In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about the Myers-Briggs personality test, which has two options in four categories, such as Extrovert vs. Introvert or Feeling vs. Thinking. I also explained that the Myers-Briggs has been criticized and that companies are using it less frequently now.
Strengths Create “Engagement”
In recent years, many companies and organizations have started to the use the Gallup Strengths Finder survey. The idea behind the Strengths Finder is that people/employees have a set of skills (or “strengths”) that come naturally to them, and they are more successful — in work and in life — when they focus on their strengths.
This idea of focusing on your strengths is kind of revolutionary. Obviously, people would rather do things they are good at naturally and they enjoy. But the wisdom of the past has told people to improve their weaknesses. For example, if a manager lacked experience with financial planning, he or she should try to get some training or experience with budgeting. If a tennis player had a weak back-hand, he or she should work on the back-hand. This old wisdom is still true — you won’t get hired or promoted if you lack skills in critical areas of the job.
However, the Strengths Finder doesn’t focus only on skills. Instead, it focuses on “engagement.” Engagement means something like how interested or active an employee is at work. An employee who shows up and goes through the motion of the job is not engaged. But an employee who performs each task with passion and energy and also looks for ways to improve — both their own performance and the success of the company — is very engaged.
This idea is true in our personal lives as well. Someone who “spends time” with family is not as engaged as someone who organizes board games, drives the conversation, and plans family outings. With fitness, someone who does the same workout routine is not as engaged as someone who studies fitness videos and tries new workouts.
“Engagement” is really important because engaged people and employees make a difference. But how do you make people “engaged”? This is a very complicated question, and there are many, many theories. For example, there is the idea of “internal motivation” which says that people have their own inner drive to perform their best. There is also the idea of “reward-and-punishment” or “carrot-and-stick” which says that people do a good job to get a reward (bonus pay, a raise, extra vacation time) or to avoid punishment (avoid getting fired, avoid being criticized by their co-workers).
The Strengths Finder believes that engagement comes from focusing on the things you are good at and enjoy — your strengths.
4 Categories - 34 Strengths
The Strengths Finder survey has 34 strengths that are grouped into four categories. The four categories are:
Executing - People with strengths in this category are action-oriented, and they can make things happen. It’s not that they know how to do everything or have more skills than others, but they have habits like discipline, focus, and consistency that can help them stay the course and finish projects.
Influencing - People with strengths in this category are charismatic, take-charge kind of people, who believe in their own ability to lead, and are also good at motivating others. Strengths like “Woo” and “Maximizer” make these people charismatic and capable of “selling of the dream,” while strengths like “Activator” and “Command” empower these people to take charge.
Relationship Building - People with skills in this category have strong personal relationships with others. These are “soft skills” and “emotional intelligence” kind of skills. These skills enable people to connect with others, show concern and compassion for others, and also build group harmony.
Strategic Thinking - People with skills in this category have strong analytical, planning, and thinking skills. Some of these skills are more on the practical side (such as “Analytical” and “Strategic”), while others are more on the creative side (such as “Ideation” and “Futuristic”).
Everybody has all of these skills — none of these skills are weaknesses. However, the Strengths Finder survey ranks these skills for each person in order, and it also identifies their “Top 5 Strengths.” You can read about all 34 Strengths here, or download this reference card.
Top 5 Strengths
The Strengths Finder pays a lot of attention on the Top 5 Strengths. When you take the survey, you get a list of only your Top 5 Strengths — you have to pay an additional fee to see the full list.
The Top 5 are important because they are the ones you use most of the time. These are the things you enjoy and you do automatically — no one has to push you to do these things. You spend a lot of time doing things that involve your Top 5 Strengths.
When you take the survey as part of work, your organization often creates a little card with your Top 5. People often hang this card on their desk, and they often include their Top 5 Strengths in their email, resume, and online profile.
The Top 5 Strengths also work together in unique ways for each person. For example, a person who has “Activator” and “Command” in their Top 5 is going to be like a military commander or dictator who totally takes charge. But a person who has “Command” and “Ideation” is going to be like Steve Jobs — both creativity and take-charge.
Your list of your Top 5 Strengths helps define who you are and how you function.
My Top 5 Strengths
I have taken the Strengths Finder survey twice — you shouldn’t take it too many times or study the strengths before you take the survey too much because you can learn to game the system.
