Courage to Know Your Strengths

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Michelle Seyfarth, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

I recently took part in a mock interview process with some high school seniors. One of the questions I asked was, “Can you tell me about your strengths?” Every single student I interviewed struggled to answer that question.

One of the students asked if he could talk with me some more about the question I asked. He said, “Nobody has ever asked me about what I think my strengths are.” He went on to say that his athletic coaches point out his weak technique and they make him train and practice to develop his weaker skills. His teachers point out areas where he should focus on his studies, and his parents excel at pointing out things he should do better.

Many people have become masters at pointing out other people’s flaws; however, there is a lot of research out there that supports the notion that we grow when we emphasize our strengths instead of trying to fix our lack. For example, the Gallup Organization conducted a 30 year study revealing that spending time building upon your strengths was much more productive than logging countless hours in trying to shore-up your weaknesses. They have even published a book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, based on their revolutionary findings.

We are masters in knowing our flaws and our weaknesses and many of us have spent a lifetime trying to repair and fix those flaws and weaknesses while our strengths are simply taken for granted. Imagine how your life could improve if instead of focusing on your weaknesses, you could be true to who you are by focusing and capitalizing on your strengths!

It takes curiosity, courage, and a sense of optimism to determine and acknowledge what your strengths are. When you can align your strengths and your career goals - watch out! It’s like rocket fuel for your future success!

Leaders and Managers
Great leaders know their strengths and they use them to their advantage. Last year, CareerBuilder conducted a survey and they found that 84% of the nation’s workforce is unhappy in their job. Following are some key elements that leaders and managers can incorporate into their organizations:

• Understand your employees’ talents and strengths are enduring and unique.
• You should position and develop each employee so that his/her talents are turned into strengths.
• Hire smart - surround yourself with the right people and have a well-rounded team.
• According to the Gallup research, when you build your organization around the strengths of your employees the organization becomes more productive, you have higher employee retention rates, increased customer loyalty, and the organization outperforms its peers.
• The greatest room for growth comes from focusing on the areas of greatest strength.

Coaches Challenge: Identify Your Strengths
Discovering your strengths is placing emphasis on your authentic self putting you on the path of self-improvement and on your way to achieving even more success and happiness. Following are ten questions you should answer to start identifying your strengths:

• What 2-3 things do you do better than your friends and colleagues?
• What are your hopes and dreams?
• What do you enjoy doing?
• What energizes you or makes you feel invigorated?
• What do you concentrate on?
• What makes you feel strong?
• What makes you special and unique?
• In what areas do you excel in learning or have a sense of satisfaction in learning?
• What are your patterns of success? (What were you doing when you achieved success?)
• How can you capitalize on your strengths?

Be strong! Be courageous! Face up to your natural talents!