Strengths Advent Calendar 2025

Strengths advent calendar: 25 years of working with strengths

I have decided to dedicate this Advent Calendar to strengths capturing some of the most precious tips, questions, scientific discoveries and applications that ACTUALLY WORK.

So, let’s start with the definitions, as we would not be able to move forward without them. In coaching, leadership, the world of work, we talk about strengths constantly… yet most people misunderstand what a strength actually is.

Ask someone to define “strength” and you’ll hear:
• “Something I’m good at,”
• “Something I’m praised for,”
• “Something I am talented in.”

All these definitions miss the essential ingredient: energy.

A real strength is a capacity that is both:
1️⃣ performed well
2️⃣ energising and authentic

• A skill / competence = learned ability that guarantees performance but results in tiredness
• A strength = performance + energy + identity

One of the quickest ways to capture this distinction is the 3-minute Strengths Cards exercise from Positran: Ask someone to pick one card that feels like them, and one that feels not them at all. Within minutes, differences between learned behaviour and true strengths become obvious. Strengths aren’t what you can do. They’re what you can do sustainably, joyfully, and authentically.

Use the Positran Strengths Cards or Digital Strengths Cards Solo to try this with your team, clients, or family — instant clarity guaranteed.

Superheroes, avatars & the psychology of ideal selves

Ask someone to name their favourite superhero or fictional character.
Then ask: “Which strengths make this character compelling for you?”

Without realising it, people describe their own ideal selves.

This exercise becomes even more powerful using the Fantastic World of Strengths cards. Each character embodies real psychological strengths such as:
• Courage
• Creativity
• Empathy
• Leadership
• Curiosity
• Fairness

You can then ask:
• “Which avatar feels most like you?”
• “Which avatar represents who you want to become?”
• “What strengths do you already share?”
• “What strengths do you want to cultivate next?”

It’s playful. It’s disarming.
And it opens up deeply reflective identity conversations.

Perfect for coaching, schools, parents, leadership programmes, and team intros.

The hidden strengths you reveal when talking about weaknesses

When someone talks about a struggle, frustration or weakness, they often unintentionally reveal their strengths.

“I overthink.” → curiosity, analysis
“I get frustrated when people are unfair.” → justice, integrity
“I take too much responsibility.” → diligence, care
“I can’t let things go.” → persistence
“I hate conflict.” → empathy, harmony

This is why “listening for strengths” is one of the most powerful skills in coaching and leadership.

Watch for:
• emotional tone,
• recurring verbs,
• values being violated,
• body language shifts
• energy changes

Strengths are always in the room.
Sometimes they’re just disguised as struggles.

Hass, M. R. (2018). Interviewing to understand strengths. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 10(3), 315–321.

How many strengths are there?

We often talk about “playing to strengths” as if strengths were a fixed list somewhere inside us. Yet different strengths models disagree on something quite fundamental: how many strengths do we actually have?

Let’s look at three of the most widely used frameworks.

VIA Character Strengths — 24 values-based strengths
The VIA Classification proposes that we all share the same 24 character strengths, rooted in universal moral virtues such as wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.
The idea: you have them all, but in different proportions.
VIA is about who you are, not what you do — more values and identity than performance.

Strengths Profile — 60 strengths across 4 categories
Strengths Profile takes a more dynamic view. It measures:
• Realised strengths (used, energising)
• Unrealised strengths (energising, underused)
• Learned behaviours (performed well but draining)
• Weaknesses

With 60 strengths in total, it emphasises movement: a strength can shift depending on your environment, your energy, and your stage of life.

StrengthsFinder — 34 talent themes
Strengths Finder focuses on recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behaviour that can be productively applied. Your results show a ranking of 34 themes, usually highlighting your Top 5. This model assumes you shouldn’t try to “fix” weaknesses — you maximise what is already naturally strong.

So… how many strengths do you have?

The honest answer: it depends on the lens.

