Leading with the Connectedness StrengthsFinder Talent
From random to purposeful
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When everyone else zooms in, do you zoom out? Are you searching for the bigger picture, the story that brings it all together?
The strengthsfinder connectedness talent drives you to want to make sense of it all, seeing the larger story and finding where you fit.
Learn to develop your connectedness strength, so you and your team no longer feel like there’s no purpose to what’s happening but instead feel like they're part of a bigger story.
Connectedness StrengthsFinder TL;DR
The connectedness StrengthsFinder talent means you’re always looking to connect seemingly unrelated facts or patterns so that they form something greater than the sum of their parts.
Affirm the valuable role others play in the bigger story
You want to see the whole, how it’s all connected. Because you’re connected to the larger story, you can be resilient and persevere in the face of difficulty and opposition.
If you’re already familiar with StrengthsFinder, you can skip over the next section.
What is StrengthsFinder?
SterengthsFinder, now CliftonStrengths, is an assessment based on strengths psychology. The fundamental premise is you will get farther by maxing out your strengths rather than trying to improve your weaknesses.
I’ve seen numerous leaders grow as they identified their talents and turned them into well-developed strengths. But you don’t have to be a leader to benefit from StrengthsFinder, and you can apply it to more than just work.
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses helps you better understand and live out your unique design.
Connectedness is just one of the 34 different strengths measured by StengthsFinder. When you take the assessment, you will get back your top 5 strengths. You can pay for an ordered list of all 34, but I wouldn’t recommend that the first time you take the assessment.
Focus is critical to developing your strengths. Keeping just your top 5 in view helps you make meaningful growth in the areas of your life with the highest leverage and impact.
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How do you lead well with connectedness in your StrengthsFinder top 5?
So you’ve taken the StrengthsFinder assessment, received your results and found connectedness in the list. Now you’re wondering how to grow or leverage this strength in your leadership.
I love stories, especially when seemingly disparate parts begin to come together. And as a leadership coach, I help others recognize the more important story they're a part of.
I’ve seen leaders with the strengthsfinder connectedness talent use these three strategies to lead others to play their parts in the larger story.
- Be an encourager to others.
- Reflect on the story.
- Branch out.
It’s easy to feel stuck or have an obstacle and not be sure how to begin to overcome it. I can lead your team through workshops for discovery, ideation, problem-solving, and solution testing.
Be an encourager to others.
Connectedness leads you to recognize and affirm the valuable role others play in the bigger story, and when you do this effectively, it can bring hope for a brighter future.
As a leader, be sure to encourage those around you.
Because you’re connected to the larger story, you can be resilient and persevere in the face of difficulty and opposition.
Show recognition for their efforts rather than expecting everything to go according to plan every time. Celebrate progress, not perfection. This will build the stability and purpose of the team.
Reflect on the story.
You’re always searching for clues to help you connect the dots so that something greater is revealed. Take notes and journal to give yourself space for reflection.
Because you’re connected to the larger story, you can be resilient and persevere in the face of difficulty and opposition.
Taking regular time out of your day to reflect on the larger story helps keep perspective on the direction of things — even if it’s just one small step forward at a time.
Related Guides
Branch out.
Connectedness leads you to make connections with other people, groups and activities. Don’t be afraid to branch out and explore different relationships, interests or projects. Discover new topics or groups of people.
Celebrate progress, not perfection
As you do this, you may find yourself discovering new facets of the story that everyone else was missing.
Next steps for StrengthsFinder connectedness.
As you learn to lead using your connectedness strength, you can help your team move from seeing events as random to seeing them as purposeful.
You can help each team member identify where they fit into the greater story — leading to more meaningful teamwork and collaboration towards
Action Plan
Leaders with the strengthsfinder connectedness talent can struggle with an antipattern of determinism. Learning the strengths antipatterns will allow you to continue growing as a healthy, intentional leader.
You are on an extraordinary journey to living and leading from your strengths. You can explore the list below to learn about the rest of your top 5 strengths.
Frequently Asked Questions
StrengthsFinder
So do I totally ignore my weaknesses and just focus on my strengths?
Strengths-based growth doesn’t encourage you to ignore your weaknesses but not to spend too much time trying to turn them into strengths. Instead, you may need to find team members or systems to fill in your gaps.
Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.
There are strengths I think I have; why didn’t they didn’t show up in my top 5?
For some people, their strengths ranked 5, 6 or 7 are almost even. You could also be misattributing a skill or behavior to a specific strength.
Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.
Should I pay to see all 34 strengths?
Seeing your other 29 strengths can help give you a fuller picture. But initially, someone should focus on further developing those top 5 strengths rather than trying to give attention across the list. Once you have a good grasp on what it looks like to lead from your top 5, it can be helpful to explore the rest of the list.
Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.
What’s the difference between a talent and a strength?
A talent is your natural way of thinking or behaving. A strength is a talent developed over time through knowledge, skills and practice.
Learn more about how StrengthsFinder influences your leadership.
