As I said, Restorative is something I've learned mostly by listening
and observing and by talking with people who have it.
What I often tell people with Restorative is I think you
have job security because
problems are not going away. And people with Restorative really are comfortable
with problems. That's one part of it. There is more of a comfort.
I don't think problems are ever easy but I think for a Restorative person,
there might be a little more ease with problems. I think another part of this
theme is that they often have insight into problems. Maybe what's causing
problems. Kind of diagnostic kind of expertise. And then the last part of it
is they are driven toward solutions. So I mean, that's why we find this
theme in the Executing Domain. There is a drive to solve problems.
And sometimes things get done better or faster, because a problem gets solved.
And so, I think that's at the core. They're not intimidated by problems.
This is more of a theory and so we'll have to let Angela kind of talk about this.
I sometimes think people with Restorative are more comfortable with problems
because they see problems as kind of a normal part of life. It's not...A problem
is not terminal. It can be solved and so they really don't see problems as
problematic. They see them, to some degree as normal, fixable things.
I just kind of made a discovery and kind of created a new package.
I have these theme pairs and packages that I talk about and a package that I've
really not thought that much about but in talking with Angela about this and
thinking about Restorative...One of the things that I've noticed about...
Some people seem to be calmer than the rest of us, and I think there are some
themes that have a calming influence and for example, Adaptability.
I think people with Adaptability are calm in the face of change.
People with Command might be calm in the face of crisis. And I think
people with Restorative are calmer than I am in a problem.
They don't kind of lose their cool. They seem to just...it's normal.
So they don't kind of get out of sorts or intimidated or troubled.
They just kind of stay more stable emotionally.
Some words that we use to kind of think about...some nouns would be
a fixer, a diagnoser, troubleshooter, investigator, rehabilitator,
resuscitator are all kind of words that I would kind of think about
They kind of bring things back to life sometimes
Adjectives: problem-oriented, driven, responsive--I think responsive is a
people who are problem solvers with Restorative don't necessarily
anticipate problems, they deal with real problems.
They jump into problematic situations and they often kind of get called in.
There's this call. "Can you come and help?" and that's really a key thing -
They're responsive. So once again, insightful. I think that's an adjective
that we could use for Restorative, calm, And so those are some kind of words
that I would use.
In terms of the Balcony and Basement. Obviously, as I said, problems are
everywhere. There's big problems, there's little problems, there's
personal problems, there's professional problems, there's health problems.
There's financial problems. I mean, every area of life
is frought with problems. So there is a tremendous opportunity with this theme.
A way to really be helpful to people. There are some Basements to this as well
& I'll be interested to hear Angela's spin on this as well. How this theme can
sometimes be perceived in a negative way. Or maybe actually can come off in a
negative way and I think maybe the biggest thing I think is sometimes if you are so
focused on the point of pain, or the potential...the problem, you might become
kind of a negative person. It could happen. That might be a possibility.
Or maybe you're around problems so much that they kind of start to rub off
on you emotionally. That might be another kind of Basement.
I there are some themes that kind of naturallly go with...one of the themes
that is most often paired with Restorative is Responsibility. And I think it has to
do with this responsiveness. You know, the ability to respond to people and
the re-ability to respond to their problems.
Those are the two themes we see paired most frequently with...that's the theme
we see paired most frequently.
The theme that is least often paired with Restorative is Maximizer.
And in fact, this is the least likely pair of all of the potential pairs in the
StrengthsFinder is Restorative and Maximizer.
So if you are out there in the listening world there, if you have
Restorative and Maximizer, please mention it to Jim. We want to get your
picture, and I want to talk to you because that doesn't happen
very often. Let's see...I think also we can think about themes that might
enhance and intensify Restorative. It might be a theme like Deliberative.
People who have Deliberative anticipate problems and try to
kind of imagine problems before they happen, and so if you would
have Restorative and Deliberative, that would kind of give you a
not just a problem solving but almost a problem prevention orientation.
I can kind of nip things in the bud, before they happen.
Also, some people might have Ideation. So they're creative
problem solvers. Some people might have Focus. They solve problems
because of their perseverance. Some people might have Includer or
Arranger. They're really good at what I would call collaborative problem
solving. So the kind of problem solver you are, is really going to depend a lot
upon the themes that you have around it. But in my mind, and this is again where I
want to kind of get someone who has this theme to kind of expand my view of
Restorative. It needs to be expanded beyond that problem solver.
But it's a solution orientation as well.