dealing with strengths
I was recently re-reminded about the StrengthsQuest material that I had been introduced to a few years back. It is some great material for thinking about personal and professional development. The StrengthsQuest™ or the Clifton StrengthsFinder,
measures 34 themes of talent determined by The Gallup Organization as those that most consistently predict outstanding performance. The greater the presence of a theme of talent within a person, the more likely that person is to spontaneously exhibit those talents in day-to-day behaviors.
Focusing on natural talents helps people build them into strengths, and enjoy personal, academic, and career success through consistent, near-perfect performance.
For me I’m helped by frameworks like this to think about my leadership development and strengths. I think I’ll spend some more time this summer reflecting on them. Here is a glimpse of the catagories for my “Top 5″ and some phrases from the descriptions that I liked.
- Restorative
You love to solve problems… Whereas some are dismayed when they encounter yet another breakdown, you can be energized by it… what is certain is that you enjoy bringing things back to life…
- Individualization
Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person… You hear the one-of-a-kind stories in each person’s life. This theme explains why you pick your friends just the right birthday gift (sometimes)…
- Relator
…In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people–but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy… Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship… You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk-you might be taken advantage of-but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine.
- Harmony
You look for areas of agreement… When you know that the people around you hold differing views, you try to find the common ground. You try to steer them away from confrontation and toward harmony… When others start to argue about their pet theory or concept, you steer clear of the debate, preferring to talk about practical, down-to-earth matters on which you can all agree… In your view we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going. It is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that you can.
- Empathy
You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own… You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person’s predicament-this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand… You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need… You help them give voice to their emotional life…
July 17th, 2007 at 11:08 am
cool - i have 3 of your 5. empathy, indiv, and restorative. (also significance and futuristic).