Friday, September 9, 2011

Knowing Your Strengths

I have always been told to work in my strengths.  To be honest, I thought I knew what they were until I started the MBA program at Beulah Heights.   I also did not realize that a person could read this much in one week and still be sane. 

The idea behind working in ours strengths has been around for a long time.  The problem is that what many of us believe to be strengths are really ethical characteristics that we should all share.  Kindness is a not a strength.  Ideation, however, is (don't ask because when it showed up in my evaluation, I was taken aback by it also).  To understand our strengths we first have to identify them.  So I am going to give you the same test my professor gave us.  You have 5 minutes.  Ready:
  1. List your top five strengths
  2. List your top five values
  3. List your top 5 lesser strengths
Done? I wasn't either.  I could easily identify my values.  I almost nailed one of my strengths, and I still do not know what my lesser strengths are (isn't that a much nicer way of saying weaknesses?) but I am learning.

Here is the take away.  When searching for a job, you need to be able to promote your strengths.  Why?  Your strengths help you avoid working in areas you are not capable of handling.  When we work in our weaknesses, we are never satisfied.  Your weaknesses or lesser strengths will pull your work habits down.  Do yourself a favor and identify your strengths, plan on how to move into that position, and implement it.

Leadership Lesson

Here is what I take away from that lesson as a leader:
  • Your work in your strengths
  • You prioritize your life by your values
  • You build a team by staffing in your lesser strengths
One quick note:
As a Christian leader, I prioritize in the following way:
  1. God first
  2. My family second
  3. Church third
  4. Business or work fourth
  5. Recreation or education fifth
Get away from your priorities and you get out of sorts.

Here is the book we used to identify our strengths: Strengths Finder 2.0 - It comes with a code to an online strengths test.

What do you take away from today's post?  Start a conversation in the comments section.

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