StrengthFinder 2.0
I've done Gallup's StrengthFinder assessment twice. I can't believe how much insight I've gained into my own innate strengths as a result. I applied for a job yesterday (internal posting at my current employer) and I can know with confidence that it's a good match for me based on my results. Seriously.
Here's more information about my own results, and some background info on strengths.
Skills can be learned, and knowledge can be obtained. However, talent – the key to strength and peak performance –
must exist naturally within a person. A talent is a naturally recurring
pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively
applied. They are spontaneous, top-of-mind, perhaps even subconscious,
reactions to situations. Talents are what one does well “without even
thinking about it.” They are innate, non-teachable.
Knowledge and skills, on the other
hand, are teachable and learnable. Knowledge may be purely factual
knowledge. Or it may be how you make sense of what you know –
your understanding. Skills are the capacity to perform the fundamental
steps of an activity. They may include the “how to’s” of a job. Both
knowledge and skills are critical to the development of strength, which
is the ability to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in a
given activity. The key to building a strength is to identify your
dominant themes of talent, then refine them with knowledge and skills.
The best in a role deliver the same outcomes, but use different
behaviors. Weakness-fixing prevents failure. Strengths-building leads
to success.
Here are my strengths:
Input--People
strong in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like
to collect and archive all kinds of information.
Intellection--People
strong in the Intellection theme are characterized by their
intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate
intellectual discussions.
Learner--People
strong in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to
continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather
than the outcome, excites them.
Maximizer--People
strong in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate
personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong
into something superb.
Strategic--People
strong in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced
with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns
and issues.