Playing to your strengths
What are your strengths? In everyday conversation people are
generally modest and reluctant to talk about their strengths. When
asked this question in an interview, most people feel slightly awkward
and tend to rely on formulaic answers designed to create a positive
impression and improve their prospects of interview success. Likewise,
surveys that ask people to name their strengths have found that only
about one third of people can readily name their own trait-like
strengths (Hill, 2001; cf. Arnold, 1997). Could this simply be a
reflection of natural reserve? Or is it that we just don’t know what
our strengths are? Possibly, but all this may conceal a deeper truth:
that we often do not fully appreciate our strengths, and may not even
know what they are.
This reluctance to talk about one’s strengths is also reflected in
psychology, where strengths have been the subject of very little
systematic empirical research. However, with the advent of positive
psychology, this is now changing. In this article we review the
historical context of psychological work on strengths, consider
approaches to strengths from both academic and applied perspectives,
and identify some of the most exciting potential applications of
putting strengths into practice in education, work and life.
Historical context
The absence of an integrative theoretical framework for strengths
research within mainstream psychology can be traced back to the
earliest origins of modern personality psychology, and Gordon Allport’s
(1937) seminal definition of personality (Cawley et al., 2000). Allport
– one can only assume with the best of intentions – argued that
character was a term that was more relevant for ethics and philosophy
than for psychology, and specifically and explicitly excluded the topic
of character from his definition of personality:
Character is personality evaluated, and personality is character
devaluated. Since character is an unnecessary concept for psychology,
the term will not appear again in this volume… (Allport, 1937, p.52).
The effect of this ‘defining out’ of evaluative terms (e.g. character, virtue)
was decisive (Nicholson, 1998). Personality psychologists since Allport
have almost totally ignored the concepts of character and virtue, from
which a psychology of strengths would be derived, and this has been one
factor that has led to the predominant focus on dysfunction and
disorder within psychology.
However, these questions of character and virtue are now squarely on
the agenda of psychology once again, with the new emphasis on positive
psychology underpinning the development of theories, classifications
and measures of character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004).
Most importantly, psychologists are now beginning to provide a common
vocabulary for researchers and practitioners interested in the good
life of happiness, health, well-being and fulfilment, just as the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has done for
researchers and practitioners interested in psychopathology, illness,
disorder and distress (Linley & Joseph, 2004a).
Character strengths
Positive psychology began with Martin E. P. Seligman’s (1998) APA
Presidential Address (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), and a
major early initiative was the development of a scientific
classification of strengths. The classification (see box) included 24
character strengths, based on brainstorming, extensive literature
searches and the subsequent application of 10 criteria for a character
strength. These criteria were developed through scrutiny of the
candidate strengths and the identification of common features among
them (see Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Although the criteria are
neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for character strengths,
they are considered to be pertinent features that, taken together,
capture a ‘family resemblance’. Importantly, Peterson and Seligman
(2004) note: ‘…we intend these strengths as neither exclusive nor
exhaustive, but we expect that subsequent research will help us achieve
a nearly exclusive and exhaustive list’ (p.13). Hence, the door is very
much open for further revisions to this classification, and for a new
generation of psychologists (and others!) to make their mark through
improved theory, measurement and application of character strengths.
Strengths in applied psychology
Another approach to strengths psychology has been taken within
applied settings, largely through the auspices of Don Clifton at the
Gallup Organization in the United States (Hodges & Clifton, 2004).
Clifton argued consistently that the two most prevalent assumptions
about human nature are flawed: that anyone can learn to be competent in
almost anything, and that a person’s areas of greatest potential for
growth are in their areas of greatest weakness. In contrast, Clifton
argued, first, that each person’s talents are enduring and unique, and
second, that each person’s greatest room for growth is in the areas of
their greatest strengths (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001). If this
doesn’t seem to fit with you, think about this: How many times do the
same shortcomings keep coming up in your annual appraisal (or those of
your staff), and how many times are you (or they) sent on training
courses to address these ‘developmental opportunities’, but with
little, if any, sustained effect? Still we persist in believing that
weaknesses can be fixed and that they provide our greatest potential
for development and growth.
