When people ask me what makes a great leader, the answer often surprises them. There are no inherent skill sets or personality traits that I think all great leaders share. In fact, an individual’s unique characteristics are perhaps their best advantage. Instead, my answer is - the best leaders are those that know their strengths, embrace their strengths, and leverage their strengths. It is this that prompted my study of Gallup’s CliftonStrengths® and what encouraged me to become certified in strengths. So that I can help more people understand not only what makes them unique, but how they can leverage that for their success.
But often, strengths get muddied. People take a relatively short assessment and while some feel that the results hit the nail on the head, so to speak, others struggle with their results. So, we want to help provide you guidance with what to do with your CliftonStrengths® Report and how to make the most of your results.
1. Reflect on who you are.
Sometimes when faced with reality, we can shy away from what we see. For example, I rank fairly low on adaptability and for a long time - struggled with this. I inherently know that I don’t like the feeling of adapting, yet I also know that life changes and adapting to your circumstances is important. I didn’t want what I considered a disadvantage. But when I took the time to reflect on who I was - I began to see more clearly what this meant. Ranking low in a particular strength doesn’t make you incapable of a skill, it just requires more forethought, effort, and energy. This is why I find adapting to be so difficult. If I were to pose the question to you - “Do you want to spend this afternoon doing something that will leave you stressed, frantic, or exhausted?”, your answer would understandably be no. Why should your strengths be any different?
2. Make certain you understand your strengths.
Semantics is important. How some of us may interpret the words or descriptions of certain strengths may be different than how they are actually defined for the purposes of CliftonStrengths®. In order to fully understand how your strengths are tied to who you are, you must use the definitions provided in your Top 5 Report or your Full 34 Report. These reports accurately describe what is meant by each strength and perhaps more importantly, the dynamic of how the strengths interact together. If you want to go a step further, it is best to speak with a Certified Strengths Coach about what your report means and how you can best leverage your strengths. We offer a one-time, no-commitment call to help you understand your report.
3. Start utilizing your strengths.
Simply knowing your strengths is like unspoken thoughts. You cannot expect an impact until you put your strengths out there into the world. By speaking with a coach and understanding your report, you will be able to start leveraging your strengths to do more of what you’re great at and less of everything else. Take the time each day to incorporate your strengths into your daily actions and think about how they are impacting your mood, your morale, those around you, and your productivity. Often when we see the impact our strengths can have, we are more motivated to continue to utilize them.
4. Beware of blind spots.
It is a natural thought to think that strengths are somewhat bulletproof. If we are to leverage our strengths and do more of what we’re great at and less of everything else, then we should be good, right? Not exactly. The same way that strengths can work in your favor, it is important to understand how they can also work against you. Since our strengths are so powerful, they can overcome us and ultimately become counterproductive. For example, someone that leads with Responsibility can be thought of as reliable and efficient; however, they also need to be mindful that they can easily overcommit as they see the success of a venture as “on their shoulders.” Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but being mindful of our blind spots is essential to our success.
Regardless of how you plan to utilize your strengths, knowing them, understanding them, and leveraging them is a huge asset when it comes to not only differentiating yourself but succeeding. If we can help in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out directly to alyssa@alyssahellman.com.