Bob’s talents and drivers are can help you improve your approach in interacting with him so that, hopefully, you won’t dread working with him and it might actually lead you to see how his talents and strengths can be harnessed and appreciated in a meaningful manner.

The Clifton StrengthsFinder measures the presence of talent in 34 general areas or themes. Our talents help us understand who we are. They describe us. They influence our choices. They direct our actions. They explain why we are better at some things than others. They help us filter our world.

Conventional approaches to personal development often seek to maintain each person’s strengths and to work on fixing weaknesses. It assumes that most, if not all, behaviors can be learned, that the best performers all display the same behaviors, and that weakness fixing leads to success.

A Strengths-Based approach to personal development focuses on each person’s strengths and manages around weaknesses. It is based upon the ideas that only some behaviors can be learned (skills & knowledge), that the best performers deliver the same outcomes using different behaviors, and that while weakness fixing may prevent failure, strengths building leads to success.

The key to success is to fully understand how to apply your greatest talents and strengths in your everyday life. A strengths coach can help your employees fully appreciate how his or her strengths profile influences their behaviors, activities, and relationships. The strengths coach can help your employees look at themselves and examine their past successes in a new way – as an individual with powerful talents in particular areas. In other words, a strengths coach can help them identify their unique talents (“Name it”), appreciate the power, opportunity and genius of his or her dominant themes (“Claim it”), and then help them intentionally invest in the development of their talents (“Aim it”).

People who focus on using their strengths are three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life and six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs.

When people work in their strengths zone they look forward to going to work, they treat customers better, have more positive than negative interactions with co-workers, achieve more on a daily basis, and have more positive, creative, and innovative moments.

SwiftRiver can provide a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach to provide team-building strengths sessions to employee groups of six or more as well as targeted, one-on-one strengths-based coaching to achieve meaningful performance and development improvements.

Please send us a message from our “Contact” page on this website if you would like more information on how SwiftRiver can help you and your business thrive.

You can also visit https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com for more information about StrengthsFinder and to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment.

Clifton StrengthsFinder®and other designated marks are registered trademarks of Gallup, Inc.