I believe there is a lot of benefit in understanding the parts of your personality that make you you, because every strength can also be a weakness.
To illustrate this, one part of my personality that I value highly is Harmony.
As defined by CliftonStrengths, this means:
- I look for consensus.
- I am naturally practical and prefer emotional balance.
- I can prevent arguments before they start by quickly helping others find common ground and a resolution.
Usually, this quality serves me really well in my dealings with others. But this week my bias could have resulted in a poorer outcome for others.
Bec and I made a decision to step back from an engagement we really enjoyed, as we wanted to prioritise other opportunities.
This engagement was building towards a significant event, so I said to Bec that we should wait until that milestone before stepping back.
Bec considered that it wasn’t helpful for others to maintain our engagement as our focus had shifted and we would be doing them a disservice by staying.
She was right.
I realised that I was trying to protect the relationships by continuing with the engagement for a little longer, but I was really leaning on my Harmony strength too heavily.
We ultimately stepped back and the relationships were preserved because they understood our position.
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