Many people feel like they are mismatched in their jobs and with their coworkers—finding themselves in a “crisis of disengagement.”
We certainly can’t expect our organizations to run well if we don’t achieve a good fit between the employees and their work roles. The question becomes, how do leaders ensure a good fit for their employees, and how do employees assess how they best fit in their team and in their organization? The key is to bring ourselves into focus — find our “strengths fingerprint” — and then figure out how to put our “fingerprint” on our work.
When we learn how to put our fingerprint on our work, our work then becomes a “calling” in that it calls forth what is best in us: our character strengths. We not only want to do things we can do well, we want to do things we care about doing well. Finding personal expression in our work increases engagement and fulfillment—bringing our whole selves to the work. We work to feel competent (using our talents), and we also work to feel satisfied and complete (using our character strengths).
Since all strengths are positive, we don’t have to be embarrassed about any of our strengths. But we do have to learn to appreciate one another’s strengths. The more that individuals on a team recognize one another’s strengths, the more likely those particular strengths will positively influence the culture of the team.
“With a moment’s reflection it becomes clear: positive emotions foster the very kinds of skills corporations want in their leadership teams and that our coaching clients would like to build in themselves.” — Dr. Carol Kauffman