Hi Friends,
So as you all know by now I’m a strengths coach.
I want to talk to your guys about my strengths profile and what it means to me. Hopefully, if you ever get one for yourself then this post will tell you what it can mean for you.
A strengths profile comes about when you take Clifton’s strengths assessment. It has 177 questions that psychometrically (you don’t know what each question is testing you for) tests you for what you naturally do well. It picks up on the natural way of thinking, feeling, and behaving, in the form of an eloquent list of 34 themes.
Themes are neutral they don’t dictate which job you will do best or how you should live your life. They just point out what you have in your toolbox, what you will build with the tools you have or where you will take your life with your enhanced knowledge is up to you.
Let me demonstrate.
My top ten strengths are
Empathy
Connectedness
Input
Intellection
Positivity
Developer
Command
Context
Restorative
Activator
So my top ten themes are where most of my natural power resides and as you go down the rest of the 34 list your power reduces.
It is important to point out that Clifton’s strengths test is looking for tools for success that came about after eight decades of research, machine learning, clinical trials, analytics, and by asking the right question.
The right question being
What is it that people who are winning are doing right?
The answer to that question was simple, people who are winning and are generally successful are focused more on their strengths and less concerned with their weaknesses.
Whereas we are conditioned from an early age to focus on what we are not good at, to strengthen that area of life, or even at work we are more likely to be told about the bits that we are underperforming at more than what we are really doing well at.
Strengths training is not about ignoring your areas of weakness but more about spending less time and energy on trying to develop what you are not naturally good at and more time on what comes naturally to you.
So here’s where things got really interesting for me. I realized (once I’d read the report and more about Gallup and strengths coaching) that I was the poster child for the weakness fixing way of life.
I was told my entire life that I was “sensitive” and “over-sensitive”, receiving my strengths report and reframing that sensitivity into a strength i.e, empathy was a huge turning point in my life.
I spent most of my time trying to be more analytical and better with strategic thinking and discipline. Whereas my strength was to lead with relationship building and connection.
I realized that while I had enjoyed a decent amount of success and never had a shortage of projects and offers to work, I had been operating from a place of defying my very nature while living squarely in the weakness fixing zone.
My strengths report gave me permission and freedom to boldly pour rocket fuel into my most powerful assets which gave me more energy and so much more breathing space to do peacefully what I was really good at and clearly understand what I need to learn in order to manage my business. Much better than trying to change the fundamentals of my being in order to fit a box that I felt was the gold standard.
I got certified as a strengths coach because I “the empath” can walk in my client’s shoes, see them clearly for what they are and share with them in their journey to become the best most empowered version of themselves.
I share this because I’m so excited about helping more people understand how everything can change with accepting your self and stepping into your power.
Sending you love and light
Hawra
