Improving Yourself with StrengthsFinder 2.0

I am often asked by folks I’m coaching for ideas of assessments they can take to help them grow.

I’m working on a few articles about different types of assessments and improving yourself (subscribe if you are interested in being notified). I thought I’d take some time to explain some of insights I got from taking the StrengthsFinder® 2.0 assessment a while back, as well as explain what it is and how to take it.  This is the first of three articles on assessments. The other two will cover MBTI® and The Leadership Circle Profile® .  All three are very different in a number of ways, which I will discuss in those articles.

Agile and Agility are about people, learning, and collaborating – a foundational part being able to collaborating and learning with others is personal mastery.  Assessing yourself with StrengthsFinder 2.0 will give you new insights into yourself. It can be a great way to improve by looking for patterns and associations between your top themes and your life. You will also become aware of what types of situations you may find challenging.

Self-Assessments and Coaching

StrengthsFinder is a great place to start if you are interested in learning more about what makes you tick and are interested in improving yourself. Importantly, it is a self-assessment that does not require someone to work with you to interpret it. That said, depending on your goals and what you realize from the assessment, working with a coach can add value if you are focused on making changes. [A note for coaching clients: look this over and let me know if you have any additional questions at our next session. If you take the assessment, please send me your report if you wish to discuss it in our next session].

Insights to Improve Yourself

After you complete the online assessment, you will receive a report of your top 5 themes (strengths). The report provides details about each theme including a brief description and details about theme expectations. For

example, consider the Learner theme: “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.” — Gallup® StrengthsFinder report.

For someone who is a Learner, this can provide a lot of insight. I know for me, realizing this was useful in how I deal with learning environments and how I share information about what I learned. Of course I can’t hide my excitement!

The report also includes insights into each theme, outlining many different related elements (you get one for each of the 5 themes). A few of the items from my assessment and the Learner theme are:

Discovering new ways to use your talents energizes you. You are likely to escape from situations and avoid people who want you to keep doing what you already know how to do well […] You are happiest when collaborating with individuals who are not stingy with what they know.

There is much more of course, but those who know me personally know this is accurate. You will also find more challenging insights. I know I tend to avoid work that is not challenging or interesting, even if I am good at it! This is part of who I am, so it is a challenge to simply gut it out with an endeavor that bores me (I’m sure there are a few of you who know me well and are laughing at this one!).

Knowing your strengths, you can start to look at what you do in your career and life in general to see useful patterns. I enjoy going to conferences to learn and love to engage in in-depth discussions. I learn a lot this way. While I read a lot, I tend to learn best by interacting with people. Awareness of this personality trait can be valuable since not everyone wants to engage in the same way! I was recently talking to a number of people who told me that they did not enjoy conferences very much. My initial reaction was, “WHAT? You are crazy!”  That reaction is driven, in part, from the Learner theme.

Your individualized report also provides 10 action ideas for each theme. One of the action ideas for my Relator theme is:

Make an effort to socialize with your colleagues and team members outside of work. It can be as simple as lunch or coffee together. This will help you forge more connected relationships at work, which in turn can facilitate more effective teamwork and cooperation.

You have already realized this can be a challenge for someone who travels as an agile coach and trainer. Most of the people I collaborate with also travel or live in different parts of the country or world. In many cases I meet people face-to-face for the first time after talking for years virtually. That said, I can focus on making a larger effort to meet with people when they are in town. I recently had a chance to invite a good friend who was visiting Denver to my home for dinner, met another for dinner when they stopped in town for only a night, and engage with others from throughout the world in video sessions. Thanks Jeffrey, Leslie, Chris, Steve, and John for a few of the recent excellent conversations!  I also stay involved in a number of groups (trail running, improvisation, and yes some agile groups – to name a few) and engage with people that way.

The key is to find ways you can take advantage of the action ideas in ways that work for YOU!  I find looking back at the report long after taking it (as I did to write this post) refreshed a number of ideas for me – and let me see that I have incorporated many of the ideas.

How to Take StrengthsFinder 2.0

The process to take the assessment is fairly simple. Buy the book and an access code will be sent to you. You then enter your information and the access code on the Gallup website and start the assessment. If you are just interested in learning more about the assessment, you can read a lot more on their website.

Improving Yourself

If you have never taken a self-assessment or are looking for new insights about your personal patterns, I’d recommend taking it. Should you find you want to explore more and are bumping up against some roadblocks, find a coach to help you break through.