Fine Partnerships: The Power of Two

Or why getting lost with a good partner might be the best leadership move you make this week.

It was a Sunday, and I was craving a hike.

I pulled up to one of my favourite spots: Stoney Hill Regional Park in North Cowichan, where I live. It's a well-worn loop, under an hour or so of gentle elevation gain and descent, with viewpoints that make your heart pause. Forest bathing, ocean gazing, eagle watching. A short three-minute drive from my home, and somehow you’re in another world.

And that, it turns out, is the problem. It’s everyone’s favourite.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad people love it and I have had a lot of great encounters there: with families, hikers, dog walkers, visiting retired veterinarian from Punjab, and even the occasional tour bus group (driver included) who all love to gather in this forest.

But on this particular day, I wanted the beauty without the crowd. The presence of nature without the presence of others.

So my four-legged partner Roma and I did what any slightly rebellious duo would do, we went off-trail.

The Unexpected

We took a less-traveled path, choosing our steps with intuition more than a map. I scanned for light, spaces between trees, signs of openness, imagining a secret meadow facing the cliffside, just far enough from the main trail to feel untouched. I was craving a quiet moment with an ocean view.

And we found it.

An arbutus tree with limbs like dancing rivers held a quiet space just for us. A little opening framed by forest, protected, grounded, ancient. We paused. Sat. Took a time-lapse video. Wrote a few thoughts in a notebook. Forgot a snack and remembered to breathe.

When it was time to go, I was reminded of the fact that I didn’t know exactly how to get back.

But Roma did.

She looked at me, then turned with a clear, calm confidence, as if to say: “I’ve got this. Follow me.”

Nose to the ground, tail up, she led me through a perfectly elegant and unexpected path right back to the car.

Partnerships: The Power of Two

Two thoughts from that walk:

1. It’s okay to go off-trail sometimes.

2. It’s more than okay to partner, it’s powerful.

   
   

There’s a myth in leadership (and in life) that independence is the highest form of strength. That going it alone proves something. That not needing help makes us smarter, tougher, more credible.

But real creative leadership, the kind that builds something new, crosses uncharted terrain, or dares to slow down in a fast world, requires partnerships.

And not just any kind.

It requires complementary partnerships. The kind where someone brings what you forgot you needed. The kind where your strength is met, not matched, and therefore multiplied.

What Gallup Says About Great Partnerships

According to Gallup, the most effective partnerships, whether in life, business, or creative work, are not built on shared skills but on complementary strengths.

Their research into CliftonStrengths shows that people who work in pairs that balance each other are more productive, more engaged, and make better decisions.

Gallup calls this “strengths-based partnering”, where one person’s natural talents fill in the blind spots of another. It’s not about fixing weaknesses. It’s about designing synergy.

In fact, when people understand their own strengths and those of their partner, they’re 72% more likely to be engaged at work and more than twice as likely to say they have a best friend at work, a factor directly correlated with high performance.

And here's the leadership twist: Most leaders don't realize how isolating leadership can become, until they step into a space where they no longer need to prove they can do it all alone.

From Floundering to Flow

I assumed I’d get lost. I planned for floundering.

And yet, I had a loyal, sharp-nosed partner next to me, an expert in terrain navigation, who was more than happy to guide me back.

Who in your life or work might be quietly waiting to offer a strength you're missing?

And more importantly: are you letting them?

What Fine Partnership Might Be Waiting for You?

Not every partnership is forever. Some last as long as a hike. A shared project. A single conversation. A season.

And yet, they all matter.

A fine partnership doesn’t need a contract, a label, or a lifetime commitment. What it needs is resonance, trust, and clarity of purpose with a splash of flexibility (room for adventure, if you will).

You’ll often spot it by noticing:

• A complementary energy, they bring what you don’t

• A sense of relief or spark, you feel ok to be yourself and together you accomplish more

• A natural rhythm, you don’t have to strategize or push. There is an ease to working together

  
  

You might partner with one person to co-design a workshop. With another to navigate a difficult leadership transition. With your dog to find your way back through the forest. And with yourself, your inner creative voice, to finally start the thing you’ve been putting off.

The point is: it’s not about longevity, it’s about alignment.

Fine partnerships are rarely loud. But they’re unmistakably real.

You don’t need hundreds of them. Sometimes, one is enough to shift everything.

Risk and Reward

Bad partnerships? They’ll drain your energy, distort your intuition, and leave you lonelier than going solo.

But good ones? They elevate. They surprise. They make the path back (or forward) not only visible, but joyful, easier and even exciting.

So this week, consider:

• What relationship might be ready for reimagining?

• Who might be a partner you’ve overlooked, not because they aren’t capable, but because you didn’t realize how well you fit? Who brings a strength I don’t have, but deeply need?

• What would happen if you let yourself be supported, even just a little?

• What could we co-create if we dared to trust the trail together?

  
  

Are you curious about fine partnerships and exploring the the power of two?

Let’s Partner

If this resonates, if you’re craving a new kind of partnership, one that honors your intuition and elevates your leadership, consider this an invitation.

This is the heart of my work as a creative leadership coach: Helping leaders, changemakers, and seekers like you, return to presence, and lead from that place, with strength, clarity, and yes, fine partnerships.

Reach out to start the conversation!

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Hi, I’m Monika, Strengths Coach and facilitator. I help individuals and groups cultivate resilience, emotional intelligence, and well-being through strengths-based coaching. Passionate about transformative and creative leadership, I empower leaders to drive meaningful change within themselves, their organizations, and beyond.

I hope you’ll visit often, and I look forward to connecting and working together!