• VIA says: 24 strengths that define your character.
• Strengths Profile says: 60 strengths, some sleeping, some shining.
• Strengths Finder says: 34 talent patterns, but only a few matter most.

What they all agree on is this: strengths are not a number — they are a story.
A story of energy, identity, and potential waiting to be used.

Three strengths assessment tools walk into a coaching session…

Imagine using VIA, CliftonStrengths and Strengths Profile in one coaching journey.

Each illuminates a different dimension:
VIA → values, virtue, identity
StrengthsFinder 2.0 → performance patterns
Strengths Profile → energy dynamics (realised, unrealised, learned)

But clients can feel overwhelmed.

This is why I have developed the Strengths Cards:

Positran’s 50 strengths were created through thematic analysis of the three major frameworks above. The result: a unified language that blends VIA’s universals, Strengths Profile’s dynamism, and Strengths Profile’s talent patterns — without requiring users to juggle multiple taxonomies.

Clients say: “It’s the first time ALL of me is captured on one table.”

Start with personality → follow up with strength assessments → then deepen with cards → then expand with the Positive 360 to add relational insights.

The richest strengths coaching happens when multiple lenses converge.

Why triangulation is the minimum standard for strengths identification

Most people identify strengths using one method — a questionnaire, a coaching session, or a 360. But any single method only reveals one slice of a person.

For example, strengths assessments are extremely useful — but they are not absolute truth. They are sensitive to whether you have been paying attention to all questions or not, to your beliefs about yourself, to how a given strength is defined, etc. Use questionnaires as one data point — not the whole picture.

The gold standard is triangulation: three or more independent sources that converge into a reliable strengths profile.

Triangulation for strengths identification =
1️⃣ Self-insight tools — strengths assessment tools, Strengths Cards, Digital Strengths Cards Solo, self-observation, feedforward interviews
2️⃣ Behavioural evidence — strengths spotting, performance patterns
3️⃣ Social feedback — POSITIVE 360 or SOLO 360+

Why it works:
• reduces bias
• reveals learned behaviours
• identifies strengths hidden in context
• increases confidence and accuracy
• captures identity, behaviour AND impact

Triangulation doesn’t complicate strengths work — it clarifies it.

What your country’s signature strengths say about you

Every country has a characteristic strengths “fingerprint.” Some nations score higher on kindness, others on fairness, humour or creativity.

This matters because national strengths shape:
• leadership norms
• parenting styles
• communication patterns
• workplace expectations
• conflict styles
• social cohesion

Let’s look at two examples that matter for European leadership, education, and intercultural work: France and the United Kingdom.

France: Fairness, kindness, curiosity — and unusually low spirituality

France’s top-ranked strengths mirror the global profile, but with subtle cultural flavour:

Top strengths in France (rank position in parentheses)
• Fairness (1) — high trust in rules, equality, justice
• Kindness (3)
• Curiosity (5)
• Love (8)
• Creativity – mid-range but slightly above the US
• Appreciation of Beauty – also mid-range, not top 5, but higher than many European countries

Lowest strengths
• Spirituality (24, mean 2.94 — significantly lower than the US)
• Modesty (22)
• Self-Regulation (23)
• Prudence (18)

These patterns are consistent with France’s cultural identity:
• intellectual debate (Curiosity)
• strong secular orientation (very low Spirituality)
• commitment to equity (Fairness)
• valuing human connection (Kindness, Love)

United Kingdom: Fairness, kindness, honesty — and exceptionally low spirituality

The UK’s strengths profile is exceptionally similar to the US (r = .94). But one deviation stands out strongly:

Top strengths in the UK
• Fairness (1)
• Judgment (2)
• Kindness (3)
• Honesty (5)
• Curiosity (4)

Lowest strengths
• Spirituality (24, mean 3.00 — one of the lowest in the entire dataset)
• Self-Regulation (23)
• Modesty (22)

As McGrath notes, the UK’s unusually low Spirituality is the only substantial difference from the US.

