Using Your Strengths at Work: Gallup’s Research

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:

1. Achiever: constantly driven to accomplish tasks
2. Activator: sets things in motion
3. Adaptability: adept at accommodating changes in direction/plan
4. Analytical: requires data/proof to make sense of circumstances
5. Arranger: enjoys orchestrating many tasks/variables
6. Belief: strives to find ultimate meaning in everything he/she does
7. Command: embraces leadership positions without fearing confrontation
8. Communication: uses words to inspire action and education
9. Competition: thrives on comparison and competition
10. Connectedness: seeks to unite others through commonalities
11. Consistency: treats everyone the same to avoid unfair advantage
12. Context: reviews the past to make better decisions
13. Deliberative: proceeds with caution and a planned approach
14. Developer: sees others’ untapped potential
15. Discipline: makes sense of the world by imposing order
16. Empathy: in tune with others’ emotions
17. Focus: has a clear sense of direction
18. Futuristic: eyes the future to drive today’s success
19. Harmony: seeks to avoid conflict and achieve consensus
20. Ideation: sees underlying concepts that unite disparate ideas
21. Includer: instinctively works to include everyone
22. Individualization: draws upon individuals’ uniqueness to create successful teams
23. Input: constantly collects information/objects for future use
24. Intellection: enjoys thinking and thought-provoking conversation; can compress complex concepts into simplified models
25. Learner: constantly challenged; learns new skills/information to feel successful
26. Maximizer: takes people and projects from great to excellent
27. Positivity: injects levity into any situation
28. Relator: most comfortable with fewer, deeper relationships
29. Responsibility: always follows through on commitments
30. Restorative: thrives on solving difficult problems
31. Self-Assurance: stays true to beliefs; self-confident
32. Significance: wants others to see him/her as significant
33. Strategic: can see a clear direction in complex situations
34. 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?