Posted on October 20, 2009 - by rfrank

Discovering my strengths

More and more people recently have been asking me what my top strengths are in reference to Gallup’s StrengthFinder 2.0 assessment tool. I’ve told person after person, “I haven’t taken the test yet.”

Last month at D6, Michael Chanley (creator of www.cmconnect.org) knocked it out of the ballpark with a precon lab about developing the strengths of kids. He talked a lot about Tom Rath’s book.

After the workshop, I jumped on Amazon and bought the book. It was a quick read and convinced me even more to do the test. It took about 30 minutes to take the test online and I found it was pretty accurate. Here are my top five strengths with a quick summary of what each one means:

1. Competition – People strong in the Competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and revel in contests.
2. Futuristic – People strong in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.
3. Strategic – People strong in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
4. Activator – People strong in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.
5. Significance – People strong in the Significance theme want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized.

I plan to lead our KidzMatter staff through the process of finding their strengths this winter. Then we will work through the Strengths Based Leadership book.