This aligns with known cultural norms:
• strong rule-of-law culture (Fairness #1)
• intellectual evaluation and critical thinking (Judgment #2)
• interpersonal warmth expressed indirectly (Kindness)
• secular orientation (very low Spirituality)

Using the Strengths Cards, explore:
• “Which strengths show up strongly in my national culture?”
• “How do these shape the way I communicate, lead, or collaborate?”
• “What strengths do I bring to a multicultural team?”
• “Which strengths from other cultures do we benefit from?”

This is one of the most effective DE&I and cross-cultural learning exercises — especially when supported by visuals and storytelling.

APA Reference: McGrath, R. E. (2015). Character strengths in 75 nations. Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(1), 41–52.

Three new strengths research findings you really want to know about (2022–2025)

Strengths science continues to evolve — and the last few years have brought genuinely important insights.

Here are three findings from recent peer-reviewed studies that really matter for anyone working in coaching, HR, leadership, education or wellbeing.

1️⃣ Strengths use (not just strengths possession) predicts wellbeing – strongly

Multiple recent studies confirm that using your strengths is far more important than simply having them.

A 2021 study across five countries (N = 1,035; Huinink et al, 2021) found that strengths use significantly predicts: life satisfaction, positive affect, meaning, vitality — above and beyond personality and strengths knowledge.

Strengths possession alone is not enough.

2️⃣ Optimal strengths use (avoiding overuse/underuse) predicts flourishing

Recent work shows that strengths have an “optimal zone.” Using a strength too little or too much diminishes wellbeing; optimal calibration predicts flourishing best.

A 2022 paper (Freidlin et al, 2022) examined optimal strengths use and found:
✔ optimal use → higher wellbeing
✔ overuse → higher distress
✔ underuse → reduced engagement
✔ optimal use predicted wellbeing better than strengths use alone

This supports the “golden mean” principle in a modern empirical framework.

3️⃣ Strengths-based micro-interventions really do work (even at very small doses)

A 2021 multicountry randomised study (Schutte & Malouff, 2021; N = 1,046) tested 3- to 7-day strengths micro-interventions and found:
• significant increases in wellbeing
• decreases in depression
• sustained improvements at follow-up
• similar effect sizes to longer programmes

Strengths practices do not need to be long to be effective — they need to be consistent and intentional.

Why this matters for practice

This is why tools like Strengths Cards and Digital Strengths Cards Solo are so effective:

They help people:
• identify strengths → possession
• apply strengths → use
• calibrate strengths → optimal use
• integrate strengths into micro-actions (see suggestions on the back) → micro-interventions

Strengths work is most powerful when it is small, frequent, intentional, and embodied.

Are strengths just personality in disguise?

Character strengths and personality: cousins, not clones.

When we introduce strengths in coaching or training, someone usually asks:
“Isn’t this just the Big Five in nicer language?”

The short scientific answer: there is substantial overlap – but not full redundancy.

1. What’s being compared?

• Personality dimensions (Big Five / HEXACO) describe broad, value-neutral tendencies: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism/emotional stability, openness, plus honesty–humility in HEXACO.
• Character strengths are more explicitly normative and moralised – socially valued traits like kindness, perseverance, curiosity, gratitude.

Conceptually, strengths live inside the broader construct of personality but emphasise what is good and desirable in that space.

2. What do meta-analyses and large-scale studies show?

a) Moderate but not perfect overlap

McGrath, Hall-Simmonds & Goldberg’s big Assessment paper looked directly at VIA strengths and multiple personality inventories. Typical correlations between conceptually similar scales were in the small-to-moderate range (often around r ≈ .20–.40, largest ≈ .46).

This means:
• Zest relates strongly to extraversion; perseverance to conscientiousness; kindness to agreeableness; etc.
• But no strength is fully “captured” by a single Big Five factor.

