Reflections on Strengths Finder

The StrengthsFinder serves to identify ones main talents or major strengths, and how to relate these to performance outcomes. The StrengthsFinder checks for the presence of talents in 34 general areas called themes. The talents serve as the foundation of strengths development (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2012), and the StrengthsFinder applies a series of descriptor questions to test for the presence of the said talents. Strengths are the ability to consistently deliver high performance in a specific activity, and while practice serves to improve on the delivery, talents account for a major portion of how well one performs (Rath, 2007). The purpose of an examination of ones themes or talent areas is, therefore, to identify what activities they will perform best in. This was my motivation in taking the test, and as such the results were completely consistent with my expectations.

The first strength identified was that I am an achiever.  Achievers have a constant drive for achievement, and could be described as having an internal fire that drives them to achieve more. The hunger for achievement drives one to perform consistently at the highest levels, and seemingly without running out of energy (Rath, 2007). This to me was unsurprising, because I am driven and purposeful in everything I do. I set targets and work towards them. The second strength was focus which serves as a compass, helping to determine corrections and the necessary corrections that help one to get back on course. Focus is important because it forces us to be efficient and enables us to analyze if a particular course of action will help us achieve our goals or not (Rath, 2007). Here too, the results were no surprise. I pride myself in being able to focus on the task at hand, and being able to achieve whatever I set out to do. Combined with being an achiever, it proves to be a very potent combination. According to Crowell (2011), people can create images of the future that will serve to guide their actions and show that attention can be shifted from a focus on problems to a focus on productive future possibilities.

Futuristic implies the ability to dream, and work towards making the dreams a reality. Also, it implies drawing from your dreams, using them to energize oneself and those around us (Rath, 2007). As is typical with futuristic people, people look up to me to describe my visons of the future, and from these, they can raise their sights and thereby their spirits. The fourth strength, that I am a learner resounds true as well. I love to learn new things and engage in challenging exercises. As a learner, I am energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The final strength, the fifth, entails harmony. While I take pride in going after what I want, having dreams and working towards them, I also take comfort in looking for areas of agreement. In all, the strengths identified thus far have been unsurprising as they are totally consistent with my self-perception. Further, most, if not all of the strengths identified are things I practice at, and strive for.

To conclude, the StrengthsFinder proves to be very accurate at identifying key talents that an individual possesses, and the strengths derived from the same. For my case in particular, I found StrengthsFinder to be both accurate and true. From the knowledge gleaned from the test, I am better able to focus, and improve my performance. As an aspiring professional, I recognize the value of persistent improvement on my work, and the StrengthsFinder provides an adequate framework to identify my strengths and work towards meeting them.

References

Crowell, D. (2011). Complexity leadership. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.

Rath, T. (2007). Strengths finder 2.0. New York: Gallup Press.

Sherwood, G., & Barnsteiner, J. (2012). Quality and safety in nursing. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.