My strengths test came back with my top five themes being
Responsibility, Harmony, Adaptability, Includer, and Arranger. These, as a whole, did not surprise me and
individually each one showed me something about myself that I always thought to
be true of myself but was not certain if I truly portrayed those
characteristics or not.
My top theme hit on what I believe is my biggest quality;
Responsibility. They describe it as someone who takes a psychological ownership
of their commitments and abide by stable values. This overview is an incredibly
accurate picture of myself. I find that this is one that is already something
that is actively portrayed through my life in that I tend to go to the extreme
of this and over commit myself or find it very difficult to say no when asked
to help with something. This, regardless
of how many problems and difficulties it may cause, is one of my greatest
traits that drives me to finish what I start and make sure that it comes out completed
to a high standard of excellence. There
is a deep commitment made when I say ‘yes’ to a project, especially one that is
inline with a passion or hobby of mine.
To me,
there are few things worse than having everyone else complete the assignment
and then having mine incomplete or done poorly.
I work hard to ensure that I don’t see that fear come true and I do what
needs to be done before it’s asked to be done.
I find that I resource a great deal of questions to professionals and
others who are much more knowledgeable than I am in areas when I am making a
decision and if I am presenting a plan or idea to them it’s usually with the
hopes that they are going to congratulate me on finding the most solid solution
possible. On a whole the theme of Harmony does describe me well, however, I think
that it does describe me well only a portion of the time. There are times when this description and the
examples mentioned are exemplified in my life, but the portion of time that I
am living that description compared to the portion of time that I am not is far
greater.
Putting
what I’ve learned about myself through this strengths test into a ministry and
life setting will be abundantly helpful when trying to work with my co-workers,
volunteers, and when assembling teams.
Knowing that the Responsibility and Includer themes best fit me will
allow me to make personal ethical decisions of borders and guidelines that will
prevent myself from hurting other individuals, teams, or myself. Personally seeing leaders within the church
work hard trying to accomplish a goal by a method that they believe is the
‘best’ way while they are neglecting everybody’s individual strengths causes
tiredness, lack of motivation, and an overall unproductive atmosphere. Knowing what I have proof of about myself
will help me aim and guide my actions so that I can make decisions that will be
rooted on my strengths, as well as the strengths of others. This properly
rooted action allows for greater growth with less chance of failure.
By the
accurate definition of responsibility I am able to see how I might respond to a
probable situation in that environment and better yet, prepare a plan that
would mitigate the chance of issues or their severity. With this theme and its description in hand
it would be easy to show and prove to your employer that you can be trusted to
work independently and get the job done on time with a level of excellence
assured.
This also causes difficulties, as
experienced, because it is innate within me to push hard and accomplish every
task that is put in front of me.
Following that element of personal nature, people with the
responsibility theme as one of their top five will have an inclination to say
yes to everything asked of them and will overwork themselves to the point of,
and beyond, exhaustion. This is hugely
important to keep in mind and work around on a constant basis. Saying ‘no’ would be one of the most
difficult things to say but will, however, provide necessary freedom within the
leader, and consequently the followers, to complete their previously committed
tasks with a far greater level of excellence.
The second theme that I believed
was just as accurate and ‘spot on’ with describing myself was the theme
Includer. An Includer reacts to those
who are normally ‘left out’ and feel neglected and instinctively reaches out to
draw them in and create within the other person a sense of belonging to that
larger group. This is a huge role,
especially with an entire generation that is seeking and longing for a sense of
acceptance. The ideas that the report
gave for action after learning of this theme are a great resource of real and
practical methods that can be used, one being that as an Includer I should look
for someone to partner with who can help justify my position so I don’t
apologize too much to soften the truth when I have to tell that person bad
news.
All three of the people that I
talked to and discussed my results with believed that Responsibility and
Includer were tied for my top two themes that accurately portrayed me. Those two were also the two that I personally
felt fit my personality and character the most accurately. Each description of
those two were almost perfectly flawless and saying how I felt and acted while
the other three themes had elements that I thought portrayed me well mixed in
with elements that did not portray me or described me in ways that I felt were
far from true regardless of the circumstances I may be in.
