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 Shadow is in the Relational Pattern. It will be a challenge for you to highly prize harmony and see the team as crucial. You might see the team as important or strategic. Team building will require effort and time for you to plan and accomplish. While Relationals highly value grace and mercy, being loving and warm, you may find it challenging to display your warmth and love to others. For you, decisions are infrequently guided by deep-seated values and personal connections to others.

You can develop your Relational skills through education, on the job training, or life experience. Using your Relational skills can bring satisfaction if you have developed this weaker area into a “Middle Ground.” However, you will tire faster when using your Relational 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 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!