Our highest strengths tend to span the top five of the 24 VIA character strengths, and are aptly called Signature Strengths. Life circumstances may cause them to move up or down in rank, but for the most part they represent who we are at our very core. They energize us, are easy to engage, and essential to our identity. They do not exact effort or forethought, as they are second nature to us. It is to our benefit to apply these regularly and keep polishing them. Not only do they enhance our personal wellbeing, they also impact our social and work relationships, and extend our influence to the community.
Our middle strengths tend to span the next 14 on the list and are known as our Supportive Strengths. They are called upon occasionally on an as needed basis and hence could be Phasic Strengths or situational. Depending on the person you are interacting with or situation you are facing you may feel the need to stimulate a particular strength that is otherwise on standby. It may require a more conscious decision to draw upon mindfully.
Our lesser strengths tend to be the last 5 on the list and are called our Lower Strengths. Our natural instinct is to laser focus on ‘deficits’ or ‘oversights’ and obsess about them. This is our innate ‘negativity bias’ that has been woven into our DNA. But we have the ability to engage the ‘positivity offset’. If we look at this as an opportunity to become aware of which strengths have not been cultivated, relied upon less, or have become dormant over time, then we can be gentler in our approach. We do not fret about weaknesses but look to build our lower strengths.
How do we begin building these strengths?
When trying on a character strength for the first time you role play what it would be like to wear a new hat. You step into your Zone of Proximal Development (learning and development theory). It is the space between what you can do without assistance and what you can do with guidance or in collaboration with another. It is the distance between where you aspire to be and where you are right now, Character Strengths Matter. When you step into your ZPD you are more likely to adopt the mindset and behaviors of that character strength. You are literally trying it on for size. You notice, hear, smell and taste what it would be like if you leveraged a certain strength. Let’s take Perspective: where do you have to stand to get a higher or wider point of view, how do you expand your peripheral vision, what area are you surveying, how uncomfortable is it for you to distance yourself, and so on.
Another way to look at it is you are Scaffolding your lesser strengths. You are erecting a temporary framework to aid in building the main structure. It helps stabilize you as you reach higher. You are matching the support or guidance you seek with your current need, state of readiness, and interest. Let’s take Leadership: you have been promoted to a manager role and feel unclear how to step into it. You might emulate someone you admire who is high in that strength, or ask to be mentored by your supervisor, or engage an accountability partner (peer, friend or colleague), or hire a professional (coach or therapist) to help you leverage that strength. These are structural supports that help hold you up safely until you have a good foothold of your own and can readily engage these strengths. You are building your strengths wisely and purposefully.
So get out your carpenters’ tools, lumber, hammer and nails to start assembling your scaffolding. You might find it breathtakingly liberating.