If you’re about to have a performance review or tackle a challenging project, you might find yourself wondering, “What are my strengths at work?” This question might also come up in your mind while scrolling job listings that all seem to scream the need for a ‘rockstar communicator’ and ‘natural leader.’

At the VIA Institute, we believe your most powerful employee strengths in the workplace aren’t necessarily the ones on your resume or LinkedIn endorsements. They’re linked to your character strengths or the inner qualities that energize and help you work effectively, connect with others, and thrive in your job. Whether you’re leading a team, solving problems, supporting clients, or simply trying to stay sane in a packed schedule, understanding your core strengths is key for you to succeed.

So, let’s explore what these strengths look like in real life, how they show up at work, and why they matter, based on psychological research, yes, but also rooted in the beautiful messiness of being human at work.

Why Character Strengths Matter in the Workplace

Before we jump into specific examples, here’s why all this matters: Research shows that character strengths help fuel prosocial behavior, which is the kind of actions that promote teamwork and collaboration in the workplace (Freidlin & Littman-Ovadia, 2020). They’re not just “nice-to-haves.” They’re essential for successful organizations and engaged employees, and those aiming for constant improvement.

When we know and use our strengths intentionally, we unlock more meaning, resilience, and joy in our workday while improving work performance. And if you’ve ever slogged through a week feeling invisible, overwhelmed, or just plain stuck, you know how priceless that is.

Let’s break down some of the most commonly used character strengths in the workplace and give you examples you can actually relate to.

1. Kindness: The Quiet Force Behind Powerful Teams

If kindness were a corporate value, most companies would slap it on the wall. But living it is another story.

In the workplace, kindness manifests through the coworker who notices when someone’s having a rough day and checks in. If this is your ability, you’re also likely to offer help without being asked. And you’re generous with praise, not to butter people up, but because you genuinely see their effort.

Because of this, kindness builds psychological safety. This development is how teams become more than just people who share a Slack channel.

2. Leadership: Not a Title, But a Trait

Leadership is more than decision-making and delegation. It’s character in action. Whether or not you’re in a formal leadership role, you might lead by how you communicate, advocate, or inspire.

If you’re the person who naturally steps in to clarify a process, mediate conflict, or rally the group around a shared goal, you have a strong leadership trait. As a good leader, you hardly need to control the room; you guide it.

With leadership as your work strength, and the top 3 skills to develop as a leader, you always have ideas about how to improve things and how to help your team reach its goals.

3. Humor: Your Secret Superpower for Connection

Workplace strengths don’t always look serious and stoic. Sometimes, the strongest thing you can do is lighten the mood.

You can use humor to defuse tension, to bring energy into a meeting, or to connect with others more deeply. This doesn’t mean making jokes to laugh at people, but with them. With your good sense of humor, you can make work feel less robotic and more human.

Still, humor doesn’t mean you're not serious about results. It means you're serious about keeping perspective, and that’s a powerful asset.

4. Gratitude: The Unsung Driver of Engagement

Want to transform your work environment without a massive budget or a 3-day offsite? Practice gratitude.

Take the time to recognize others, not just for big wins, but also for their daily efforts. Express appreciation sincerely and often. Lastly, try to notice what’s working and not just what’s broken.

In environments where gratitude is present, people stick around longer, feel more fulfilled, and burn out less. So yes, saying thank you really is a job-related strength.

5. Forgiveness: Emotional Maturity in Motion

Work is full of miscommunications, missed deadlines, and moments that bruise your ego. Forgiveness is what helps you move forward with grace, not grudges.

With forgiveness, you’re able to let go of resentment and focus on resolution. You don’t have to forget what happened, but you can choose to rise above it.

This workplace strength supports prosocial behavior by maintaining functional relationships and cohesive teams.

6. Love: Fuel for Deep Workplace Connection

Love at work is rooted in genuine care, trust, and warmth. It can look like being invested in your colleagues as people, not just coworkers. You can foster authentic relationships with them and be present when others need support. Love for your colleagues means that your care extends beyond tasks and timelines. It supports your team through both strengths and weaknesses, encouraging development and empathy among your members.

As one of the top work strengths, love transforms teams into communities. It builds the kind of connection that makes people want to stay, grow, and give their best for their colleagues.

7. Spirituality: Purpose as a Professional Advantage

Spirituality in the workplace doesn’t have to refer to religion. It’s about meaning, purpose, and feeling connected to something larger than yourself. You don’t clock in just for a paycheck; you want to know your work matters.

