StrengthsFinders.
"What are your Strengths?"
This question gets asked a bit at the agency where I work. It's not meant to be a question where you have to give it some thought as to how to answer. It's pretty straight-forward. You should know what your strengths are and how to articulate them.
I've had a few new people on my team start in the past month. And when we have new people start, we make them take the StrengthsFinders quiz. It's a leadership style, where you see what the Strengths are of a person in your company/team and you manage to their Strengths.
I have found it to be very accurate in its assessment of what people's Strengths are. Especially my own. And I tend to have few Strengths in common with others in my company. There are a few people that share my bottom two Strengths, and only one other person whom I share the bottom three. But very few people have my top two Strengths.
They are ranked in descending order of most dominant Strength.
But I'm going to break them down in reverse...
5. Maximizer
This is Strength is about playing up what you're good at, and saying "Fuck all" to what you suck at... And letting someone else with that particular Strength thrive with it.
This is true of me.
It's a common Strength amongst a lot of people I work with.
4. Futuristic
This Strength is about vision. Looking forward at what the potential could be, and getting others excited about it. They tend to live beyond the idea of what is considered conventional or the norm. They like to change things up to make things more efficient and exciting. Innovative.
3. Responsibility
Huge on honesty and loyalty. This Strength is about owning your words. The things you will say you do. They are trustworthy and honest. They own their mistakes.
2. Relator
This is about working with friends. And funny enough, my closest friends tend to be those I work with. That's because I work a lot. But in the past few years in particular, it's people that I work with outside of work - perhaps on a passion project - that I am closest too.
1. Activator
These are people who make things happen. They have a thought. They turn it into an action. We're sometimes impatient... And tend to just do things ourselves. To be honest... This is definitely my top Strength and the one that has carried me furthest in my life. If I feel like I can't activate on something, I get frustrated and bail.
It's 100% true.
As long as I feel like the wheels are in motion and things are progressing - even if it is slowly - I am happy. And I have the ability to make others happy and excited about whatever it is that we are working on at the time.
I am incredibly decisive as well - which I attribute to this Strength. I find the positive in people and champion the crap out of it. But if I feel like they aren't vested and have no intention to get "on the bus to Awesome Town", I let them know they have to turn things around. I'm very clear about it. And if they still don't come around, then they have to go.
This question gets asked a bit at the agency where I work. It's not meant to be a question where you have to give it some thought as to how to answer. It's pretty straight-forward. You should know what your strengths are and how to articulate them.
I've had a few new people on my team start in the past month. And when we have new people start, we make them take the StrengthsFinders quiz. It's a leadership style, where you see what the Strengths are of a person in your company/team and you manage to their Strengths.
I have found it to be very accurate in its assessment of what people's Strengths are. Especially my own. And I tend to have few Strengths in common with others in my company. There are a few people that share my bottom two Strengths, and only one other person whom I share the bottom three. But very few people have my top two Strengths.
They are ranked in descending order of most dominant Strength.
But I'm going to break them down in reverse...
5. Maximizer
This is Strength is about playing up what you're good at, and saying "Fuck all" to what you suck at... And letting someone else with that particular Strength thrive with it.
This is true of me.
It's a common Strength amongst a lot of people I work with.
4. Futuristic
This Strength is about vision. Looking forward at what the potential could be, and getting others excited about it. They tend to live beyond the idea of what is considered conventional or the norm. They like to change things up to make things more efficient and exciting. Innovative.
3. Responsibility
Huge on honesty and loyalty. This Strength is about owning your words. The things you will say you do. They are trustworthy and honest. They own their mistakes.
2. Relator
This is about working with friends. And funny enough, my closest friends tend to be those I work with. That's because I work a lot. But in the past few years in particular, it's people that I work with outside of work - perhaps on a passion project - that I am closest too.
1. Activator
These are people who make things happen. They have a thought. They turn it into an action. We're sometimes impatient... And tend to just do things ourselves. To be honest... This is definitely my top Strength and the one that has carried me furthest in my life. If I feel like I can't activate on something, I get frustrated and bail.
It's 100% true.
As long as I feel like the wheels are in motion and things are progressing - even if it is slowly - I am happy. And I have the ability to make others happy and excited about whatever it is that we are working on at the time.
I am incredibly decisive as well - which I attribute to this Strength. I find the positive in people and champion the crap out of it. But if I feel like they aren't vested and have no intention to get "on the bus to Awesome Town", I let them know they have to turn things around. I'm very clear about it. And if they still don't come around, then they have to go.
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