“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” (African proverb)
One of the (many) things that I love about my work is that I get to connect with good people who do interesting things. And one of those good people doing interesting things is Sean Bailey, a leadership and executive coach, based in beautiful Ōtautahi Christchurch. Check out his website: EmpowerYou
We’d gotten to know each others through an online book club. And we’d had a few chats in the comment section on LinkedIn, but never met face-to-face. So it was delightful to sit down and enjoy a lunch together when I visited Christchurch recently.
He’s been an enthusiastic supporter of The Strengths Deck from the beginning, and I was looking forward to handing him his very own cards. Unfortunately, I hadn’t leaned into my Prepared strength, and had managed to leave the cards at home in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland!
Despite that wee glitch, we had a marvellous time talking about the value of the strengths-based approach, for ourselves personally as well as for our clients. Not only is it more engaging and fulfilling to use the strengths that light us up, doing so also increases our creativity, job satisfaction, productivity, and wellbeing. And these benefits multiply when we link up our strengths with the strengths of those around us.
Playing to our strengths
While we had both enjoyed connecting via LinkedIn, there’s nothing that can beat a face-to-face meeting (especially when I reckon we’ve both got ‘Relationship Developer’ in our Genius strengths).
Have you ever seen two coaches in conversation? The questions go broad and deep! We had a grand time, finding out more about each other’s life and work, accompanied by plenty of laughter and story-telling.
And as we chatted, I dialled up my ‘Connector’ Genius strength, and told Sean about someone else I knew in Christchurch that I thought he’d get along well with. It turns out that they live a mere 5 doors apart on the same street. You really never know what sort of magic will happen when you’re playing to your strengths!
Get your very own set of The Strengths Deck cards by visiting the Shop now!