However, Clifton argued that ‘to produce excellence, you must study
excellence’, and took a very different approach. In order to establish
the factors that facilitated top-level performance across a number of
different professional occupations, Clifton and his team of researchers
at the Gallup Organization interviewed thousands of professionals with
the aim of identifying the themes of talent that differentiated the top
performers from the rest. Strengths were developed from one’s innate
talents, they argued, through the application of knowledge and skill.
Working from these definitions, Clifton and the researchers at the
Gallup Organization identified hundreds of themes of talent from their
interviews with professionals, but condensed these to the 34 most
prevalent themes (see Buckingham & Clifton, 2001, or Clifton &
Anderson, 2002, for details).
It is unfortunate that, given the commercial sensitivity of much of
this research data and material, it has not typically been published in
mainstream sources, such as academic journals (but see Schmidt &
Rader, 1999, for a discussion of the development of structured
interviews for strengths). Accordingly, the applied strengths
perspective has not engendered the consideration that it may warrant.
This problem is representative of some of the issues that plague
occupational psychology, and provide an unfortunate obstacle to the
integration of academic research and applied practice (Anderson et al.,
2001), a point to which we return below.
Towards a new understanding of strengths
Reviewing these academic and applied approaches to understanding the
psychology of strengths, a notable demarcation arises. Academic
approaches have arrived at classifications of strengths derived from
reviews of existing literatures and the application of inclusion and
exclusion criteria. While this approach does allow some semblance of
order and the delineation of naturally arising distinctions, it is also
(perhaps unnecessarily) restrictive. In contrast, applied approaches
have arrived at differing classifications of strengths from studying
strengths in practice across thousands of professionals. While this
approach has clear applied value, it might be argued that it lacks an
integrative conceptual framework that allows a deeper understanding of
the structure and taxonomy of strengths. Which is right?
As an academic psychologist, one’s interest is likely to be in how best
to ‘carve nature at the joints’. That is to say, one may wish to
develop a taxonomy of strengths based on a deep theory that explains
why this construct is a strength while that one is not, and how each
strength relates to each other strength at varying levels of
hierarchical abstraction (Bailey, 1994).
As a practitioner, one’s interest may be less in how best to carve
nature at the joints, but rather more directly in ‘What works?’, ‘What
are the benefits?’ and ‘Does this classification system answer the
questions that are important to me, such as allowing measurement of
strengths that are predictive of performance and achievement in my
domains of interest?’ Here, the theory may not be so much important as
the practice, but critically, one must be able to demonstrate the
benefit.
Practitioners and researchers in strengths psychology would do well to
keep these alternative, but equally valid, perspectives in mind as they
progress in
the development of the theory and measurement of strengths. At some
ideal future time, we may yet find that the two are able to integrate,
as researchers identify natural classifications that meet the applied
needs of practitioners, thus allowing the ‘new dawn’ that occupational
psychology is striving for (Hill, 2003).
As a first step in this direction, we define a strength as a natural
capacity for behaving, thinking or feeling in a way that allows optimal
functioning and performance in the pursuit of valued outcomes.
‘Natural’ refers to the fact that strengths are partly innate, but are
shaped by our environmental experiences that may facilitate the
development of some strengths, but impede the development of others.
This process of natural selection mirrors neural development and brain
plasticity, since as some neural connections (which underpin strengths)
are used and strengthened, so others go unused and wither. ‘Natural’
also indicates that strengths are largely stable, in the tradition of
personality stability, but can be more or less developed by our
psychological activities and experiences. Just as personality may flex
according to the demands of the situation, but be stable and consistent
over time (Fleeson, 2001), so strengths may fluctuate according to
situational demands, but will always remain largely consistent.
The term ‘capacity’ reflects the idea that a strength may be more or
less developed, and is a potential within us that may be more or less
realised, according to regularity of use, availability of opportunity,
situational demands, or contextual appropriateness. It underpins the
idea that a natural strength can be developed to full potential, but
that a capacity that is not naturally occurring in a person may allow
the use of a strength to be improved, but not to the level of optimal
functioning and performance that defines
a strength.
The triad of ‘behaving, feeling or thinking’ captures the entirety of
lived human experience, covering the ABC of affect, behaviour and
cognition. Within this triad, one may also locate aspects of human
experience that are attitudinal, attributional, motivational or
relational, among many others, but in any case they are simply
a lower-order factor of one or more of behaving, feeling or thinking.
