With CliftonStrengths, one has so much more than a self-assessment tool.
The whole point of StrengthsFinder is AIMING your strengths at a specific problem.
Sometimes, teams are so enamored with the self-awareness piece that they never move on to the real power. The AIM is the real power to Strengths. While knowing yourself is important, it is only the start. Learning how to leverage, regulate, and invest in your Strengths is where excellence lies.
Take the team below. Most people’s eyes immediately fall to the blank lines on the graph. But, a good Strengths coach should always be pushing you to the top 10 Strengths. Here are some questions I might ask this team:
- What Strengths on this team help give you energy to start and finish a project?
- Which of your team’s top Strengths help you to analyze data, numbers, and facts? Are you leveraging them in this area?
- Who on this team has the power to empathize and seems to have high emotional intelligence? Are you leveraging this person when the need arises?
- What Strength helps you as you network? Is networking an important part of this team’s job? Which strengths can you aim specifically at this task?
The power of these questions comes with the awareness of how this team is making up naturally for what they lack without hiring, without overburdening, and without changing the people on the team. Once a person grasps their untapped potential, they can then aim the right strength at whatever problem they might be facing. Whether it’s networking, activating a team, analyzing information, or having greater emotional intelligence.
The goal of strengths is not just to unpack and download the results. That is just one of the starting points.
The goal is to perform, execute, start, build relationships, and influence people and a team does that best by naming, claiming and aiming their top strengths at an issue. The beauty comes in the output where their quality of work will be excellent, giving each person a tremendous amount of energy to continue — and to do it again.
Are you living and working in your Strengths? Is your team? If you’re not sure, need some help getting started, or need someone to walk you through your results, contact us today. We’re here to help.
