The thing most people get wrong
Your top 5 aren't your five best skills. They're the five patterns that come most naturally to you: what you find yourself doing without deciding to, what gives you energy rather than draining it. Skill is what you've built; themes are the raw material you built it with.
That matters because the useful question isn't "which of these am I good at?" but "where does my energy go, and what does that cost me?"
How to read yours
- 1Count the domainsThree or more in one domain: your energy is concentrated there.
- 2Find the pairsThemes amplify each other. The pairs say more than any single theme.
- 3Notice what isn’t thereNo Influencing theme? The work still needs selling.
1. Count the domains. Each of the 34 themes belongs to one of four: Executing (getting things done), Influencing (taking charge, being heard), Relationship Building (holding people together), Strategic Thinking (making sense of things). Three or more in one domain means your energy is concentrated there.
2. Find the pairs. Themes amplify each other. Achiever plus Focus is a finisher who can't stop. Empathy plus Harmony is someone who feels every tension in the room and wants it gone. Learner plus Input is a collector of knowledge who may struggle to decide when they know enough. The pairs say more than any single theme.
3. Notice what isn't there. If no Influencing theme is in your top 5, you probably don't enjoy selling your own work. That's fine, as long as you know it, because the work still needs selling.
What the themes look like on a Tuesday
A few examples of themes in ordinary work, to help you spot yours:
- Achiever: you make a list before you've had coffee, and the day isn't good unless it's shorter by five.
- Deliberative: you're the one who says "what if this goes wrong?" and you're usually right, and you've noticed people sigh.
- Woo: you've chatted to the new person before anyone else has, and you enjoyed it.
- Analytical: you want the numbers before you'll have an opinion.
- Adaptability: plans changing doesn't bother you; it's almost a relief.
- Responsibility: if you said you'd do it, it's done, even when it shouldn't be your job.
- Strategic: you can see three ways through a problem while others are still describing it.
- Relator: you'd rather have one real conversation than ten introductions.
Turn this into advice for one person on your team.
Your shadow side
Every theme overused becomes a problem. The faster you know yours, the fewer bad weeks you'll have:
- Achiever overused: busy instead of productive; can't rest.
- Responsibility overused: can't say no; resentful.
- Command overused: people stop telling you things.
- Maximizer overused: can't ship; nothing is ever finished.
- Harmony overused: avoids the conversation the team needs.
- Ideation overused: starts ten things, finishes two.
- Deliberative overused: everything slows; caution mistaken for wisdom.
Pick the one that made you wince. That's the one to watch.
What to tell your manager
Your top 5 give you a vocabulary for something most people never say out loud: how you want to be managed. A few sentences, in your own words, is enough:
- "I'm an Achiever and Focus person: give me the goal and the deadline, and I'll come back with it done. Checking in every day slows me down."
- "I've got Empathy and Harmony high. I'll see tension before you do, but I won't raise it unless you ask. Ask."
- "Learner and Input: I need to understand the why before I'll commit. Give me a day with a decision before you need my answer."
- "Deliberative: I'll raise the risks. It's not negativity; it's what I'm for. Tell me when you've heard them and we're going anyway."
Managers can only adjust to what they know. Most will be grateful you told them.
Using the top 5 without overdoing it
The results are a starting point, not an identity. People with the same top 5 are different people, and your themes don't excuse behaviour ("I'm just high Command") or set a ceiling ("I don't have Communication, so I can't present"). They tell you where your energy is, and that lets you spend it on purpose.
If you've been given a full 34, the bottom five are worth a glance too: not as weaknesses, but as the work you'll quietly avoid. Knowing that lets you ask for help before it becomes a problem.
Questions managers ask
My top 5 are all in one domain. Is that bad?
No. It means your energy is concentrated: a strongly Executing person, say, or strongly Relationship Building. It's worth knowing which domains you'll need to borrow from colleagues or build structure for.
I don't recognise myself in my top 5.
Read each theme's description again, slowly, and think about the last month rather than your job title. If one still doesn't fit, say so; you know yourself better than any assessment, and a retake sometimes reorders the top themes.
Should I share my top 5 with my team?
Usually yes. Colleagues who know your themes stop misreading you. Share the top 5 and keep the full report to yourself.