Your strength zone is your potential. And, strength is a mixture of talents, knowledge and skills. It is the ability to consistently provide excellent performance in a specific activity. It’s a known fact, that everyone has natural deposit of unique talents in them, but only few know what these are. Identifying your key strengths and matching yourself to a suitable role, will enable you perform at your peak and enjoy the work that you do. One key to building strength is identifying your dominant talents, that which makes you unique, then refining them through acquisition of knowledge and skills.
High performing individuals spend their time developing their strengths and managing their weaknesses. They do not necessarily have more talents than the average individual, but they have been able to learn how to adaptably utilize them better.
When you are working at your strengths, work becomes easy, like a hobby; you demonstrate flow. And that means:
1. you have a high sense of energy and full engagement;
2. you often have the tendency of losing your sense of time because you are so engrossed on the task;
3. you tend to rapidly learn new information and methods of doing things;
4. you show high levels of quality performance and achievement;
5. you naturally continue on the task even when you are tired or stressed.
1. Analyze your past performance. What have you done excellently well in the past? Under what condition did you do it? How did you do it? What was the result like? When people perform at their strength with results, they feel satisfied, they feel fulfilled!
2. Discover what you enjoy doing. What do you enjoy doing? What gives you so much satisfaction? What are you easily engrossed on? What makes you lose your sense of time when doing? When people are using their strengths, their excitements become visible. They work with natural energy. They feel alive and are highly motivated!
3. Determine and leverage your talents. Talents are naturally recurring patterns of thoughts, feeling and/or behavior that can yield high level of productivity when applied. A talent is a potential for strength. What are your unique pattern of thoughts, behavior or feelings? What are you naturally good at? What can you do excellently well with little or no training (subconscious excellence zone)? What can you do so easily that seems to be difficult for others? What natural abilities do you have that when developed makes you perform at your peak? When you are using your strengths, you stand out from the crowd! Your approach shows a high level of uniqueness.
For leaders who lead across board — from the lowest level up to the very top, here are some key domains you can find your key strength and become more effective in leadership.
1. Executors (Executing). Leaders in this domain know how to recognize viable ideas and make it a reality. They are good at making things happen!
2. Influencers (Influencing). People with this ability know how to sell their team’s ideas inside and outside the organization. They tend to champion good ideas and make it seen by others inside and outside the organization. They speak up for the team when needed, making sure that their group is heard.
3. Relationship Builders (Building). They have the unique ability of enhancing connectedness among team members. They portray attributes that help to bring people together and work effectively with one another.
4. Strategic Thinkers (Thinking). These are futurist, that is, future-oriented. They constantly think about possibilities (i.e. what could be). They help the team make better decisions.
1. Executors: These includes — Achievers, Arrangers, Belief, Consistency, Deliberative, Discipline, Focus, Responsibility, Restorative.
2. Influencers: These includes — Activator, Command, Communication, Competition, Maximizer, Self‐Assurance, Significance, Woo.
3. Relationship Builders: These includes — Adaptability, Developer, Connectedness, Empathy, Harmony, Includer, Individualization, Positivity, Relator.
4. Strategic Thinkers: These includes — Analytical, Contextual, Futuristic, Ideation, Input, Intellection, Learner, Strategic.
