Coaching practices for Strengths vs Competencies
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Strengths vs Competencies, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’ve quietly filed each person on my team as strong or weak, and then I’m baffled when my "strong" one flounders on something new
- I pour most of my effort into shoring up the things I’m bad at and it crawls
- I’ve got a list of my strengths but it reads like a flat personality quiz
- I’m trying to reach this goal by white-knuckling through the exact things I’m worst at, and it’s draining and stalling
- The very thing I’m best at turns on me under pressure
Practices that may help
- Assess readiness task by task, not person by person
Rate competence and commitment for the specific task in front of them, not the person overall.
Situational Leadership, Made Practical - Invest more development effort in your strengths than in your weaknesses
Move from average to excellent in your strength areas rather than from poor to average in your weak ones.
Strengths-Based Leadership, Made Practical - Strengths-Based Leadership, Made Practical
Strengths-based leadership, developed by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie building on Gallup’s decades of manager research, holds that the most effective leaders invest in their own strengths and build teams whose combined strengths cover all four leadership domains — executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking. Gallup’s correlational research consistently finds that strength-focused teams report higher engagement and performance, though the causal direction is not fully established. - Connect individual strengths to the broader virtues they serve
Understand which of the six VIA virtues your signature strengths express, and what that reveals about your character.
VIA Character Strengths, Made Practical - Set goals that build on your signature strengths
Design goals that let your top strengths be the primary vehicle rather than your weak spots.
VIA Character Strengths, Made Practical - Map how your strengths distort under stress
Identify the "overuse" and "underuse" of each signature strength — how they show up when you’re at your worst.
VIA Character Strengths, Made Practical - Lead from the influencing domain — take charge, speak up, make sure others are heard
People strong in influencing sell the team’s ideas inside and outside the organization.
Strengths-Based Leadership, Made Practical - Use a signature strength in a new way each day for one week
Apply one of your top character strengths to a context or relationship where you don’t normally use it.
VIA Character Strengths, Made Practical - Build a team whose combined strengths cover all four domains
Hire and assemble deliberately for domain coverage, not for people who think like you.
Strengths-Based Leadership, Made Practical - Identify your dominant leadership strengths — and lead from them
Know which of the four leadership domains you naturally operate from and amplify it rather than trying to be equally strong in all four.
Strengths-Based Leadership, Made Practical
Related concerns
- When Strengths Become Weaknesses
Identify the "overuse" and "underuse" of each signature strength — how they show up when you’re at your worst.
Map how your strengths distort under stress
- How To Lead From Strengths
Strengths-based leadership, developed by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie building on Gallup’s decades of manager research, holds that the most effective leaders invest in their own strengths and build teams whose combined strengths cover all four leadership domains — executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking. Gallup’s correlational research consistently finds that strength-focused teams report higher engagement and performance, though the causal direction is not fully established.
- Influencing Strengths Domain
People strong in influencing sell the team’s ideas inside and outside the organization.
Lead from the influencing domain — take charge, speak up, make sure others are heard
- Leverage Your Strengths
Identify your top character strengths and deploy one of them differently each day.
Use your signature strengths in a new way
- Building A Strengths Team
Strengths-based leadership, developed by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie building on Gallup’s decades of manager research, holds that the most effective leaders invest in their own strengths and build teams whose combined strengths cover all four leadership domains — executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking. Gallup’s correlational research consistently finds that strength-focused teams report higher engagement and performance, though the causal direction is not fully established.
- Character Strengths Overuse
Identify the "overuse" and "underuse" of each signature strength — how they show up when you’re at your worst.
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