Finding and building on each other's strengths

From my introduction to the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator to StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Gallup to learning about Marcus Buckingham and his book, Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently, I've realized and believe that everyone has different strengths.

Marcus Buckingham defines strengths this way:

"it’s not something that you’re good at, just like a weakness isn’t something that you’re bad at.  A strength is an activity that strengthens you. That you look forward to doing.  It’s an activity that leaves you feeling energized, rather than depleted. We all have things that we’re good at, but that we hate doing, right? Those are called weaknesses."         (Source)

It's my goal to see each person fully in his/her strength -- to understand it, appreciate it, and encourage contribution from each person in his or her area of strength. I also believe that it's important in collaborative settings to know about your teammates' strengths (as well as your own) in order to have a highly functioning team. Getting to know yourself and your teammates better can leader to higher morale, a more positive culture and climate, and greater job satisfaction. 

I can't expect to learn about others' strengths without fully understanding my own, which leads me to the High 5 Test, a free online strengths test. 

At our school-wide professional development day this week, three of our teachers led a session titled, "Unlocking your Super Power," and they had participants to complete the High 5 Test. The participants then shared their own results in a Google Form, and the results (Google sheet) were displayed on a screen in front of the room. Participants got to discuss their own strengths as well as those of their colleagues.

You can see my results below:

From the website, I was able to find the description of each trait.

Coach

Coaches enjoy discovering the potential in other people and supporting

their personal growth. They find it hard to accept when this potential is

getting wasted.

Self-Believer

Self-Believers are independent and self-sufficient people, inspiring others

with their certainty and confidence. They cannot stand when others tell

them what to do or control their actions. 

Optimist

Optimists enjoy giving praise on what’s right about people and being

grateful for what they have. They find it hard to be around people who

constantly pick out what’s wrong in everything. 

Empathizer

Empathizers are great at noticing how others feel and using this

understanding to do something good. They are frustrated when asked to

disregard feelings and emotions and follow strict logic instead.

Catalyst

Catalysts enjoy getting things started and creating momentum in a

stagnant environment. Catalysts cannot stand waiting and wasting time

when they could be getting things off the ground.

How could taking the High 5 Test and sharing results with each other impact the culture of your school?


If you take the High 5 Test, feel free to share your results in the comments below!