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Rediscover your strengths – another sabbatical experiment. My sabbatical has shown me another treasure. My current network is rich. There are so many people I’ve not taken the time to connect with yet. The more connections I nurture, the more synchronicity happens. I may best explain synchronicity with the following quote:
Did you ever observe to whom the accidents happen? Chance favours only the prepared mind.
Louis Paster
I had a deep conversation with Silke on her coaching education experience offered by CTI. Silke Klees works as a coach. Thanks to Isa Zöller and the Working Out Loud activities at SAP, I met her. Both Silke and Isa offer also Design Your Life workshops.
Silke recommended that I participate in a CliftonStrengths 34 assessment, formerly known as Gallup Strength Finder. This assessment is based on decades of research to assess people’s talents. It focuses on what you naturally do best. The formula is Talent x Investment = Strength.
The assessment is not for free. It costs about 50 Euro. If you also want to do it, please opt for a time when you are at your best: the assessment consists of 177 pairs of statements that you have to answer in a maximum of 20 seconds each. Hence, you can assess yourself in about 40 minutes.
For the money, I’ve received four reports with my results. The reports offer a personalized assessment for each talent area. The statements are based on the 177 answers that I’ve shared. The reports are beneficial as they also suggest measures to leverage the full potential of each talent and some hints on blind spots. Additionally, I’ve gotten the StrengthsFinder 2.0 e-book and access to online courses.
My signature strengths are as follows:
I’m grateful that Silke has offered me a session to debrief the assessment reports. So, I could benefit to a maximum from her experience as a Certified Strength Coach. Silke especially outlined the qualities of the combination of strengths:
So, I’m not only a continuous learner and avid collector of ideas, but I can deliver reliably based on my arranger and responsibility talents. Most of my talents are in the field of relationship building. For me, the quality of relationships is essential. As a leader, this helps forge strong team cohesion and build trusted networks. Therefore, arranger, Empathy, Maximizer tend to amplify the Relator talent.
Another aspect that she highlighted is essential: finding the right environment to work in is critical. Imagine if everybody would work in a place where they could contribute to the best of their potential. New work put simply: everyone at the right place to build on their strengths. Hence, I must work in an environment that offers free space, autonomy, complexity, and opportunities to connect with inspiring people and coach people.
Last but not least, Silke observed that my top 10 strengths are from all four domains: relationship building, strategic thinking, executing and influencing. I know how to establish strong relations, distil insights from experiments and complex interactions, form teams that deliver outcomes, and contribute to the personal growth of people I work with.
Thank you, Silke, for inviting me to participate in the CliftonStrengths assessment. This experience has been worth each euro and will serve my continuous development. Please check Silke’s coaching offering in German.
I’ll close this post with a cross-check of the strengths with my core values, and really, the values are the foundations for my strengths:
This blog post has been first published on my previous blog.
Categories: #discovery #fulfillment #career
Tags: #workenvironment #assessment #cliftonstrengths #strengths #synchronicity
