How It Works and What It Shows
Your Leading From Your Strengths profile report (or your Marriage Insights profile report) includes two personalized charts: your Natural Strengths Chart and your Strengths Movement Chart. These charts are a visual representation of the data compiled from your questionnaire, arranged horizontally.
They reveal your strengths in four areas: problem solving, processing information, managing change, facing risk. The charts read like a continuum, with a line down the middle dividing the four areas. That line is called the Energy Line.
These are questions users ask most often about the Energy Line on your Natural Strengths Chart and your Strengths Movement Chart.
FAQ #1: Why Are Four Areas Measured on the Charts?
The four areas represent four processes that comprise your daily life. Think about it: every action you take falls into one or more four categories: you solve problems, process information, manage change, and face risk.
Why measure these processes? Each of us is uniquely wired by God to handle these actions differently. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them” (1 Corinthians 12:4, NIV).
Those contrasts can be quite intense. For instance, when it comes to solving problems, you may be bold and decisive. Your work colleague, on the other hand, might be more cautious.
Neither is a “right” approach nor “wrong” approach. They are simply different – and both are useful. Our differences are not based on a sliding scale of value. In fact, the different ways we handle our actions in the four areas are actually strengths. Paul says, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7, NIV).
The visual representation, on a chart, measures these four areas and allows you to understand those differences better.
FAQ #2: What Does the Energy Line Indicate?
The Energy Line in the center of the chart marks a baseline. You can see how the line passes through each of the four areas. Of the four, each has two dominant strengths, totaling eight potential strengths.
The Energy Line is a point of distinction, at which your behavior trends towards one strength or another in one of those areas. The line is a means of showing contrast. For instance, when you receive new information are you easily persuaded to believe it – or are you naturally skeptical? Your natural bent, plotted on the Processing Information continuum, shows which inclination is most natural to you. Scores on either side of the Energy Line reveals a strength, but those two strengths very different from each other.
FAQ #3: Why is Each Area Measured with a Number?
The Energy Line is the center of a continuum and marks intensity. It marks the scale on which how different people handle the four areas differently
Intensity levels are measured in the four areas on a scale of one to ten. Higher scores (those furthest from the Energy Line) indicate a more intense strength in that area. . On the continuum, adjacent scores may not appear to be perceptibly different form each other. However, the extremes on either end are quite distinct.
FAQ #4: What do scores at or near the Energy Line indicate?
Scores near the line reveal the individual’s ability to trend either way in that area, depending on circumstances. For instance, a score at or near 0 in facing risk indicates you can be precise and orderly when the situation warrants that behavior, but also fearless and unconventional when needed. Your strength can be termed as situational.
FAQ #5: How can I use this information?
As you study your scores in relation to the Energy Line, ask yourself these three questions:
- Where are my scores in the four predictable areas?
Note where your scores plot in the four areas. Then study their intensity, specifically looking at your highest two or three scores, no matter which direction they are placed related to the Energy Line (as in the Structured Predictable Realistic in the chart above.) These indicate your overall behavioral bent. - On my Strengths Movement Chart, do any of my scores cross the line?
Note any areas in which your adapted strengths scores cross the energy line into the opposite strength. This shows areas in which you may expend considerable energy to adapt, which may be reasons for feelings of frustration and stress. - Should I take any action based on what I learned?
How can you maximize your natural strengths in your work, marriage, family, and ministry? Take note of how your strengths complement those in your family and on your team. Share your conclusions with your spouse, a trusted friend, or a certified practitioner to make an action plan.
More FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
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