What are your strengths?
This is a question I have been asked in many different circles. What if success has more to do with focusing on your strengths? Often we focus on the areas in our life that are weakest .
During the Spring of 2015, I was entering into a season of re-evaluating and reviewing life. Then during the summer, I first heard about the book “Strength finder 2.0” by Tom Rath.
Tom Rath shares that we are six times as likely to be engaged in our jobs if we work out of our strengths.
Through the research at https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/ they have created an assessment to help people discover their talents and turn those into strengths. They have 34 common themes.
They provide a code for you to take their assessment. When you take it, you have 20 seconds to answer the question. The reason for the speed is they are looking to identify your most intense natural responses. If you take the test they will share with you your top five strengths, based on their research. In the report they send you, you will also receive 10 best action steps you can take.
For teams this can be a useful tool as you look at how the different strengths interact. There is some advice in the book on working with people who have different strengths. The biggest take away from the book and assessment is the opportunity to pause and better understand yourself. This in turn can help you enter, experience and engage the life you were created for.
My Three take always:
1. Understanding my strengths can help give direction in my life.
2. The resource has allowed me to hit the pause button to look at who am I.
3. I am now asking: “How do I leverage these strengths for success?”
This fall (2015) I am still in the process of building off of the information I have been given. I found it a useful exercise to take the test. I hope to write more about this journey, so stay tuned.
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Here are my top five strengths and a summary of what each one means:
Harmony – People who are especially talented in the Harmony theme look for consensus. They don’t enjoy conflict; rather they seek areas of agreement.
Learner – People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve . In particular, the process of learning, rather than outcome, excites them.
Responsibility – People who are especially talented in the responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say and what they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty
Belief – People who are especially talented in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.
Connectedness – People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.