‘Optimal functioning and performance’ are hallmarks of a strength,
since refinement of a strength is the royal road to operating in a way
that is the most efficient and effective we can possibly be. Using our
strengths comes naturally to us. We yearn to use our strengths, we feel
fulfilled when we use our strengths, and we achieve our goals
efficiently and effectively when we use our strengths.
‘Valued outcomes’ are deliberately broadly and loosely defined, since
they may include happiness, health and well-being from an individual,
personal perspective (Linley & Joseph, 2004a); increased
productivity, sales, turnover and profit from a business perspective
(Hodges & Clifton, 2004); or goal attainment from any perspective.
However, ‘valued outcomes’ should be interpreted as descriptive, and
not prescriptive (Linley & Joseph, 2004a). Valued outcomes may be
intrinsic or extrinsic, individual or communal. Different outcomes may
be valued at any of the individual, couple, group, community, society,
regional, national or international levels, and it is not for us as
psychologists to specify which ‘valued outcomes’ are right and which
are wrong (Linley & Joseph, 2004b). While the exercise of a
strength per se should not diminish others (see Peterson &
Seligman, 2004), there can and probably will be differences and even
conflicts in the valued outcomes that strengths are used to pursue.
A notable point in this regard is the goal to which strengths are
applied. Strengths may be used in the pursuit of ‘good’ objectives
(e.g. world peace) or ‘bad’ objectives (e.g. inciting hatred and
violence). There is nothing implicit within a strength that necessarily
determines it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’; rather, the goals to which a strength
may be applied are themselves subject to our own value judgements. This
should be an important consideration for future research.
Putting strengths into practice
Work continues apace on the development of theories and measurement
of strengths, but it is already possible to envisage the potential
benefits of applying a strengths framework within organisations. Such a
framework would provide the consistent building blocks for defining an
organisation’s processes for recruitment and selection, career
development and succession planning, performance appraisal, individual
development and team building. Furthermore, it would provide the
language to create a strengths culture throughout the organisation,
providing a logical, progressive flow from initial recruitment and
onwards through all aspects of an individual’s career with the
organisation.
Compared with a competency-based framework, there are two major benefits
of applying a strengths framework. First, strengths are grounded in
psychological constructs that can be defined and measured. Second,
strengths are, by their very nature, natural capacities within
individuals that, when played to, allow the individual to achieve
optimal functioning and performance. For individuals within
organisations, a clear understanding of their strengths allows them to
exploit and optimise their prevalent strengths, and to gain awareness
of those areas where they they are not so strong. They can then seek to
work in a way that plays to their strengths, while managing their
weaknesses through complementary partnering and team working with
others.
For example, an individual whose key strengths at work are
organisational ability and a meticulous eye for detail may excel in a
project management role. This same individual may not, hypothetically,
be very empathic. Hence while they may be extremely good at ensuring a
project is delivered on time, this may be at the expense of people’s
feelings. Given that an increasing amount of organisational work is
conducted in teams, a strengths-based approach would suggest
constructing the project management team on the basis of complementary
strengths profiles. Our hypothetical project manager might benefit by
having a people-oriented person in the team, who has empathic
strengths, and so can deal effectively with people’s feelings, while
the project manager deals with the more task-focused project delivery.
By exploring each individual’s pattern of strengths, the emphasis
becomes one of optimising what people are best at, while recognising
and managing those situations that they may not handle naturally well,
and addressing these through appropriate job allocation, complementary
partnering, or strengths-based team working, rather than trying
perennially to ‘address their weaknesses’ and rectify the fact that
people may have been put in the wrong job to begin with.
Overall, a strengths-based formula for organisational success would be
to play to your strengths (through identifying them and finding a role
that is congruent with them), develop your competencies (through
ensuring that you are at least minimally effective in critical areas of
the job), and manage your weaknesses (through job redesign,
complementary partnering, or strengths-based team working).
From a team-building perspective, a strengths framework provides
individuals with a language to gain a greater understanding of each
other’s behaviour at work, and a new context within which to view these
behaviours. An understanding of each person’s strengths provides an
insight into how and why team members could work more effectively
together.
From a manager’s perspective, a clear articulation of the strengths of
their individual team members provides them with an understanding of
which individuals may excel at certain tasks and why. Further, it
enables the manager to provide individualised management and
developmental support to each team member in accordance with their own
unique combination of strengths. Finally, at an organisational level, a
strengths approach provides a way of articulating the key human
resource requirements needed to meet current and future business goals,
and to ensure that individuals are recruited, developed and managed in
a way that is based on their own individual strengths, in tandem with
the strengths needed to meet the goals of the organisation.