A new meta-analysis, Bridges over troubled water, went further by explicitly locating each of the 24 VIA strengths within Big Five and HEXACO space using previous meta-analytic estimates (e.g., Anglim et al., 2020; Pletzer et al., 2024; Strickhouser et al., 2017). As expected, strengths clustered where you’d predict (e.g., zest with extraversion, prudence with conscientiousness, gratitude with agreeableness / honesty–humility).

b) Personality is a powerful predictor of functioning

Meta-analyses show that Big Five / HEXACO traits predict health, wellbeing and behaviour with small-to-moderate effects (often r ≈ .20–.30), especially low neuroticism and high extraversion/conscientiousness.

So if strengths were purely rebranded personality, they should add little beyond those traits.

c) Do strengths add anything beyond personality?

Here the evidence is more mixed but increasingly interesting:

• In McGrath et al.’s work, both VIA strengths and personality facets predicted wellbeing and other criteria, and strengths sometimes showed incremental prediction over personality, especially for “moral” or prosocial outcomes.
• A recent study on job performance found that character strengths predicted performance over and above general mental ability and the Big Five, with some strengths explaining more variance than any single personality trait for specific performance dimensions.
• VIA’s own research summaries likewise report cases where strengths predict wellbeing beyond nature contact and Big Five traits.

So: there is clear shared variance but also pockets of genuine added value.

3. Critical issues: jangle fallacy and definitional ambiguity

A recent critical paper on character strengths points out a real risk of “jangle fallacy” – treating constructs as new simply because they have a new name. Many strengths have obvious trait cousins:

• Zest ≈ extraverted energy
• Self-regulation / perseverance ≈ conscientiousness
• Kindness / forgiveness ≈ agreeableness
• Curiosity / love of learning ≈ openness

So if strengths are to stand as a distinct framework, we must:

Clarify definitions (what is really new?)
Demonstrate incremental validity beyond personality, not just conceptual appeal.

What does this mean in practice for coaches and practitioners? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post!

References
Anglim, J., Horwood, S., Smillie, L. D., Marrero, R. J., & Wood, J. K. (2020). Predicting psychological and subjective well-being from personality: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(4), 279–323.
McGrath, R. E., Hall-Simmonds, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2020). Are measures of character and personality distinct? Evidence from observed-score and true-score analyses. Assessment, 27(1), 117–135.
Stahlmann, A. G., Arbenz, G. C., & Ruch, W. (2024). Definitional ambiguities in character strengths: A comparative analysis with personality and other psychobiological attributes. Journal of Research in Personality, 109, 104469.
Strecker, C., Huber, A., Höge, T., Hausler, M., & Höfer, S. (2021). Incremental validity of character strengths as predictors of job performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 518369.

Are strengths just personality in disguise? What does this mean in practice for coaches and practitioners?

What if we conceptualise strengths as personality in action? Take a look at my post from yesterday to follow the personality-strengths distinction.

Scientifically, in short, the most defensible position right now is:

Start with personality
Big Five / HEXACO models still offer the cleanest map of broad dispositional tendencies and remain the backbone of predictive research for health, wellbeing and performance.
Consider strengths and personality as overlapping systems
Strengths and character strengths largely sit inside Big Five/HEXACO space, but they carve it up in a more value-laden (in VIA’s case) and intervention-friendly way.
Strengths instruments are useful when you care about “what’s right and energising”
They focus attention on valued traits and their use, which is often more actionable for coaching than a neutral description of high or low neuroticism.
Best practice is integrative, not either–or

o Use personality for broad risk and resource mapping.
o Use strengths to translate that map into valued, goal-relevant language and concrete actions.
o Test, whenever possible, whether strengths are adding prediction beyond personality in your own data rather than assuming they do.

From a science perspective, strengths probably look less like a revolution and more like a nuanced, value-centric dialect of personality psychology – one that is particularly well suited for coaching, education, and applied positive psychology, as long as we stay aware of the overlap.

