This is Me

It’s been a while between posts, and I wanted to connect with everyone reading them, especially my Strengths in Uncertainty Series. The interviews continue, but I’ve been finding myself going a bit inward to reflect on the connections I have made and the learnings that have come out of them.  I guess you could say that my Input strength has been a bit selfish – I feel I have needed to internally process a bunch of things before sharing them. I’m conscious of what I share with you as your time is valuable and I want to ensure I’m not filling it with random thoughts, all competing to be heard first, and in their rush, sounding like a two-year-old having a tantrum. That’s what it sounds like to me anyway!! I’ve also felt quite overwhelmed with everything going on right now, and my go-to is to disappear inside my head. I overthink every possible opportunity to share, whether it be a social media update or a blog post (perhaps this should be a video instead… I can’t find the right image to match… I need to research the perfect colour… the list goes on!).

One of the things I’m overwhelmed by is the massive increase in LinkedIn invitations to connect. I try and turn these around quickly, as a list of 20+ just weighs on my mind – many of which contain (or are followed up by) emails asking for a phone call to learn more about me and my business. While I love connecting with people, if I said yes to everyone I would spend half my time on the phone with people I don’t know, which would be incredibly energy-sapping for me. And I’m sure I contribute to what becomes a vicious cycle when I’m not sharing what I’m doing, hence the questions. So hopefully this post answers some of them too! #winwin

Strengths in Uncertainty Series

While I am LOVING interviewing others, I thought it might be helpful to share a bit more about me – my business and how I’m using my Strengths during this time of uncertainty.

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

Emma Sharrock – Input, Strategic, Individualization, Connectedness, Activator…

Occupation: Business Owner – Agile Enterprises – Working with leaders and teams to thrive in change with Agile and Strengths.

Taking a leaf out of a fellow coach’s book (you will find out more about Charlotte Blair soon), I wanted to share my top 10 Strengths. When I first started my Strengths journey, I think I focused too much on my top 5, forgetting about the next 5, and as it turns out they play a big role in who I am.

My Input definitely dominates. It feeds my hunger to learn but can also result in me spending too much time researching that perfect thing, when the imperfect thing I found earlier was sufficient – possibly better, as it would have meant the thing would have been done. My Strategic likes to think of all the possibilities, which normally balances with my Activator to ensure things happen. I think my Input, Strategic, Connectedness and Individualization ‘gang up’ on my Activator, making it hard for me to ‘just do it’ as it’s too bogged down by my brain spinning with multiple options and scenarios. Hence multiple drafted blog posts – often ready to go, but I don’t push the button.

What I have been learning to activate recently are my Self-Assurance and Arranger Strengths. Self-Assurance and Input rarely come up together in a profile. Input’s thirst to learn more often stops someone like me from feeling completely confident – “I just need to learn a bit more about this before I <take action> *sigh*. In other words, my head gets in the way. A lot.

However, I am future-focused, and when I put my mind to it, I can look ahead and see a sea of possibilities. And when I’m in my zone, I’ll take others with me. Providing I haven’t decided to retreat into my blanket fort with a book to learn a bit more first.

The times I have been in my zone? Learning and sharing others’ Strengths, coaching teams, running workshops and writing books.

You can find me, well, here 🙂

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