How much of your work involves using your strengths and talents? Is your job bringing out your best work? Many people I speak with, are stuck doing things they aren’t good at.
“People have several times more potential for growth when they invest energy in developing their strengths instead of correcting their deficiencies.” — Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0, (Gallup Press, 2007)
The Gallup Organization identifies 34 distinct personal strengths after interviewing 1.7 million professionals over 40 years:
- Achiever: constantly driven to accomplish tasks
- Activator: sets things in motion
- Adaptability: adept at accommodating changes in direction/plan
- Analytical: requires data/proof to make sense of circumstances
- Arranger: enjoys orchestrating many tasks/variables
- Belief: strives to find ultimate meaning in everything he/she does
- Command: embraces leadership positions without fearing confrontation
- Communication: uses words to inspire action and education
- Competition: thrives on comparison and competition
- Connectedness: seeks to unite others through commonalities
- Consistency: treats everyone the same to avoid unfair advantage
- Context: reviews the past to make better decisions
- Deliberative: proceeds with caution and a planned approach
- Developer: sees others’ untapped potential
- Discipline: makes sense of the world by imposing order
- Empathy: in tune with others’ emotions
- Focus: has a clear sense of direction
- Futuristic: eyes the future to drive today’s success
- Harmony: seeks to avoid conflict and achieve consensus
- Ideation: sees underlying concepts that unite disparate ideas
- Includer: instinctively works to include everyone
- Individualization: draws upon individuals’ uniqueness to create successful teams
- Input: constantly collects information/objects for future use
- Intellection: enjoys thinking and thought-provoking conversation; can compress complex concepts into simplified models
- Learner: constantly challenged; learns new skills/information to feel successful
- Maximizer: takes people and projects from great to excellent
- Positivity: injects levity into any situation
- Relator: most comfortable with fewer, deeper relationships
- Responsibility: always follows through on commitments
- Restorative: thrives on solving difficult problems
- Self-Assurance: stays true to beliefs; self-confident
- Significance: wants others to see him/her as significant
- Strategic: can see a clear direction in complex situations
- Woo: can easily persuade
To me, that may seem like a confusingly long list. Taking the strength assessment narrows your list down to your top five strengths.
What are your top 5 strengths and talents? I’d love to hear from you. How do you use them in the work that you do?
Diana Gabriel, PPC
Leave a Reply