McGrath, R. E., Hall-Simmonds, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2020). Are measures of character and personality distinct? Evidence from observed-score and true-score analyses. Assessment, 27(1), 117–135
Stahlmann, A. G., Arbenz, G. C., & Ruch, W. (2024). Definitional ambiguities in character strengths: A comparative analysis with personality and other psychobiological attributes. Journal of Research in Personality, 109, 104469.

The strengths sweet spot: mastering optimal use, underuse & overuse

Every strength can have three expressions:

🔹 Underuse → the strength is dormant
🔹 Optimal use → the “golden mean”
🔹 Overuse → the strength becomes a liability

Examples:
• Courage → underuse (avoidance), optimal use (bravery), overuse (recklessness)
• Kindness → underuse (coldness), optimal use (warmth), overuse (self-sacrifice)
• Creativity → underuse (rigidity), optimal use (innovation), overuse (chaos)

Niemiec calls this the golden mean — the precise point where a strength becomes a superpower rather than a risk.

Using Positran Strengths Cards, select or ask your clients select their top strengths (5 to 10). Next, draw a horizontal line and invite clients to place each of your strength on the spectrum from underuse to overuse. When some strengths are placed at extremes, get them to consider how to shift toward optimal use. Especially in cases of overuse, some calibration may be needed.

Strength development is NOT always about “using strengths more.”
It’s about using them wisely.

Reference
Niemiec, R. M. (2019). Finding the golden mean. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 32(3–4), 453–471.

The “beautiful day” strengths intervention: small practice, big impact

One of the simplest — and most effective — strengths practices is this:

Design a single “beautiful day” using your top strengths.

It sounds deceptively simple, yet the results are powerful.

Research shows “beautiful day” interventions increase:
• positive affect
• vitality
• sense of meaning
• motivation
• hope

To do it, pick 3–5 of your top strengths using the Positran Strengths Cards or Digital Strengths Cards Solo, and map your day:

Morning → one strength
Afternoon → another
Evening → another

Examples:
Curiosity → Visit a gallery, research something new
Love → Have dinner with someone meaningful
Humour → Watch a comedy set
Self-regulation → Create a calming evening routine

You’re designing not just a day — but a blueprint of your best possible life.

Try it. The effects linger far beyond 24 hours.

You can also build a beautiful day at work using the very same principles.

APA Reference: Niemiec, R. M. (2017). Character strengths interventions: A field guide for practitioners. Hogrefe.

How mindfulness supercharges strengths (MBSP + strengths noticing practice)

Mindfulness enhances our ability to notice what is happening.
Strengths enhance our ability to use what is happening well.

Together, they change everything.

Two practices work exceptionally well:

1️⃣ Strengths noticing practice

Pause during your day and ask:
• Which strength just showed up?
• How did it feel in my body?
• What emotion accompanied it?
• What triggered it?
• What would amplify it?

This rewires your awareness to detect your strengths automatically.

2️⃣ MBSP-inspired strengths moments

From Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice:
• Pause
• Recall a moment of strength
• Name it
• Savour it
• Intend its next use

Use Positran Mindfulness Cards to take this practice even further and anchor the practice visually.

Mindfulness helps you see your strengths.
Strengths help you become more mindful.

References
Whelan-Berry, K., & Niemiec, R. M. (2021). Integrating mindfulness and character strengths. International Journal of Wellbeing, 11(1), 38–50.

Strengths-based goals: the secret ingredient missing from the GROW model

The GROW model is simple, elegant and widely used. But something essential is missing.

Most coaching conversations ask:
• G – What do you want?
• R – What’s happening now?
• O – What could you do?
• W – What will you commit to?

This works — but only to a point. Because goals built only on effort, motivation, or discipline eventually run out of fuel.

Positive Psychology Coaching (PPC) research shows something different:

👉 Sustainable goal achievement depends on the identification, utilization and optimisation of personal strengths (van Zyl et al., 2020).

