Strengths Finder 2.0

Strengths Finder 2.0, an online test that proposes to find your talents best suited for development. Another personality test in a sea of others, Strengths Finder does little to distinguish itself. Through poor wording, ambiguity, and no fact checks available, Strengths

I recently took the StrengthsFinder assessment for a class, which after a series of questions determined that my three greatest strengths are that I’m deliberative, disciplined, and an achiever. I felt that these strengths were accurate at describing me well. I have always been very deliberative when making decisions, as I like to evaluate all of the options and evidence, before I make a decision and I very rarely do things on a whim. One particular example of a decision I made after a lot of deliberation was when I was deciding which college to attend roughly four years ago. After researching and visiting all of the schools I had been accepted to, I made a chart in which I ranked all of the schools in a wide variety of characteristics that

I have learned many things from my experience with Strengths finder. I have learned that my strengths have given me a different sense of who I am. My strengths also helped me to find out what I am good at, and this will help me to improve myself as a person. I look back on myself and see that I am successful academically. I am able to write down assignments, and make things more organized to make my academic career a little easier. I have made game plans for what to do and when to do it as a result of Strengths finder. I have also managed to take on a big amount of responsibility by making sure that I’m doing everything, and doing it right on time. I can see my strengths represented through my vocation, which is not only to be a responsible

The Strengths Finder test measures the presence of 34 talent themes. Talents are people’s naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied. The more dominant a theme is in a person, the greater the theme’s impact on that person’s behavior and performance. Getting employees together with varied strengths would seem like a tough task but with a great training tool in place, I think the outcome would be great. The strengths are what makes each employee unique and shows their talents.

5. Your strengths are highlighted so you can concentrate on them and solve problems you are having in other areas, for instance. If your strengths are, good personal skills and tremendous patients, then you might overcome a later problem easily by deciding to make a social call around a person’s house and discussing your concerns.

After reading Tom Rath’s Strengths Finder 2.0 and taking his assessment my results for my top five themes, in order, are harmony, input, learner, analytical, and deliberative. Harmony is my top strength and it is the same as my Myer-Briggs results, since they avoid conflict and are realists. Some of the personal characteristics that describe me as a leader is by not giving the impression I know everything, I create a friendly environment for others, I know that is foolhardy to do things myself, I think before I speak, and I promote cooperation by helping people with their ideas. Throughout my college years I have been involved in many group assignments so I learned early on not to do things myself because assignments just start piling up. It was a major eye opener for me when I started college. So when I was in groups I spoke out when I had a problem so that I can receive help and I would in return help them if they needed.

I was interested by the results discovered at the completion of the StrengthsFinder Survey. While I found the strengths listed surprising at first, after reading the descriptions I could see how they fit my personality and life experiences. I believe it will be a challenge learning how to utilize each individual strength into my life and career, but it will be worthwhile to take the things I’m already good at and use them to my advantage. My top 5 strengths were reported to be harmony, communication, responsibility, discipline, and consistency (Clifton, Anderson, & Schreiner, 2006). I will work to integrate and utilize these strengths into my professional life.

Other strengths that I exhibit include being structured, responsible, articulate, task-oriented, determined, confident, effective planner, visionary, and possessing the ability to manage resources effectively. Being structured allows me to set parameters that we can all work within to achieve the overall company goals. Structure builds bonds and a sense of cohesiveness in the workplace. This type of unity will be necessary for the success of the organization. We can all work towards common goals if clear goals are outlined for everyone. The other strengths will all work together as well.

The Strengths Finder Survey pointed out one of my strengths to me which is Adaptability which I use every day by adapting to change which is very constant at the company where I work Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (Anderson, Clifton, & Schreiner, 2006). There is a saying in my company if you don’t like change you need to find another company to work for and this is so true.

Individuals have natural patterns of making decisions and reoccurring patterns of behaviors, feelings, and thoughts. The Strengths Finder test is designed to measure these strengths and summarize those talents in thirty-four themes, strongest to weakest. The report concluded that my top five strengths, in order of strongest to least are Learner, Achiever, Arranger, Strategic, and Responsibility. These five themes are an accurate reflection of my strengths and the goal of skill testing are to increase those talents rather an improve the weaknesses.

According to the strength finder assessment my results are as follows: Adaptability, Significance, Responsibility, Deliberative and Futuristic. I was not surprised by my results. I feel like I have incorporated these results in my daily professional life. Currently, I am an assistant manager for a bank. In my position, I have three direct reports that report to me and I manage the daily activities of the branch.

The Strengths Finder 2.0 book by Tom Rath, originally published in 2001, is rated as a #1 Best Seller by the Wall Street Journal (Rath, 2007). The recently released copy contains an access code to take their version of a strengths assessment test. When finished I received a report listing my five predominate strengths with a description of why I stand out from others with the same strengths, an application section and finally a section to help me utilize my talents.

My top five strengths were identified as Learner, Achiever, Discipline, Strategic, and Responsibility according to the StrengthsFinder 2.0 Assessment test (Gallup, 2016). All five strengths can be an asset in my professional role as a research assistant. As a research assistant, I constantly need to learn about new clinical trial protocols used in the hospital. If I do not research or read information on the new protocols, then I will not be educated on what the problem is, and the patient’s safety will be at risk. An example of this happens on a regular basis where I work. For example, new protocols are created everyday. Also, old protocols are updated constantly. One day we received more blood than was once required for a specific protocol, so I had to investigate if this was a new addition to the protocol and if not, I would have had to report the protocol violation since more

StrengthsFinder and StrengthsQuest empowered me to discover my five greatest talents that I can develop into strengths to help promote success in the SPS program. Until Strategies for Success I viewed many of my strengths as weaknesses needing improvement rather than natural talents that can be developed into my greatest strengths. “Qualities that they’d been forever teased about or criticized for were seen from a different angle—as their greatest talents and their potential for strengths” (Clifton, 2006, p. 73). StrengthsQuest empowers students to not only discover their greatest talents, but to focus on and work on their talents and develop them into strengths to produce excellence.

For me, recognizing personal strengths and weaknesses is key to being a successful person. If I realize I have a weakness in a certain area of my life, I will work to improve myself in that area. I consider this personal attribute of mine strength. I also use my personal strengths to improve myself in the areas where I am