The today’s post “Do you know your strengths?” is written by my friend and colleague Katarína Medvecová Plichtová. She is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and also partner E2GROW in Slovakia. You can learn more about her at: http://katkamedvecova.sk/
I will start with a quote from Business Guru Peter Drucker, who said, “Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong. At the same time, one can perform one’s best performances and be the best version of oneself only through one’s strengths”
We often try to copy people we like, they are our role models. Only when we do everything according to them do we lose our unique ingredient, which is worth noting. Our education system teaches us to direct our attention more often to what we are not doing than to what we are good at. Honor the exceptions. Yes, even subjects from which we have bad grades or the skills we need deserve our attention so that we can learn them to a usable level. However, what we should devote more time to is exactly what we are doing naturally. What we have a talent for. Where are our strengths. We should get to know each other more and find what is the recipe for our success. Look for ways to do it more often and in different areas of our lives. At work, in business, in families, in the communities in which we move.
How can I know my strengths?
Notice what is going on easily, well, naturally. We usually say to our talent: “it’s nothing” or “everyone knows it”. You can notice what gives you energy. In which activities your time passes quickly and at the same time you feel that they supply you with energy? When you deal with things, what is your way of succeeding? What is the ingredient in your success? What did you manage e.g. in the last 12 months and what do you think made it possible? Ask your colleagues, friends, family… to tell you what you are good at. How do you stand out by the way they know you? And you can gain first knowledge, an awareness of what you are good at.
The second way is to purchase an online assessment from Gallup from the comfort of your home. It is directly available to you right now at: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en and you will have your talents black and white.
Examining strengths is not enough
Of course, as with everything, the survey alone is not enough. It is not enough to go to a course and you will succeed. It is not enough to read a book of personal development and you are a better version of yourself. So it’s not enough to just read about your strengths. Because in a month you will forget what talents you have. We have some talents developed, we use them daily in different situations. Some talents are not so developed, because we did not pay attention to them or even we didn’t discover them in ourselves, or we have a bad memory in the realization and we buried our talent. Our greatest potential and our uniqueness lie in our talents. And it is a great pity if we do not use our potential to the full. In order for talent to become our strength, our “superpower”, our time and willingness to devote itself to it is needed. Learn to involve our talents and strengths in life as much as possible.
What can I get working on my strengths?
The better you know, the more you understand that people are different, and the more you look for uniqueness in each of us. By learning about your strengths, you will understand how we look at the world. You will understand that when someone has other strengths, they look at the world around them from a different perspective. Because your strengths are also your eyes. At the same time, the opposite is true, the world sees you through your actions, through your strengths. You understand more of the actions of family members, friends, colleagues, business partners. What I really like is finding out which of your strengths you use in which situation, interaction, and reflection, you have the option of using some other talent that you find you have. And you will learn to deal with situations that may have recurred so far and you have been unsuccessful in resolving them. A new action, a different reaction will bring you a different result. You know your values, which are important to you. This makes it easier for you to make decisions in life.
Important figures
Gallup conducts regular professional surveys with 80 years of experience. The numbers below are directly from their sources. They have them freely available on their site. The companies that were monitored and worked with strengths achieved:
- profit increase min. by 14%
- increase in sales min. by 10%
- increase in customer involvement by min. 3%
- increase in employee involvement min. by 9%
The whole process of working with strengths is based on positive psychology. There is nothing to fear. Sometimes we are afraid of what we will actually learn about ourselves. Do not worry. It is a very useful and interesting way of self-knowledge. And I finish with a quote from Don Clifton, former president of Gallup and creator of the online assessment CliftonStrengths: “What will happen when we think what is right with people rather than fixating what is wrong with them?”
Katarína Medvecová Plichtová
Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach; Partner E2GROW for Slovakia