My Top 5 Strengths fall into three categories, but three of my Top 5 Strengths are in the same category (Strategic Thinking). I think for many people, most of their strengths come from one or two categories, so I am really balanced in having skills from three categories. The only category I don’t have is Influencing. This means I can get things done, connect with others, and analyze and plan, but I am not very good at using my charm or charisma to influence others.
My Top 5 Strengths (the last time I took the survey) are:
Learner - I enjoy learning, and I can learn things quickly. This is pretty obvious I think because I have four college degrees, I work in education, and I am constantly reading, exploring ideas, and learning about technology and leadership skills.
Relator - I develop close and strong relationships with others. People with this strength like to have stong, deep relationships with friends and family, instead of “superficial” relationships with acquaintances and people on social media. This strength is probably influenced by my Learner strength as well … because I am interested in learning what my friends think and feel. I also feel that I can connect with others quickly … intellectually if not emotionally.
Strategic - People with this strength can figure out patterns and find alternatives. This strength may be why I am interested in planning, technology, and data analysis. I love to make plans, see how things fit together, and explore other ideas. This strength is probably what makes me interested in Business and Leadership and probably why I was interested in the MBA, which is the traditional degree for management kind of skills, such as strategic planning, budgeting, market analysis, department management, etc.
Achiever - I stick with things until they are done. I especially like doing things one at a time. I don’t like jumping from one project to another and leaving things incomplete. I either need to make a plan and do it, or let it go and not think about it anymore. This strength is very helpful, and it balances my Learner strength. As a Learner, I like to read and explore ideas, but the Achiever skill reminds me that I actually need to accomplish something as well; I can’t just read and think all day. This skill is pretty obvious too I think because I have accomplished many things — my degrees, many technology projects, online courses I have developed, documents I have written. I think writing my blog and this weekly newsletter help me with the Learner and Achiever strengths too. I get to learn about ideas (which satisfies my need to learn), and I also start and finish a blog or newsletter each week (which gives me a sense of accomplishment).
Analytical - This is my third strength in the Strategic Thinking category. People with this strength are good at “turning thought into action.” Again, this is useful in helping me do things so I don’t only think about them all day. I am also interested in thinking deeply about ideas, plans, statistical data, budgets, and other things, so I think that’s how this strength shows up in my life.
Have you taken the Strengths Finder? What are your Top 5 Strengths?
Criticisms
The Strengths Finder survey is very popular. I think it has replaced the Myers-Briggs as a tool for understanding personality, and it has probably become the #1 assessment tool at work. Nevertheless, there are some criticisms…
Strengths are Self-Declared. The biggest criticism is that the survey relies on a person’s opinion of their own strengths. People answer questions about themselves when they take the survey. They are not studied or diagnosed by an expert. Because of this, the results may be inaccurate because people may misunderstand what the question is asking, or they may identify the strength they wish they had instead of truly have.
Gallup (the company that owns the Strengths Finder) suggests that it doesn’t matter that it’s not totally scientific. People report what they enjoy … and this is important because they become engaged and active by doing what they enjoy. So the survey helps them identify what they enjoy, or think they enjoy, or wish they enjoyed.
No Scale or Comparison. Another criticism is that people don’t know how good their strength is. There is no scale to show how they rank on that strength, and there is no comparison with other people who have that skill. For example, one of my strengths is “Learner,” but how good is my skill? Am I a Level 10 Learner, or am I only a Level 4 Learner? Also, how does my learning skill compare with someone else’s learning skill? Am I in the Top 10% or Top 1% of learners in the world, or am I average? Again, no scale, no comparison. All I know is that I enjoy learning, and I spend a lot of time learning.
But according to Gallup, that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter if you are at the top of your skill level. The Strengths Finder is not about “evaluating” your strength; it is not meant to identify the best and worst in a category. Instead, it is meant to help you identify what you enjoy doing … so you can do more of it … because when you do what you enjoy, you are a more “engaged” and “active” person and employee. The goal is to get you to be more engaged and active (and happy), not to make you #1 or the best. (Nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt to know where you rank on your skill level, and there are many other ways to test that too.)
Thank you for reading my newsletter. I am an educational leader, professor, consultant, writer, and public speaker. I write about leadership, business, success strategies, history, and literature. Please subscribe to the newsletter and share it with others if you enjoy this information.