Discovering Strengths

After returning to work almost 3 months ago, I have been going through some really good training classes. I am learning alot about myself and alot about my job and I am glad because it is helping me figure out what is expected of me and how I can succeed in my job. I know, it sounds pretty boring right? Today was one of the best classes because it focused on each person individually and showed us each what are strengths are and how we need to use those in life.

At Wells Fargo we are lucky to be able to go through a process to "Discover Your Strengths". That is the title of the book written by the Gallup Organization. We all did an online assesment test and then were given what our top 5 strengths were. I thought it would be fun to share mine. I was kind of skeptical at first but I can really see how these fit me and how they affect what I do. You can get the book and take the quiz too if you want to pay for it, just make sure you buy the book new because the code in the back that you need to do the assesment cannot be used more than once.

Here are my "Top 5"
1. Maximizer- Focuses on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. Seeks to transform something strong into something superb.
2. Harmony- Look for consensus. Doesn't enjoy conflict; rather, seeks areas of agreement.
3. Responsibility- Take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. Are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.
4. Arranger- Can organize, but also has flexibility that complements this ability. Likes to figure out how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum productivity.
5. Belief- Has certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.

These definitions, of course, are the shortest little picture of what each of those strengths are. There is a whole book about discovering your strengths that I am thinking about reading. We went through alot of material in class today that went into more detail about what each strength is and also some things that you should do with each of your strengths. The idea is that you would focus on your strengths and leveraging those rather than focusing on your weaknesses and trying to fix them or get better in those area. You will see the most success when you focus on developing your strengths because those are the themes that are closest to your natural talents and abilities.

It was pretty cool, but I guess that is partly because I am a "maximizer" and enjoy knowing about people's strengths.