VIA Strengths helps you understand the character strengths that shape how your team works, communicates, and grows together. By analyzing which strengths are active or inactive across team members, you can identify cultural patterns, uncover development opportunities, and add meaningful context to your Cloverleaf SWOT analysis.
By the end of this article, you will be able to:
Analyze the distribution of VIA Strengths among team members
Explore practical applications of VIA Strengths when working with teams
Incorporate VIA Strengths data into a Cloverleaf SWOT
What Is VIA Strengths?
VIA Strengths is built on research led by Dr. Chris Peterson, who spent three years studying character alongside a team of 40 researchers. In collaboration with Dr. Martin Seligman, Dr. Peterson documented this work in Character Strengths and Virtues, an 800-page study on how character manifests at the individual and group level.
The research identified 24 character strengths that represent what is best about our personalities. Each person possesses all 24 strengths to varying degrees, which means every individual has a unique character strengths profile.
The Six Virtue Categories and 24 Character Strengths
The 24 character strengths are organized under six broad virtue categories, considered universal across cultures and nations.
Wisdom: Creativity, Curiosity, Judgment, Love of Learning, Perspective
Courage: Bravery, Honesty, Perseverance, Zest
Humanity: Kindness, Love, Social Intelligence
Justice: Fairness, Leadership, Teamwork
Temperance: Forgiveness, Humility, Prudence, Self-Regulation
Transcendence: Appreciation of Beauty, Gratitude, Hope, Humor, Spirituality
How VIA Strengths Shapes Team Culture
The more team members who share a particular strength, the more that strength influences the overall culture of the team. These shared strengths are referred to as the team's Character Strengths Culture, and they shape the team's tone, tendencies, and the behaviors members express with the most energy.
For example:
A team where many members share Curiosity will likely be most engaged when exploring new ideas and possibilities.
A team where Self-Regulation and Perseverance are widely shared may be most energized by implementation work like meeting deadlines and staying on budget.
Shared strengths can also be a source of team cohesion. However, when many team members possess the same strength, those similarities can occasionally create friction if individuals compete for similar roles or assignments.
Reading VIA Strengths on the Cloverleaf Dashboard
The Cloverleaf Dashboard visualizes VIA Strengths data so you can quickly identify which strengths are active or inactive across your team. When reviewing team data, focus on two things:
Active strengths: Strengths that appear near the top of the list and are held by the greatest number of team members
Inactive strengths: Strengths that few or no team members possess, which may signal development opportunities or cultural gaps
Because character is personal, approach this data thoughtfully. VIA Strengths works best as a trend-spotting tool and is most effective when used to support patterns you are already seeing across other assessments.
Applying VIA Strengths to the Cloverleaf SWOT
VIA Strengths is one of the assessments you may use less frequently in a Cloverleaf SWOT. It works best as a supporting lens, particularly when you need to confirm a trend or add cultural context to what other assessments are already surfacing.
Strengths
Look for strengths held by the greatest number of team members. These widely shared strengths often reflect the team's culture and energy.
Example: If Love of Learning is active for most team members, position this as a strength. Teams with high Love of Learning tend to be more open to change, training, and development. They are more likely to bring in outside perspectives, adopt new ways of working, and incorporate new information into existing processes, which can increase productivity, performance, and profitability.
Most shared strengths are intuitive to interpret. Use the virtue categories as a guide when you need to articulate why a strength matters in the context of the team.
Weaknesses and Opportunities for Growth
Inactive strengths point to either a weakness or a growth opportunity, depending on which strengths are absent and the context of the team.
Example: If three of the four Temperance strengths (Humility, Prudence, Self-Regulation) are inactive across the team, this is worth noting. Temperance tends to be the least-represented category on many teams, so the pattern is common but still meaningful as a development opportunity in your SWOT.
Note: VIA Strengths is generally not the best fit for the Threats to Growth and Productivity section of the Cloverleaf SWOT. Because this assessment is oriented toward culture and relationships rather than operational outcomes, it fits better in the Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities sections.