Applications and future directions
Strengths psychology offers much to the understanding of
constructive human nature, and provides psychologists with a rare
opportunity of working with people in a way that enhances their
identity and self-worth and respects their individual talents and
potentialities. Career selection, recruitment and development; coaching
in both business and personal settings; specific strengths-based
therapies; building self-esteem and developing new skills with
offenders; using one’s strengths to guard against mental and physical
decline in old age; all these areas could benefit from strengths
psychology.
Of central significance is the way in which a strengths psychology
transcends traditional barriers between groups. Taking a strengths
perspective empowers people irrespective of gender, ethnicity,
religion, sexual preference, or (dis)ability: people have strengths
irrespective of these factors. The language of strengths can become a
universal language through which people are able to recognise, develop
and celebrate their natural talents and abilities, and re-cast their
lives in ways that allow them
to do more of what they are good at.
Some might argue that we have been here before, and that research on
what we have described as strengths (e.g. creativity, humour, hope)
already exists. Indeed it does, and this provides a foundation on which
strengths psychology can build. However, what has been missing until
now is an integrative framework of strengths that allows strengths to
be studied and understood in relation to each other, rather than in
isolation. We suggest that these are exciting times for strengths
psychology, and, more exciting still, we suspect that the best is yet
to come.
- P. Alex Linley is at the University of Leicester. E-mail: [email protected].
- Susan Harrington is a Director of Potenthos Ltd. E-mail: [email protected].
BOX 1: CHARACTER strengths
Wisdom and knowledge – ‘cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition and use of knowledge’
1. Creativity: Thinking of novel ways to do things
2. Curiosity (interest, novelty-seeking, openness to experience)
3. Open-mindedness (judgement, critical thinking): Examining counter-arguments
4. Love of learning: Mastering new skills and knowledge
5. Perspective (wisdom): Providing wise counsel
Courage – ‘emotional strengths that involve the exercise of the will to accomplish goals’
6. Bravery (valour): Not shrinking from threat, challenge, difficulty or pain
7. Persistence: Finishing what one begins
8. Integrity (authenticity, honesty): Presenting oneself in a genuine way
9. Vitality (zest, enthusiasm, vigour, energy): Approaching life with excitement and energy
Humanity – ‘interpersonal strengths that involve tending and befriending others’
10. Love: Valuing close relationships
11. Kindness (generosity, nurturance, care,
compassion, altruistic love, ‘niceness’): Doing favours and good deeds
for others
12. Social intelligence (emotional intelligence,
personal intelligence): Being aware of the motives and feelings of
others and of oneself
Justice – ‘civic strengths that underlie healthy community life’
13. Citizenship (social responsibility, loyalty): Working well as a member of a team or group
14. Fairness: Treating all people equally
15. Leadership: Encouraging others
Temperance – ‘strengths that protect against excess’
16. Forgiveness and mercy
17. Humility: Letting accomplishments speak for themselves without seeking the spotlight
18. Prudence: Being careful about one’s choices
19. Self-regulation (self-control): Regulating what one feels and does
Transcendence – ‘strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning’
20. Appreciation of beauty and excellence (awe, wonder, elevation)
21. Gratitude: Being thankful for good things
22. Hope (optimism, future-mindedness): Expecting the best and working to achieve it
23. Humour (playfulness): Liking to laugh and bringing smiles to other people
24. Spirituality (religiosity, faith): Having coherent beliefs about one’s purpose and meaning
Adapted from Peterson & Seligman (2004, pp.29–30).
Weblinks
Alex Linley’s online study of strengths, personality and positive psychology: www.personalitystrengths.com
Take the VIA Inventory of Strengths: www.viastrengths.org
Join the UK Positive Psychology Network: www.positivepsychology.org.uk
Discuss and debate
Which is most effective – building strengths or repairing weaknesses?
Can playing to your strengths be a bad thing?
Would you like to use your strengths more? Why?
Should organisations do more to capitalise on people’s strengths? Why?
Have your say on these or other issues this article raises. Write to
our Letters page on [email protected] or contribute to our online
forum via www.thepsychologist.org.uk.
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