People who are dominant in responsibility adopt a psychological commitment to the promises they make. They will do what they say they’re going to do. They are known to be dependable, loyal, honest individuals with integrity.
Sounds great, right? What’s not to love about this amazing talent? Those who have it in their top 10 are known to be serious, conscientious, committed to others, and to do things right.
Playing around with the word itself, we can think of people who have Responsibility as those who have the “ability to respond.” If you have responsibility high in your CliftonStrengths lineup, then you may find that you frequently get the opportunity to respond! That’s because you are known to say ‘yes’, and your ‘yes’ carries a lot of weight because you do what you say you’re going to do.
This leads us to some of the common blind spots that can occur with high responsibility.
- It can be hard to say ‘no’ and easy to take on too much. If this is you, be selective with your ‘yes’. Use one or more of your other top strengths to regulate your sense of responsibility. The Discipline or Focus strengths can help you sort priorities, looking at what you’ve already committed to and making sure new obligations don’t take away from promises you’ve already made. The Relator strength can help ensure that you aren’t neglecting the people close to you as you make new commitments. Pairing Responsibility with Maximizer will help you sort out what commitments are good, better, and best.
- Those with high responsibility may prefer to do the job themselves. In fact, the reason you’ve been asked, in the first place, is probably because you’ve proven you can do the job well in the past. It can be challenging, but we know that there comes a time when we need to teach others to do the job. Moving from “I will do it” to “we will do it” is a sign that you’re growing as a leader. Raise the competence of the people around you by practicing shared responsibility.
As one client recently said: “I’m learning to use my Discipline strength to turn down my Responsibility strength. I’m better able to balance my daily activities now and maintain a healthier lifestyle.”
If you would like to learn more about the Responsibility strength, watch this short video.