In other words, goals fail when they rely on willpower only — and succeed when they rely on strengths power.

According to the Positive Psychological Coaching Model:
• clients first identify their signature strengths,
• then use these strengths to craft the ideal future state/s,
• then set goals and execution plans enabled by use of strengths.

Strengths act as psychological resources that increase motivation, self-efficacy, emotional resilience, authenticity and energy availability for goal pursuit.

Add just one question to transform GROW

When you reach the WILL stage, ask:
“Which strengths will carry you toward this goal?”

This is fully aligned with PPC’s Socratic goal-setting approach.

🎯 How GROW becomes GROW+S

G – What do you want?
R – What is the reality?
O – What options do you have?
W – What will you do?
S – Which strengths will help you succeed?

The bottom line:
• Goals without strengths drain people.
• Goals with strengths energise them.
• Strengths are not a “soft skill” add-on — they are the core psychological mechanism enabling successful, sustainable change.

References
Linley, P. A., Woolston, L., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2010). Strengths coaching. International Coaching Psychology Review, 5(1), 6–15.
van Zyl, L. E., Roll, L. C., Stander, M. W., & Richter, S. (2020). Positive psychological coaching definitions and models: A systematic literature review. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 793.

What LEGO® Serious Play reveals about your strengths

Give adults LEGO and watch what happens.

When people build “me at my best,” strengths surface through metaphor:
• structures → organisation
• bridges → connection
• towers → ambition
• colours → emotional tone
• characters → identity
• movement → creativity

Once the model is built, ask:
“What strengths does this represent?”

LEGO bypasses overthinking and unlocks deeper, symbolic insight.

It is powerful for:
• coaching
• leadership retreats
• team visioning
• conflict resolution
• onboarding
• self-reflection

Strengths + metaphor = accelerated meaning-making.

References
Roos, J., & Victor, B. (2018). Origins of LEGO® Serious Play®. International Journal of Management and Applied Research, 5(4), 326–343.

The POSITIVE 360: the most uplifting feedback you’ll ever receive

Traditional 360s emphasise gaps, weaknesses and blind spots.

They are valuable — but emotionally heavy to handle.

The POSITIVE 360 does the opposite.

It invites friends, colleagues, family and clients to nominate your strengths. All is left to do afterwards is to compare your own self-perception with that of others.

The effect is profound:
• people feel seen,
• confidence increases,
• identity becomes clearer,
• intrinsic motivation rises,
• relationships strengthen.

Clients often say:
“I didn’t realise people saw me this way.”

Use it in coaching, leadership programmes, job transitions or performance reviews.

It’s not soft.
It’s strategic.

People grow fastest when they know what is already strong in them.

Roberts, L. M., Dutton, J. E., Spreitzer, G. M., Heaphy, E. D., & Quinn, R. E. (2005). Composing the reflected best-self portrait: Building pathways for becoming extraordinary in work organizations. Academy of Management Review, 30(4), 712–736.

The business case for strengths: why HR should start with strengths (and not competencies)

Competencies tell us what people can do.
Strengths tell us what they can do sustainably, brilliantly, and with energy.

Research shows strengths use improves:
• engagement
• performance
• retention
• wellbeing
• resilience
• psychological safety

To build strengths-oriented HR cycles, start with:
• recruitment → strengths-based advertising and interviewing
• onboarding → Strengths Cards mapping
• development → Strengths Diagnostics
• leadership → Positive 360
• retention → strengths-based job crafting

This isn’t soft HR.
This is evidence-based competitive advantage.

Aguinis, H., Gottfredson, R. K., & Joo, H. (2012). Delivering effective performance feedback: The strengths-based approach. Business Horizons, 55(2), 105–111.

Strengths-based recruitment: how to write a strengths-based job advert and attract better candidates

To attract the right people, start by identifying the strengths your best performers share.

