What are your strengths?

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Permalink Reply by Josh Kaufman on January 22, 2009 at 7:12am

My strengths: Learner, Strategic, Maximizer, Intellection, Ideation
Other strengths (from SF 1.0): Input

I've used my strengths to help me make decisions on what to work on and what to pursue as my career. Now that I'm working on the PMBA full-time, my job is to (1) learn as much as I can, (2) think about what I'm learning and teaching to develop new insights and ways of looking at business, (3) generate ideas about how I can help people achieve what their goals, (4) figure out the best way to make something great in the real world.

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Permalink Reply by Deb Jones on January 22, 2009 at 10:10pm

Josh -

I just started another discussion in the group that outlines the four categories of strengths.

I find it interesting that most of your strengths are in the THINKING group, with the exception of "maximizer" which is an IMPACTING strength.

I can see that you've used your THINKING strengths in coming up the idea of PMBA, giving it structure, working and reworking it - - and not just for your own purpose, but with the desire and drive to motivate others (IMPACTING) to thier highest abilities !

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Permalink Reply by Will D. Robinson on January 22, 2009 at 11:22pm

I took the assessment about a week ago. I've recently crafted an email to my manager regarding my strengths and action items. I've yet to send it though because I want to spend a little more time thinking about whether these strengths are a reflection of my current occupation or my true strengths. Getting back to the point of this thread:

My strengths were: Restorative, Competition, Learner, Analytical, Communication

Let me provide some context. I've been a consultant in the information technology field for about 10 years. I spend time solving other people's problems. I do that through the use of relevant software technology. The technology changes rapidly so I'm constantly learning. In the last few years, I've spent more time selling our services versus project management and implementation work. To me, these five strengths align with my occupation.
My interpretation of the test results thus far is that of confirmation not enlightenment. Should I just keep doing the same thing? Yet, there is something pulling at me to take on a new challenge in a different occupation. Could it just be the “Learner” strength driving me forward?

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Permalink Reply by Deb Jones on January 26, 2009 at 9:58pm

Will -

Yes, I can understand how the assessment would be a confirmation for you. It does seem that with your set of strengths that you would excel at your current position as you desctibed it. I gave this assessment to my staff of 16 as well as to many of my friends and family, and I have never seen anyone else who had strengths in all four of the categories. I would think there are many things you could do quite well . . . and your opportunities are endless.

Deb

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Permalink Reply by Beth Robinson on January 23, 2009 at 8:34am

Input, Intellection, Learner, Strategic, Consistency

I instantly indentified with the first three. I have a strategic bent but I need to develop it further so I can have something actionable to relate to my career. Consistency just confuses me as a strength.

These gave me another way to view my career progression and why I'm ready to move on to something different, as much as I loved my job when I began it. What I'm aiming for at the moment - product manager - will definitely let me use the first four, although there might be better options out there as well.

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Permalink Reply by Deb Jones on January 26, 2009 at 10:09pm

Beth -

I can see why you would find Consistency confusion as a strength. It does seem to be more of a value. The definition provided in to text points to treating people in a fair and equal manner. That could be a helpful quality in managing a team.

Deb

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Permalink Reply by Olivier Roland on January 24, 2009 at 4:44pm

Hello,

Here are my strengths :

* Learner
* Ideation
* Intellection
* Input
* Significance

Like I said in the interview, these 5 strengths seemed to me to be extremely relevant given what I am doing, and I began to think and imagine how I could try to use my strengths and out of my research came, in part, the idea for my crazy project.

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Permalink Reply by Deb Jones on January 26, 2009 at 10:20pm

Wow - I would certainly agree that you are untilizing all of your strengths in your "crazy" project. I am truly amazed by what you are able to acheive, not only in your self-learning project, but in your motivating blog to share that knowledge with others.

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Permalink Reply by Tom on January 25, 2009 at 6:19am

My strengths are: Harmony, Adaptability, Analytical, Deliberative, Learner

I am just a bit afraid that because I was in the mindset of needing to learn more about business just before I started the PMBA and the SF test, that it is showing in my results (especially the last 3)

Still not sure about how I should interpret it, or how to go out and find a job that would suit my strengths a bit more.

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Permalink Reply by John Kraus on January 26, 2009 at 3:53pm

My strengths: Strategic, Competition, Analytical, Relator, Significance

I am very impressed by how accurate the results were. Now that I really understand my strengths, I really plan to set a plan to use them and give my career better direction.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on February 4, 2009 at 9:39am

I just took the assessment this morning and my top 5 were
Learner, Empathy,Responsibility,Context,Futuristic.

I completely agree with and understand the learner and empathy strengths and truthfully wasn't surprised by those results but I'm going to have to reflect on the other three a little. I do think its funny that context and futuristic both came up as results because they seem to be complete opposites of one another yet I'm slowly beginning to realize that both of them do apply to me.

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Permalink Reply by Tommy O'Dell on February 6, 2009 at 7:26am

Hi Deb,

My strengths are as follows:

1. Learner
2. Analytical
3. Strategic
4. Focus
5. Responsibility

About a month ago it was announced there was going to be a big restructure in my division. I decided to speak with the big boss about what my strengths in order to provide her with some guidance about where I could add the most value post-restructure. I can't say if I would have ended up in the same place even had I not done so, but my new role now seems extremely well suited to my top three strengths.

My company operates a ten mines connected to three port shipping facilities by 1500 km of private heavy-freight rail employing many thousands. And that makes for an incredibly diverse and complex system.

When the data analysts identify the constraint in the system, my team's job will be to go into the area to talk to the people, gather and analyze data and try to figure what's holding things back. (Analytical)

After identifying reasons for the constraint, we'll have to find a number of possible ways to proceed before handing things over to a project team to take our findings and run with. (Strategic)

The learner in me is going to love heading into an unfamiliar area and having quickly climb the learning curve. And we likely won't be in one area long enough for me to feel that I've climbed more than 80% of the learning curve - that's when I start to get get antsy to move on when I feel like I've climbed 80% of the learning curve. (Learner)

I hope that it turns out to be as I've understood, because I can't wait to jump in!

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