StrengthsQuest Heidi Lender, Assistant Director Strommen Career and Internship Center Copyright © 2004 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved.

Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding Effective leaders are self-aware We all can say what we are good at, but taking the StrengthsQuest assessment will help you to understand it at a different level and give you language to articulate it better We have all been given gifts or “talents” Identifies your greatest talents, which are your sources of potential strengths All strengths are created equal

Understanding Strengths... This instrument originated out of positive psychology Developed by Gallup over 30 years ago for businesses who wanted to get the most out of their employees Gallup conducted millions of psychological interviews and identified 34 themes of talent One of the businesses that uses Strengths and actually has a department devoted to Strengths is Best Buy. Best Buy Corporate has every employee take Strengths. The information is given to managers, so that they can have everyone on the team working from their Strengths, as much as they possibly can. Throughout their research Gallop conducted lots of interviews and identified 34 themes of talent, or Strengths. You will have seen in your reports that you have been given your top 5 Strengths, out of 34.

Understanding Strengths... What’s the Opposite of a Strength?

Weakness Fixing: The Wrong Assumptions If you try hard enough, you can do it. If you want it badly enough, you can do it. If you dream it, you can achieve it. Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. All behaviors can be learned. Weakness fixing leads to success. How may positive affirmations do you need to off-set one negative one? Copyright © 2004 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved.

FACTS…. Gallup has studied Strengths and Weaknesses for over 30 years…. Their Findings: You can’t really turn a weakness into a “TRUE” Strength You can spend A LOT of time trying to fix a weakness, but you will only bring that D up to a C! Trying to “Fix” your weaknesses drains you of all of your energy People who concentrate on using their Strengths are more successful and more energized

“Despite the American myth, I cannot be or do whatever I desire – a truism, to be sure, but a truism we often defy. Our created natures make us like organisms in an ecosystem: There are some roles and relationships in which we thrive and others in which we wither and die.” Parker Palmer “You can’t be anything you want to be, but you can be a whole lot more of who you are” Curt Liesveld

Taking the Strengths Assessment The website and the code are in your book You will be given 20 seconds for each question Print off your results Email your Strengths results to a few people who know you well

Talents and Strengths There is a difference between Talents and Strengths… Talent: A naturally recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied. Talents are inborn and can turn into a potential Strength

Talents, Knowledge, Skills, and Strengths Strength: The ability to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in a given activity. To build your strengths, identify your talents, and add knowledge and skills. Strength = Talent + Knowledge + Skills “Talent without technique is merely a bad habit.” Pablo Picasso

Signature Themes and How You Use Them Strengths Description/ Definition of the Strength Why it’s a strength (What does it enable/empower me to do) When/where I recently used this Strength Copyright © 2004 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved.