Training for teams and leaders
Strengths at work
How to harness people's character strengths to support energy, engagement, job satisfaction and collaboration?
This practical workshop helps participants notice their main character strengths, understand their underuse and overuse, and choose one concrete way to apply a strength more consciously in their work. The team can make visible which strengths complement one another and who to turn to in different situations.
Practical information
Strengths are more than what a person is good at
At work we often talk about skills, results, and areas for development. Less attention goes to which natural strengths help a person act well, keep up their energy, and contribute to the team.
A character strength is not the same as a skill, a talent, or a professional competence. It describes the way a person naturally thinks, feels, and acts - for example curiosity, perseverance, a sense of fairness, kindness, or critical thinking.
When a team can notice these differences, it becomes easier to share roles, ask for help, and value one another's contribution.
A strength can be both a resource and an obstacle
A strength is not automatically useful in every situation. The same quality can stay underused, be applied just right, or slip into overuse.
For example, perseverance can help carry an important task to completion, but overused it can keep a person tied for too long to something it would be wiser to let go of. Critical thinking helps you see risks, but applied too strongly it can turn into over-analysis that stalls decisions. Kindness supports colleagues, but overused it can lead to taking on responsibility that belongs to others.
In the workshop we don't stop at naming strengths - we look at how to use them more consciously and in a way that fits the situation.
What do we do in the workshop?
Profile of my strengths
Participants look at the results of the completed VIA questionnaire before the training and learn about their main or signature strengths. We also explain how character strengths differ from skills, talents and competencies.
Under-, optimal, and overuse of strengths
Each participant chooses one strength and examines how it manifests itself in his work in different situations. When is this a useful resource? When will it be overshadowed? When might overusing it start to limit performance, collaboration, or your own energy?
Strengths in cooperation
The team makes its strengths visible and sees which strengths are repeated and which are less visible. Through a practical "offer and ask" exercise, everyone articulates with what strength they can support others and when they need someone else's input.
One strength to consciously work
Each participant chooses one small and specific experiment for the next week: in which situation and how he uses one of his strengths more consciously. If possible, the team also agrees on a common next step.
What does a participant take away?
The purpose of the workshop is not to change how the entire team works together. The workshop provides recognition, a practical framework and a first agreement that can be relied upon in further work.
Who is the training for?
The training suits a team that wants to:
The training is not an assessment of skills or competences and does not use the Gallup CliftonStrengths methodology. The workshop is based on the VIA Character Strengths framework.
Format and customization
The workshop takes place in person or online. Before the training, participants complete the free VIA survey and bring along their five main strengths. In the online training we use a shared virtual whiteboard.
Examples and emphasis can be adapted to the team's roles, the nature of the work, and collaboration needs. With a larger group, we run the team exercises in smaller groups.
How does booking a training work?
Step 1
You send an inquiry and briefly describe your need.
Step 2
If needed, we arrange a short call to clarify the goal, participants, and format.
Step 3
I propose a suitable solution and send you an offer.
Let's bring your team's strengths more consciously to work
Briefly describe your team, the number of participants, and the focus you'd like. We'll clarify the need, and I'll make a suitable proposal based on it.