Your Shadow is in the Mentor Pattern. This means it can be harder and take more time to come alongside and develop others. The ability to hone others, fan the flame of their ability, and build into others will be more challenging for you. Coaching, guiding, and being a trusted ally will take effort and work for you.

You can develop your Mentor skills through education, on the job training, or life experience. Using your Mentor skills can bring satisfaction if you have developed this weaker area into a ‘Middle Ground.’ However, you will tire faster when using your Mentor skills, and these skills will be the first to under-perform when you are tired or in a crisis.

The Shadow is like using your non-dominant hand to sign a check. While a few people out of ten thousand are ambidextrous, most people are not innately able to do the same functions with both hands. Through education, on-the-job-training, or the school of hard knocks, you may get fairly good at your Shadow function. Yet, this is like comparing a gifted athlete to a highly trained one. The gifted athlete who hones his or her ability, will always be a better athlete—throwing farther, running faster, having more endurance, etc. In this way, you may be trained in your shadow, but it is not your area of giftedness.

One way to confirm your Shadow is to have another person take the People Patterns Indicator on you. A spouse, co-worker, or subordinate will have insights about your habits and gifts that you need to see!

Your Shadow is in the Administrator Pattern. It will be harder, and take more time, to establish a plan and then follow it as it is laid out. You may dislike or chafe at following all the policies in an organization. Details, budgets, and management tasks may be a challenge for you. Whereas Administrators are averse to taking risks, you might not see the risks in a situation until it is too late.

You can develop your Administrator skills through education, on the job training, or life experience. Using your Administrator skills can bring satisfaction if you have developed this weaker area into a “Middle Ground.” However, you will tire faster when using your Administrator skills, and these skills will be the first to under-perform when you are tired or in a crisis.

The Shadow is like using your non-dominant hand to sign a check. While a few people out of ten thousand are ambidextrous, most people are not innately able to do the same functions with both hands. Through education, on-the-job-training, or the school of hard knocks, you may get fairly good at your Shadow function. Yet, this is like comparing a gifted athlete to a highly trained one. The gifted athlete who hones his or her ability will always be a better athlete—throwing farther, running faster, having more endurance, etc. In this way, you may be trained in your Shadow, but it is not your area of giftedness.

One of the hardest Shadows to understand is the Administrator. This is because so many men and women are educated in business with Administrator skills. One leader of a company said, “I manage a $10 million dollar budget, so what do you mean that my Administrator is a Shadow?” The manager was asked, “after managing the details of that budget for 40 hours a week, are you energized or tired?” The answer was, I’m so ready to do something else. This is a strong sign that the person has been well educated in Administrator skills, but they are not a part of the person’s innate gifts.

One way to confirm your Shadow is to have another person take the People Patterns Indicator on you. A spouse, co-worker, or subordinate will have insights about your habits and gifts that you need to see!

Your Shadow is in the Catalyst Pattern. It may be hard or unnatural for you to challenge others and take them to new ground. Whereas Catalysts like to innovate and experiment in life, motivating others to change, you will find these things take a great amount of time and effort. You probably won't enjoy lighting fires under people or spurring them on to unconventional or entirely new methods. While Catalysts are trusted critics, love to be revolutionary, and stir up people, you will find these things hard or distasteful.

You can develop your Catalyst skills through education, on the job training, or life experience. Using your Catalyst skills can bring satisfaction if you have developed this weaker area into a “Middle Ground.” However, you will tire faster when using your Catalyst skills, and these skills will be the first to under-perform when you are tired or in a crisis.

The Shadow is like using your non-dominant hand to sign a check. While a few people out of ten thousand are ambidextrous, most people are not innately able to do the same functions with both hands. Through education, on-the-job-training, or the school of hard knocks, you may get fairly good at your Shadow function. Yet, this is like comparing a gifted athlete to a highly trained one. The gifted athlete who hones his or her ability, will always be a better athlete—throwing farther, running faster, having more endurance, etc. In this way, you may be trained in your Shadow, but it is not your area of giftedness.

One way to confirm your Shadow is to have another person take the People Patterns Indicator on you. A spouse, co-worker, or subordinate will have insights about your habits and gifts that you need to see!

Your Sunlight is in the Relational Pattern. Relationals are people who are motivated by harmony and see the team as crucial. They want people to be whole and healthy, and so are good team builders. Relationals highly value grace and mercy, and can be quite loving and warm. People deeply matter to them. Decisions are guided by deep-seated values and personal connections to others.

As a Relational, you do these things with relative ease, like using your dominant hand to sign a check. You won't have to give these things much thought as they flow naturally from your giftedness.

President Jimmy Carter, Princess Diana, and Gandhi were Relational leaders. President Carter called for “a government that is as honest and decent and fair and competent and truthful and idealistic as are the American people.” In helping the nation be whole and healthy, Carter modeled emotional and spiritual health. He portrayed himself as an openly religious man, even calling himself “born again,” a new term for an American President. Relationals are motivated by harmony and see the team as crucial, and so it is fitting that in his inaugural parade, Carter walked down Pennsylvania Avenue. His fireside chats were an authentic part of his persona, as were the radio call-in shows. As one person said, “Carter tried to set a high moral tone. He stressed human rights in international affairs and opposed ‘pork barrel’ legislation at home.” Relationals know the rightness of their crusade and the moral imperative in their agenda.

Princess Di said, “I wear my heart on my sleeve. I don't go by the rule book … I lead from the heart, not the head. I am not a political figure, nor do I want to be one; but I come with my heart.” The decisions of the Relational Pattern are guided by deep-seated values and personal connections to others. This is often called “heart.” Relationals want to help others be whole and healthy. Diana said, “Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back … I’d like people to think of me as someone who cares about them.” Decisions for Relational people are guided by deep-seated values and personal connections to others. Diana put her care into action. She was not content to merely speak about love, care and concern. She was impelled by an inner force to put her words into actions.

Jesus said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

The Relational Pattern has a component of teambuilding and harmony among people. You will want to read that section about Carter, Diana and Jesus, as many people can miss the unique leadership style of the Relational. And, consider how to use your middle areas and Shadows! As the German philosopher Goethe said, “Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.”

Your Shadow is in the Overseer Pattern. It will be a challenge for you to see the big picture or work concepts as a guiding force. While Overseers like to work on strategy, aligning people with their right places to work, your work and interaction with others will have a different emphasis (depending on your Sunlight Pattern). Thinking in terms of vision and the horizon will be hard work for you, but can be done.

You can develop your Overseer skills through education, on the job training or life experience. Using your Overseer skills can bring satisfaction if you have developed this weaker area into a “Middle Ground.” However, you will tire faster when using your Overseer skills, and these skills will be the first to under-perform when you are tired or in a crisis.

The Shadow is like using your non-dominant hand to sign a check. While a few people out of ten thousand are ambidextrous, most people are not innately able to do the same functions with both hands. Through education, on-the-job-training, or the school of hard knocks, you may get fairly good at your Shadow function. Yet, this is like comparing a gifted athlete to a highly trained one. The gifted athlete who hones his or her ability will always be a better athlete—throwing farther, running faster, having more endurance, etc. In this way, you may be trained in your Shadow, but it is not your area of giftedness.

One way to confirm your Shadow is to have another person take the People Patterns Indicator on you. A spouse, co-worker or subordinate will have insights about your habits and gifts that you need to see!