When you understand your strengths, you can see how they work both for and against you. In this case study, Nils will share how a focus on strengths helped John get his performance back on track and avoid conflict with his manager.

John had received negative feedback from his manager about not replying to several requests for information promptly. He needed certain information by a particular time, and John didn't deliver. It wasn't because he didn't have the information or didn't want to provide it, he just wasn't able to provide it.

John's work day was crazy. His time was consumed with prospecting, cold-calling and presenting demos. After a wild day, he would get on the bus and be thinking about all of the unfinished business he'd left at the office, including the urgent emails from his boss. He kept putting this work off and eventually, the to-do list became too big to handle.

John's second most dominant strength was 'Discipline.' People who have Discipline as a dominant Strength crave routine and structure. Order best describes their world and they thrive in an organized and orderly environment.

They like predictability and planning, so they instinctively find ways to organize their lives. They set up routines. They focus on timelines and deadlines. They break long-term projects into specific short-term steps and diligently follow their plan. John's world of last-minute demos and volume-focused, rather than time-oriented tasks, ran counter to his Discipline Strength.

I shared this with John, and after he had digested the description of his Strength and his world, a lightbulb went off! He said "Wait a second. I know how to use Discipline to execute… and it will get me the results I need." John realized that he was only tapping into his Discipline Strength for a few of his responsibilities, so he scheduled 30 minutes after lunch each day to action the unanswered emails.

This tiny change was a huge win for John. After a week of diligently following his schedule, his boss congratulated him on his rapid response time. When I asked him to explain what changed and what happened, he said, "You know, after I did this, I realized all I needed was ten minutes. Thirty minutes was way too much."

John flexed his strength. He overcame the anxiety of not responding promptly to his boss. John could continue with his work in his organized world, without getting sucked into the vortex his job was creating for him. Later, he told me that he was able to be more present with his wife and young son, thanks to this newfound structure.