Spirituality manifests when you seek alignment between your values and your role. You ask more profound questions, and you inspire others to reflect and grow. If spirituality is one of your strengths in the workplace, you likely bring a quiet depth to meetings, culture, and strategy. You help elevate the “what” into a meaningful “why.”

How to Apply Your Employee Strengths

When individuals apply workplace strengths intentionally, the ripple effect is enormous: Higher engagement, improved resilience, boosted productivity, stronger communication, and more prosocial behavior become apparent across the board. Employees not only gain clarity about what makes them unique, they also build confidence and community.

By now, you may be wondering: “So, what are my work strengths? And how do I actually use them on the job?“

This is where tools like the VIA Survey come in. It’s a science-backed self-assessment that reveals your unique constellation of character strengths, giving you the vocabulary and insight to bring more intention to how you lead, collaborate, communicate, and grow.

Putting your strengths to use at work can start with small steps. For example, you can:

• Take the free VIA Survey to identify your unique strengths profile.
• Reflect on how your top, middle, and lesser strengths already show up in your day-to-day work.
• Name them during interviews, reviews, and team check-ins.
• Ask others to share their own, building a culture of appreciation and self-awareness.
• Reframe challenges by asking, “Which of my strengths could help me navigate this?”

To help you see how your strengths apply at work, here are examples tied to common corporate roles. While these examples can guide you in connecting your strengths to specific jobs, remember the 24 character strengths are multifaceted and uniquely expressive—you can draw on any of them to maximize workplace success.

Project Manager

• Top strengths: Leadership, gratitude, forgiveness
• How they show up: Leading kick-off calls with clarity, recognizing contributions mid-project, and navigating team conflict with grace.

Customer Support Lead

• Top strengths: Kindness, humor, love
• How they show up: De-escalating difficult clients with warmth and levity, and checking in on teammates’ stress levels.

Creative Director:

• Top strengths: Spirituality, leadership, humor
• How they show up: Inspiring teams with purpose, keeping the big picture in sight during chaos, and bringing playful energy to brainstorming.

HR Business Partner:

• Top strengths: Love, leadership, forgiveness
• How they show up: Advocating for people’s needs, mediating fairly, and showing care during layoffs or conflict resolution.

These examples help illustrate that job-related strengths aren’t always skill sets but character patterns that define how you do your work and not just what you do.

Training That Grows Your Strengths on Purpose

You can actually train your character strengths, much like a muscle, to grow them. When you take the time to understand yourself this way, truly, something powerful happens: you can design training that doesn’t just check boxes, but genuinely nurtures the qualities that can help you and your team members thrive.

Strengths-based training isn’t a one-size-fits-all learning. It needs alignment of development opportunities with who someone is at their core. That might look like pairing a new team member with a mentor who leads with wisdom and kindness or someone who offers real-world insight alongside encouragement. Alternatively, it could mean offering workshops where employees practice using their strengths, such as communication, leadership, or perseverance, in live scenarios that mirror everyday work dynamics.

These experiences aren’t just professional polish; they’re real growth moments. And through VIA Institute’s online courses and certifications, you’ve got a toolkit that can help build confidence and competence in ways that are authentic to you and your team. When you’re empowered to develop your natural strengths, the ripple effect is apparent: greater adaptability, deeper engagement, and workplaces that hum with meaning and momentum.

Feedback: A Mirror for Strength and Growth

Feedback, when rooted in trust and intention, becomes one of the most powerful tools we have for uncovering and nurturing strengths in the workplace. It’s not just about pointing out what’s working or what’s not. It helps people see themselves more clearly.

Thoughtful, strengths-based feedback invites employees to recognize where they shine, reflect on where they can stretch, and understand how their unique qualities align with team goals. When delivered with care and regularity, it boosts motivation, sharpens self-awareness, and encourages a growth mindset that goes beyond just “fixing” weaknesses.

In feedback-rich cultures, conversations flow more freely. Managers and teammates alike share insights, appreciation, and suggestions that deepen connection and collaboration. And when employees learn to view feedback not as judgment but as guidance, they become more confident decision-makers who are better equipped to navigate challenges, step into new roles, and thrive on their path of professional and personal development.

Because at the end of the day, feedback isn’t just a tool; it’s a conversation that says, “I see you, and I believe in your potential.”

Final Thoughts: You Are More Than Your Job Description

You’re not just a job title. You’re not your resume bullets or your daily tasks. You are a collection of deep, dynamic human character strengths that make you a force in the workplace.

So the next time you think about your strengths at work, remember that it’s not about inflating your ego or ticking boxes. It’s about tapping into your best self and bringing that energy into everything you touch, from emails and meetings to major milestones. Because when you lead with character, you don’t just do your job. You transform it.