Step 1 → Evaluate top performers

Look for consistent strengths.
Use any strength assessment tool code their behaviours.

Step 2 → Write a strengths-based advert

Examples:
“We are looking for someone who naturally brings… curiosity, fairness, courage.”
“If these strengths describe you, we want to hear from you.”

Step 3 → Strengths-based assessment

Use any of the existing strengths assessment tools for candidates to complete. Focus on the significance of strengths in comparison to those already expressed by your top performers.

This approach leads to:
• better fit
• higher motivation
• lower turnover
• more authentic conversations

Hire for who people are at their best — not just what they can do and have experience in.

Bibb, S. (2016). Strengths-based recruitment and development: A practical guide to transforming talent management strategy for business results. Kogan Page Publishers.

Strengths-based interviewing: how to hire people who will thrive

Want to hire people who flourish, not just function?

Ask strengths-based questions like:
• “Which tasks energise you the most?”
• “Tell me about a time you used a strength to solve a challenge.”
• “Which strengths would your colleagues say you’re known for?”
• “Which strengths do you want to develop further?”
• “Which role activities would drain you?”

Use Positran Strengths Cards during interviews:

Candidates choose 5 strengths and explain how they use them.

Real strengths become visible instantly through stories, voice and body language.

Strengths-based interviewing predicts:
✔ better fit
✔ stronger engagement
✔ lower turnover
✔ more authenticity
✔ faster onboarding

Hire who people are — not just what they can do.

Bibb, S. (2016). Strengths-based recruitment and development: A practical guide to transforming talent management strategy for business results. Kogan Page Publishers.

Strengths-based leadership essentials

Most organisations still operate on an outdated assumption: that leaders and employees should be well-rounded, equally competent across a wide range of capabilities.

The evidence increasingly suggests the opposite.

Human performance is spiky, not balanced. Excellence is concentrated in a small number of recurring patterns of thinking, decision-making, and behaviour that are natural, energising, and reliable. Trying to flatten these spikes in the name of balance often reduces both performance and resilience.

Recent research on strengths-based leadership shows a clear and relevant mechanism for senior leaders: when leaders actively enable people to identify, develop, and use their strengths, this increases work-related wellbeing, which in turn improves task performance. Crucially, this effect is strongest under high pressure — exactly the conditions most organisations now face.

A strengths-based leadership system therefore shifts the executive question from:
“Where are our capability gaps?”
to:
“Where do we get disproportionate value from our people — and are our structures enabling or suppressing it?”

In practice, organisations that take this seriously tend to:
• design roles and accountabilities around strengths–task fit, not generic competency models
• stop expecting uniform leadership profiles and instead value distinctive contribution
• build executive and senior teams for complementarity, not similarity
• focus performance conversations on deployment and impact, not only deficit correction
• protect autonomy and decision latitude, recognising that strengths require discretion to operate
• recognise that over-reliance on “fixing weaknesses” can quietly erode motivation and increase burnout risk

This is not an argument for lowering standards or ignoring risk. It is an argument for aligning human energy, capability, and organisational demand more intelligently.

Strengths-based leadership is not “soft.”
It is a resource-based, evidence-aligned response to the persistent myth that people should be good at everything.

Great leadership begins when we stop sanding down spikes — and start building systems that allow them to do their work.

Buckingham, M., & Goodall, A. (2019). Nine lies about work: A freethinking leader’s guide to the real world. Harvard Business Press.
Ding, H., Yu, E., & Li, Y. (2020). Strengths-based leadership and its impact on task performance: A preliminary study. South African Journal of Business Management, 51(1), 9.

The team strength gym: a 30-minute ritual that builds trust

Teams tend to hire people who “feel like us.”
But the strongest teams aren’t made of similarity — they’re made of complementarity.

A great team has:
• someone who brings creativity
• someone who brings order
• someone who brings connection
• someone who brings courage
• someone who brings insight
• someone who brings calm

If you want to build psychological safety quickly, try the Strength Gym.

