What Shuts Down Your Superpowers?
What is YOUR KRYPTONITE?
Have you ever thought about how your talents and strengths need protection from your "kryptonite sources"?
Our strengths can become our weaknesses. Everyone nods when I remind them of this. But do you really know HOW your strengths disempower you?
It starts with kryptonite. The “thing” that triggers your frustration. You feel it immediately, melting your energy away. You walk differently. You speak with less zest. It makes you feel drained.
It’s the “thing” that triggers you to spiral into behaviors that make you unconsciously say to yourself, “it’s what I must do” (perhaps to succeed).
After reflection, you think: “I had no choice,” or “I should (or should not) have,” or, “If only THEY had (or had not).”
Your strengths are your superpowers, and this kryptonite weakens them by changing your thoughts, feelings, and consequently, behavior, rendering your strengths ineffective. Yep! It happens to all of us!
If like most people, you are unaware of your personal triggers - your specific Kryptonite, then you’re most likely already unconsciously under “your” Kryptonite’s full effects: a powerful energy drain.
Adding to the confusion, we’re all such individuals that what is kryptonite to one person may help another person perform better.
Now, wouldn’t it empower you to know exactly what those triggers are, and how to shield yourself from their kryptonite-like effects?
It's a journey - a practice, and it starts with fully understanding your strengths.
So, just how do we gain a full understanding of our strengths?
Hello, CliftonStrengths®
When Psychologist Donald O. Clifton first designed the interviews that subsequently became the basis for CliftonStrengths® (formerly StrengthsFinder) he began by asking, “What would happen if we studied what is right with people?”
Based on over 40 years of research and over two million interviews, he concluded that talents were “naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied” (Hodges & Clifton, 2004, p. 257).
Gallup’s CliftonStrengths® is one of the most effective and accurate assessments to identify talents, and accompanying strengths-based coaching helps develop those talents into “strengths,” which research shows can result in “near perfect performance.”
“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.”
- Marilyn Vos Savant
Holistic Approach Based on Science-backed Research
Capo Integrated Strengths integration of science-backed research and holistic approach takes strengths-based coaching and training one step further. Learning and practicing defusing our strengths' triggers will transform your leadership, and relationship with yourself and others.
By identifying the contributions of strengths, we can also identify the predictable patterns of behaviors that are associated with various theme talents (or strengths) that sabotage our outcomes. Let's call these the weaknesses associated with those strengths.
Knowledge of these natural talents and associated behavior patterns serve to facilitate positive personal growth, resulting in improved engagement, performance, relationships.
Here’s what I mean…
Strength: Achiever
As an example, I’ll use the strength, Achiever.
This is one of the highest occurring strengths revealed within the 12 million individuals that have taken the CliftonStrengths® assessment.
An Achiever’s superpowers are -
- Goal-driven
- Persistent
- Willing to go the extra mile
- Hard-working
And an Achiever’s Kryptonite...
- Unclear goals, directions, or priorities
- Undefined success measures
- Failure to achieve completion
- Persistent interruptions
- Others working at a slow pace
- Others stopping short of completion
See the correlation?
This “Kryptonite” can result in extreme frustration, triggering the strength into behavior that then becomes a weakness. The person with Achiever talent can become so focused on task completion, especially in the presence of kryptonite, that relationships take a back seat.
Their work-life balance, self-care, and well-being deteriorate.
They become dissatisfied with the workplace environment and teammates.
They easily become part of the 51% disengaged workforce. "Why should I work this hard? others around me aren't..."
Let’s look at another common strength...
Strength: Empathy
Superpowers include -
- Senses the emotions of others
- Good listener
- Caring/Anticipates needs
And Their Kryptonite -
- Holding back emotion
- Insensitivity of others
- Not being heard
- Being overwhelmed by the emotions of others
Triggered into its weakness form, Empathy may perceive the needs of others as their own or may operate without clear boundaries, not knowing where someone else’s needs start or stop. This cause relationship issues as the discomfort over-takes the behavior pattern.
Consequently, a person with Empathy may internalize feelings of resentment, distrust, and disconnection with others. In a workplace environment, this becomes a disconnect from the team and/or management.
Ok, let's look at one more...
Strength: Responsibility
A final example is the CliftonStrength® of Responsibility.
Superpowers are as follows --
- Dependable
- Committed to doing things right
- Committed to integrity
But around Kryptonite, they may become fearful of letting someone down or being judged harshly; those strengths become --
Their Kryptonite -
- Over-committed
- Obsessive
- Judgmental of others
By now you probably see the irony.
Our innate talents can easily become our weaknesses if we let the “learned behavior” patterns that they use as crutches to overcompensate when stressed or led by conscious or unconscious fears.
But what if triggers could be eliminated, or managed so that the full contribution of our strengths were possible?
Imagine what could happen if a person with the talents of Achiever + Empathy + Responsibility knew how to harness their potential and navigate away from their sources of Kryptonite?
I have seen where strengths-based training and awareness has led to encourage exponential gains in performance and self-leadership and result in greater personal happiness, and wellbeing. Ah, there it is. (smiling..)
What are your strengths? Where does your Kryptonite lurk? Would you like to create a custom shield for your specific talents to allow your strengths’ combination to perform even better?
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The Wellsiliency™ Institute has developed a series of interdependent courses to comprehensively address the knowledge and skills leaders and teams need to build strengths-based values-driven performance cultures where all experience belonging.
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Our institute has designed five program pillars to help leaders be well and lead well through a skill progression from Whole-self Intelligence™ integration to boost resilience and confidence, strengths-based wellbeing, strengths-based team building, strengths-based leadership, and psychological safety to unleash collaboration.
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