Introduced through work (I believe), my wife is a big fan of Clifton Strengths, previously called 'Strength Finder.' After taking an assessment it's revealed how your mind works, how you operate with work and relationships, what your unique strengths are etc. You might think they have this down already but I can't imagine most people have taken the time to break down specific traits nor can rank them in terms of importance. That's what this offers. It's a tool for individuals to best know thyself and businesses to improve through details of its workforce.
A while back, maybe close to two months ago, my wife bought a code to find my top five strengths. I admittedly sat on it too long, partially because I had it in my head the test would take a bunch of time, perhaps partially I simply didn't want to do it, I dunno. Either way I kept telling myself to make time for it and didn't. My wife was pretty gracious considering she very clearly wanted this done with haste, to better know me and to understand my head, and only reminded me a couple times. She probably gave up on it ever happening. But I finally got around to it a couple weeks ago, I do get to everything in time, and decided it was worth sharing.
Let's talk briefly about how the assessment looks. It involves 177 questions of two different statements. You need to decide, on a five point scale, which best describes you. You can go strongly or somewhat one way or the other. There's also a neutral, can't pick, option in the middle but it's best to avoid that as much as possible. The exercise isn't going to reveal as much if you frequently don't choose. Several had two statements that both described me, it was frequently tough, but I did the best I could and kept moving. The trickiest part is the timer, you only have 20 seconds to decide on each question. This aspect is to push you to pick quickly based on first reactions. I thought this would be annoying but it went rather well, with the timeout only happening once or twice. In the end it did only take about 30 minutes, then it gives you your top five strengths, with an overall description of the trait and lots more individual insights. It's an option to pay more and get all 34 strengths ranked as well. I'll probably do too, later.
The main point here are those top five. Below are my strengths in order, with the shared theme description and a select few of the personalized bits, before talking more generally about how closely each describes me.
1. Responsibility
'People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honestly and loyalty.' (shared)
'Instinctively, you probably are happier as a solo performer.'
'People probably value the painstaking approach you take when working on assignments or striving toward a goal.'
'It's very likely that you may have a reputation for exhibiting more adult-like behavior than a few of your colleagues, teammates, classmates, friends or others.'
'By nature, you are consistent in your core values and predictable in your actions.'
'Driven by your talents, you have a strong sense of commitment. It motivates you to make sure that things are carried through to completion even when difficulties arise.'
I'd probably be impressed if I only got my overall top strength out of this, every word in the individualized section was spot-on. I don't know if there's anything to the order of it, as I probably wouldn't say a willingness to be vulnerable is the first way to describe me, even if true. I am without a doubt driven to be reliable and honest, consistent, stable and knowledgeable, and am committed to finishing what I've started. And yeah, I certainly like it when this is recognized. All this is me to a T, and an improved way of how I would probably attempt to start describing myself.
2. Learner
'People who are especially talented 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.' (shared)
'Driven by your talents, you desire to acquire additional knowledge and gain new skills. Why? You are naturally curious.'
'Instinctively, you are excited to discover new facts about historic events and key people.'
'Discovering new ways to use your talents energizes you.'
'Because of your strengths, you usually equate education - formal and informal - with understanding more about something today than you understood about it yesterday.'
I think this one is a little simpler and probably didn't need as long of an individualized section, but the descriptions here are valid. I like to learn, especially about history, and it can actually be exciting for me to gain knowledge and skills. The sheer existence of this blog is (hopefully) solid evidence of this. The line about formal or informal education is especially great, as learning is what you make of it and I'm not doing more formal education any time soon. I might nitpick a few of the lines here about intellectual complacency being unacceptable, as there are times when my Responsibility overrules, but again that's a credit to this assessment and its results.
3. Intellection
'People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.' (shared)
'Chances are good that you can escape the tension, pressure, or stress of everyday life by reading a good book, diving into a publication's articles, or pulling up information on the internet.'
'By nature, you gravitate to people you love to think about and talk about the past.'
'Your taste in books and other written materials often leads you to the history sections of bookstores, libraries or internet sites.'
'It's very likely that you sometimes enjoy instructing others.'
'Generally your scrutiny of the written word, rather than your emotions, guides your decision-making process.'
I didn't know this word before getting these results, and it's a good one. Yes, I'm very introspective and seek internal understanding through critical thinking. Sometimes I'd rather read about the past than deal with the often overwhelming present. I do like to share the knowledge I've learned and developing a place to do that seems to have been an inevitability. All that said I'm often not naturally, or in reality, a teacher, so the insights about how to spur discussions are a bit off but mostly because that's not my job.
4. Context
'People who are especially talented in the Context theme enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history.'
'Chances are good that you prefer to think about the past with historians rather than daydream about the future.'
'By accumulating lots of knowledge regarding days gone by, you regularly anticipate the opportunities and pitfalls you are apt to face in the coming months, years or decades.'
'You strive to understand the what, when, who, where, how and why of events. You are determined to create a framework of facts so you can put things in perspective.'
That's three traits in a row about my desire to learn about history. Here it's more than just learning about famous people and events, it's about my own life as well. The key element here is a constant goal of providing context, understanding how it all fits together and makes sense. It's obviously true.
5. Harmony
'People who are especially talented in the Harmony theme look for consensus. They don't enjoy conflict; rather, they seek areas of agreement.' (shared)
'By nature, you characteristically are good-natured and even-tempered in your dealings with individuals.'
'Perhaps you think sequentially. You might appreciate projects that have simple steps or defined starting and stopping points.'
'Chances are good that you intentionally carve out time to envision what can be accomplished in the coming weeks, months, years or decades.'
'People welcome your ideas because they are practical and doable.'
'You refuse to force anyone to embrace your initiative exactly as you have outlined it. You probably include some of their ideas so the plan becomes theirs rather than just yours.'
This one is more complicated. The descriptions around my demeanor, practicality and a wish that a group can find agreement are all entirely right. On the other hand, when it comes to workplace collaboration I'm probably not the most effectively diplomatic even if that kind of outcome is preferred. One of the insights was how it'd feel snobbish to *not* tell people you're doing professional education/training, and what that means is incomprehensible to me. My feeling is that most of this describes me very well, but not all of it.
Overall, as I've stated already, this is an impressive and indeed accurate tool. It's pretty crazy how the questions I answered can get these results, which I have to agree with. Foremost I need to be responsible. This is mostly seen through my family role, it's part of why I started staying home with our kids and why I'm still doing it. I need to be gaining knowledge and improving, and do this through personal, quiet study with the goal often making connections and seeing how the details impact the bigger picture. This extends beyond purely educational ventures btw, it's part of my drive to consume movies, for example. I want to understand our history and our culture too. I do want harmony in life and work, and function best when future plans are clear, doable and agreed-upon. I wouldn't make any changes to how these five strengths are ranked, and am now curious about the rest. I'd have to expect Arranger and Analytical to be fairly high (though I haven't looked up what they are exactly).
Hopefully this was interesting to you, I know a lot of people love this stuff. Until next time.
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