Strengths in Uncertainty Series – Significance

The very first thing I remember about Charlotte was her response to an interview question on Gallup’s Called to Coach Webcast. It is a standard question asked of everyone interviewed on the show: “What are your Top 5 Strengths?” Charlotte’s response was “I can’t stop at just 5!” Then she listed her top 10 Strengths. And I thought to myself: I need to meet this person! Since then I’ve collaborated with Charlotte a number of times to share ideas – particularly in this time of Covid-19 where we are rapidly adapting to an increasingly virtual world. Charlotte has really taken charge during this time, creating opportunities for others to learn, not just from her own (immense!) experience but from each other. She truly brings people together and gives others a platform to shine.

Again, I am so glad I didn’t approach Charlotte with a particular Strength in mind. And in Charlotte’s words: “There is never just one Strength”. I may have been tempted to focus on her Woo, Communication, Maximizer or Positivity which is what I see on a daily basis. Instead, we went a bit deeper to what is driving her, that part of her that asked a critical question – one that we should all consider asking now:

“How can I serve others?”

I’m still interviewing, so please get in touch if you would like to be part of this!

Charlotte Blair – Activator, Woo, Command, Arranger, Positivity, Responsibility, Communication, Maximizer, Individualisation, Significance

Occupation: Business Owner/Partner at The Strengths Partners – Strength-based development of individuals, teams and organisations

Initially, Charlotte shared how her Positivity and Individualisation have been helping her respond to this crisis, and how she wondered how she could use her strengths to help others during this time. What skills do I have that could help? What experience could I share? Such a powerful question, which led to us talking about her Significance strength (#10).

On the surface, Significance may look like a Strength that is fueled by feedback from others. Of course, feedback helps, but someone using Significance as resourcefully as Charlotte thrives on simply KNOWING she is making a difference to others. This is a huge distinction, and I love the way Charlotte balances the feedback she receives – positive feedback “feeds my significance” and negative feedback activates her Maximizer to immediately work out how to improve.

During this time, I know my go-to has been to learn more from others like Charlotte. Charlotte is also seeking to learn and grow, and she does this by creating the learning opportunities and bringing others to her. Booking the Zoom call, opening up her Calendly, finding the experts and positioning them so they can share what they know. Such a Maximzer thing to do, but the driver is to make a difference by positioning others. So powerful!

Check out our interview:

You can find Charlotte in a number of places (of course):

http://thestrengthspartners.com/

https://www.learningrepublic.com.au/

In the interview, we talked about the magic of Cascade. You can find out more here: https://releasingstrengths.com/

Don’t know your top strengths? Go here to discover how you can find them out. 

 

 

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About Emma Sharrock

Emma is the author of The Agile Project Manager: Thrive in Change with Agile. An experienced change leader, Emma is passionate about working with people to facilitate successful change. Emma utilises Agile techniques, coupled with the Agile mindset to coach leaders and teams to achieve their business goals.