Here’s how it works:

1️⃣ Each team member chooses 5 strengths using Positran Strengths Cards or Digital Strengths Cards Solo.
2️⃣ They share a story of using one or more of their strengths, drawing on concrete examples.
3️⃣ Others “nominate” additional strengths they’ve observed, illustrating with examples.
4️⃣ Capture all strengths on a team strengths map.

The result:
• trust increases
• people see each other’s value
• empathy grows
• collaboration improves
• roles become clearer
• energy rises

Strengths are relational — and when teams recognise them together, identity and belonging shift immediately.

This one of the most fast-acting culture interventions you can run. It is also one intervention that as a teacher, trainer and coach I simply cannot live without!

I am eternally grateful to my friend and colleague Dr Lucy Ryan who originally invented this intervention at around 2008.

Five strengths micro-interventions you can use in 60 seconds

Sometimes small practices change the most.

Here are five 60-second strengths micro-interventions:

1️⃣ Name the strength you just used
2️⃣ Savour a strengths moment from today
3️⃣ Set a strength intention for the next hour
4️⃣ Notice a strength in someone else and share it with them
5️⃣ Use the “micro-pairing” technique → pair one strength with one task

And an extra one:

The strengths reset

Feeling overwhelmed?

Try the strengths reset:

Pause
Look at strength cards (physical or digital) or a strength list
Ask: “Which one strength can I use in the next 5 minutes?”
Act on it immediately

Micro-interventions may be short, but they enable us to integrate the strengths approach into daily life.

The paradoxical strengths of ADHD

When we look at ADHD only through the lens of difficulty, we miss half the story.

A Birkbeck University study found that when adults with ADHD are asked about times they felt successful, they reveal something striking: many of their strengths are both gifts and challenges, depending on context.

Three types of strengths stood out:

“Core strengths” directly linked to ADHD
Fast idea-connecting, spontaneity, deep empathy, justice sensitivity, hyperfocus, energy. These weren’t side notes — they were central to success stories: teaching, crisis work, entrepreneurship, creative fields.
Strengths grown as coping strategies
Resilience, humour, altruism, and creative problem-solving often emerged from years of navigating misunderstanding or underperformance.
Overplayed strengths
Every strength has a tipping point. Hyperfocus becomes burnout; passion becomes overwhelm; spontaneity becomes chaos. The same qualities that fuel excellence can hinder if unsupported.

Why this matters for strengths work

This research offers a vital reminder: strengths are rarely simple. They are contextual, dynamic, and sometimes paradoxical. ADHD strengths in particular shine when the environment fits — and backfire when it doesn’t.

For anyone in a human-facing role the message is clear:
🔹 Don’t flatten strengths into “good” or “bad”.
🔹 Explore the conditions that make a strength helpful or harmful.
🔹 Help people claim strengths they’ve never been allowed to see.

When adults with ADHD recognise, own, and contextualise their strengths, something powerful happens. As one individual put it:
“When I accepted my strengths and found strategies for my weaknesses — that’s when I finally became me.”

Crook, T., & McDowall, A. (2024). Paradoxical career strengths and successes of ADHD adults: An evolving narrative. Journal of Work-Applied Management, 16(1), 112–126.

The family strengths tree: a simple ritual that changes relationships

Imagine a family conversation that focuses on strengths.

The Family Strengths Tree exercise does exactly that:

🌳 Draw a big tree
🌿 Place each family member on a branch
✨ Add 2–3 strengths for each person
💬 Share one appreciation per strength

Using the Fantastic World of Strengths makes the process magical for children — the imagery helps them recognise the hero inside themselves.

Families using this exercise report:
• warmer communication
• reduced conflict
• more empathy
• better boundaries
• shared rituals of positivity

A strengths-based family is a resilient and happy family.

It’s one of the most powerful wellbeing practices you can introduce at home.

Why not enjoy it at Christmas?