Connectedness is about seeing, thinking, feeling, and believing in the connections between people, ideas and happenings. It isn’t just about connecting the dots, but finding the synergy between those dots. How do the dots work for you? How does one event in the world affect you, the bigger picture, and me? Connectedness is engaged in and fascinated by the links.
Which talents pair well with Connectedness?
In a random sample of 250,000 people, Gallup found that the Empathy is the most common talent to appear with Connectedness in the top 5. People with both might say, “I know we’re here for a reason, and I feel what your part is in that reason.” Empathy can feel what others are feeling, and Connectedness can see why we’re feeling that way.
Other talents that commonly appear are:
- Futuristic – Your visions are seldom small and selfish. You envision the unity and integration of all humanity. You’re a philosophic forecaster who helps you explore the spiritual reasons for something.
- Consistency – You belong to the human family, and that family needs certain rules and systems to maintain efficiency and justice.
- Individualization – You can see the whole forest of global humanity, but you can also identify the unique tree that is an individual person. Never standardizing your approach, every individual as part of a whole for a purpose or reason. You think of the whole globe and a single person at a time! You can look at a data point and understand how that point fits in with the big picture, and how it affects their community & their nation. When someone with Connectedness and Individualization was asked, “Why does building engagement matter to you?”, he answered:
“I’m in my early 20s in charge of a whole bunch of customer service reps in the organization. I know that If I can help my employees love what they do everyday, and love how they do it, then they can make a difference to and help our customers, and when they do that I’m going to rebuild my community, and that’s how my country is going to make a difference in the world.”
Complementary Talent Themes with Connectedness
Aside from common pairs, there are other talents that complement Connectedness. When explaining complementary talent themes, I often use the example of X Men. Just like how each mutant in X men needs the unique ability of another mutant when working to fight the villain (with the possible exception of Wolverine who seems to do well on his own), each talent theme in StrengthsFinder will do so much better in the context of striving for a common objective when used with other talent themes. This is what we call a complementary partnership.
- Communication can give voice to the intuition Connectedness provides. Connectedness doesn’t always have to share its intuitions, but Communication can pick out what’s relevant to achieve an objective.
- Ideation can create and provide raw material for Connectedness to work with. It’s more cerebral, asking, “How we can be creative in doing something?” Connectedness will say, “There’s a reason you need to be creative, there’s a purpose to it. This is going to affect somebody someday.” It anchors on what is real and out there, less about creation, but will help Ideation to understand relationships.
- Strategic provides selective comprehension. In Connectedness’ quest to promote community, Strategic will consider all options, always looking for the best path leading to oneness. Connectedness brings a global awareness and perspective of how things are going to play out.
- Deliberative checks for pitfalls of specific actions while Connectedness checks for the global purpose of specific actions. Deliberative asks, “What might stop us from dropping the pebble in the pond?” Connectedness broadens that to ask, “What ripples are we going to create if we drop the pebble in this pond?”
- Discipline standardizes the approach of the intuition that Connectedness provides. By nature, Connectedness has no necessary rules. It’s curious and welcomes open-ended answers. Discipline creates the structure and avenue for Connectedness to get out of their heads, and communicate what they see in a way that’s predictive and stable.
What about talents that contrast with Connectedness?
On the flip side, Connectedness is least commonly found with Competition, Command, Focus, Significance, Self-Assurance. These talents tend to be self-determinants; focused on what the self puts out there, ‘me’ being part of the cause and effect. Connectedness is not so much about ‘me’, but about what’s out there and the community.
Although uncommon, these pairings can exist. What do they look like?
- Competition & Connectedness – We are meant to win this.
- Command & Connectedness – I know where these links are, and you should listen to me.
- Focus & Connectedness – I’m going to do one thing at a time, and the best way for me to bring energy and passion to a task is for that task to affect more than just myself.
- Significance & Connectedness – I’m looking for a grander purpose in what we choose to create and where we come from, and I understand the depth of my mission.
- Self-Assurance & Connectedness – From within me, I’m confident of my ability to make connections for others.
Article informed by Gallup Theme Thursday.
