As leaders, knowing ourselves is an important aspect of
leadership that is too often overlooked.
Do you have a good understand of what ‘type’ of person you are? Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Do you like working with people or with
things? Are you more a thinker or a
doer? Have you put any thought into the
fact that the people you often like to work with or be around have similar
traits to you, and that the people you don’t like to work with have different
traits? This is usually all lumped into
the broad concept of “personality types” or “interaction styles”, of which here
are many models. While many people may
get the chance to take a personality/interaction test at work or maybe school,
not everyone gets the chance.
In the final in this series of articles we look at another assessment
tool: StrengthsFinder
The StrenghsFinder Profile is a newer idea of accessing
people, based on finding people’s unique talents or strengths. Based on research by the Gallup organization,
led by Donald Clifton, it was first introduced in Now, Discover Your
Strengths (2001), which introduced the first version of the profile. More recently, a new version has been released,
now called the Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0, and this was introduced in StrengthsFinder 2.0 (2007) by Tom Rath.
A slightly different version of the 2.0 profile is covered in Strengths-Based Leadership (2009) by Rath and Barry Conchie. The associated website is at
www.strenghtsfinder.com. Be aware that
to fully use these works, you need to access the on-line assessment tool, and
you get the code to do so in the books.
So if you want access to the 2.0 version of the tool, you need to
purchase a NEW copy of either StrenghtsFinder 2.0 or Strenghts-based
Leadership (you actually get different tests with each, so be aware). The prior books only give you access to the
first version.
There are 34 strengths covered. The strengths are things like Analytical,
Communication, Empathy, Learner, Positivity, and Strategic. The assessment tests only tell you your top 5
strengths. The books, along with the
report you get from taking the test, explain your strengths and how you can
best utilize them.
Why is all of this important?
Again, as leaders, we need to better understand ourselves
and others. How do we like to
interact? What motivates us? What demotivates us? How can we best work with others? Especially if we have a poor understanding of
how we like to work and interact, much less how others work and interact. By learning more of these behavior &
interaction styles, we have a better understanding.
The problem, as I see it, its many people who take on
leadership position don’t understand this.
Especially if their company or organization does not make use of such
programs. Too often what happens is
that when some people are put in charge of a group, they feel it’s their chance
to pick the best people. Ok, that sounds
great. But too often they focus on
people they like to work with, not understanding that this is due to their
interaction styles. And so, people who
could contribute to the group or organization (because of their experience,
knowledge, talents, and more) are passed over for others who may not have those
attributes ONLY because their interaction style is more compatible with the
leader’s. This is a mistake. It’s actually to avoid these sorts of things
that there exist programs like what has been covered here.
If you are a leader, you need to learn to work with ALL
people, regardless of their personality or interaction style. Your selection of members of your team should
NOT be based on personality or interaction style, but their ability to get
things done. Their skills, knowledge,
talents, etc. Many groups talk about
“diversity”. How it’s important that the
organization be “diverse” and that all kinds of people are welcome in the
group. Well, “diversity” should not just
about religion or ethnic groups or national origin or gender or the like. It should ALSO be about personalities.
So if you are a DRIVER, you need to be open to working with
(and including) people who are AMIABLE and ANALYTICAL and EXPRESSIVE, no matter
how much they annoy you.
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