just because it’s a strength doesn’t mean it’s strong

July 16th, 2008

Yesterday we had an all day staff meeting in which we re-adjusted some job descriptions and made plans for the future. I enjoy change and was so excited about this meeting that I couldn’t sleep the night before. I know that sounds crazy so I’ll explain. If you have never taken the Gallup (now Clifton) Strengths Finder assessment I highly recommend it, then read “Go put your strengths to work” by Marcus Buckingham.

My strengths are the following:

Futuristic - People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

Adaptability - People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

Strategic - People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Belief - People who are especially talented in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.

Arranger - People who are especially talented in the Arranger theme can organize, but they also have a flexibility that complements this ability. They like to figure out how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum productivity.

These are just the basic descriptions of these strengths that everyone that has them share. Some of these I have developed out of necessity but have embraced them fully and really enjoy them. So based on what you have read you can see that I like to organize and increase productivity (Strategic and Arranger) So given the chance to rework job descriptions and plan for the future I was very excited.

Here lies the rub. I have never been given a chance to use these strengths. I’ve developed them for my own uses but in that I only deal with myself. So yesterday in this meeting I think I may have gone a little crazy. I don’t think my strengths came off as strengths, they appeared more as an excited kid on christmas morning. So to my fellow staff members, I’m sorry. Please be patient with me.

It was a crazy day and everything got done that needed done but my eyes were opened to how dysfunctional my strengths were. I think I’ll focus on working with just one person at a time if they are interested and work my way up to groups. I may have done more harm than good.

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