The Power of Strategic / Complementary Partnerships
No man is an island
– John Donne
Many of us try to be a swiss army knife, capable of doing it all. But even the most advanced swiss army knife can’t have all the tools squeezed into one single package. If we want to be able to maximize our performance, and mitigate our weaknesses, we need to tap on the power of Strategic and Complementary Partnerships.
Partnerships begin with knowing thyself
Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong… And yet, a person can perform only from strength.
– Peter Drucker
The first step to creating powerful partnerships is understanding yourself – your strengths, weaknesses and needs. Some people through introspection and reflection have better self-awareness, most people however could benefit from some form of help via a profiling tool or coaching.
To this end, StrengthsFinder helps you to identify what your talents are, your naturally recurring patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that can be productively applied. Identifying your talents helps you to understand:
- What your areas of strengths are contributions are so you can build on them
- What your areas of weaknesses are so you can mitigate them effectively
- What you need, and how to meet those needs so that you can perform from a place of strength more frequently
To obtain your personalised StrengthFinder profile, you can get it directly from www.gallupstrengthscenter.com. If you would like to take things much further, you will want to engage a certified coach to help you accelerate your growth. Read about the benefits of coaching here, and take advantage of the special limited time coaching package (once its gone, it’s gone).
Once you understand what you are good at and what you are not (yes, we can’t all be good at everything!), we can look at designing strategic partnerships with others.
Challenge of building strategic partnerships
The idea of strategic partnerships sounds enticing, but many people may find it challenging to put it into practice. Here are some possible challenges that you may face when looking making an attempt at designing partnerhips:
- Asking for partnerships but not getting it
- Current culture promotes individual contribution but not effective partnerships.
- Organisational structure doesn’t support it
What are some challenges you face? Whatever challenge you face, there’s one simple principle that you can evoke that will help you build powerful partnerships.
Evoke the principle of reciprocity
When you know what you are good at, and what your contributions are to others, here’s one very simple step to take – Offer Help in your areas of strength.
Offer your contributions gently and politely, or others may see you as being arrogant. Done correctly, such help will be a great welcome by others, especially if what you are providing is an area that they are struggling in. The law of reciprocity states that people will feel like doing something in return for your contributions.
The second step is to be vulnerable and request for help in areas of weakness. No one likes a know-it all, and it is challenging trying to be one. Asking for help in your areas of weakness makes you more authentic, and more approachable. Having taken the first step of helping others in your areas of strength will increase chances that they will support you in your areas of weakness because of the law of reciprocity.
Strengths exists so we can make a difference in others’ lives. Weaknesses exists so others can make a difference in our lives. Both are gifts.
– DeAnna Murphy
Strengths Application
The first step is to increase your self-awareness, you can’t contribute effectively when don’t know how to plug into your strengths. Take your StrengthsFinder assessment if you haven’t already, and if you are really serious about accelerating your growth, take advantage of the special coaching package now.
Next, consider whom you could create strategic partnerships with, and start offering to help in your areas of strength. Take the first step and see the law of reciprocity work wonders in building your powerful partnerships.
Get more information about StrengthsFinder by visiting http://gallupstrengthscenter.com
