Using StrengthsFinder for Work - A Personal Reflection for 2015

As a Strengthsfinder Coach, I am often asked: "How could I use my strengths to improve my performance?" While applying our strengths to achieve better performance is not rocket science, the ability to do that is not necessarily intuitive. This article is about one of Strengths School™'s key philosophies and how I applied my strengths towards a greater work performance in 2015. 

In Strengths School™, we are firm believers in being intentional in aiming our strengths towards our personal goals. Hence, I set out at the beginning of 2015 to aim each of my strengths towards a personal goal. Each of these goals is also aligned to the business objectives of Strengths School™. I hope that by sharing this progress report, you will get an idea of how I used my strengths in my leadership and be encouraged to use yours! 

Using my Activator:

As an Activator, I'm proud to be the designer of a program called the Game of Life™. This interactive and action-packed game was designed to engage students using an experiential and self-directed learning approach. Needless to say, this is also my favourite program because it's so action-packed! In the beginning of 2015,  I set a goal to conduct this Game of Life™ program for 4 different schools. I'm not only proud to have reached this goal in December but also extremely pleased that the ratings given for the game are through the roof - the teachers and students love it!

Whenever I meet educators, I intentionally use my Activator strength to highlight the advantages of the experiential learning approach for students to discover their strengths. I also use my Activator strength to fine-tune and make the game even more applicable by drawing out key learning points for participants.

Using my Communication:

The idea of using my Communication strength to write instead of only using it to speak was dropped into my head by Jason, my Business Partner. With his encouragement, I started a Strengthsfinder blog with the aim to further people's understanding of each of the 34 Strengthsfinder talent themes. I planned to write an article for each of the 34 Strengthsfinder theme, focusing on growing each of the talents to strengths. Even though I have yet to finish writing all 34 articles, I've surprised myself by completing 24 of them in the midst of a crazy work schedule and juggling a newborn in the family. What kept me going was definitely the encouragement that I received from people from all over the world (If you are one of them, I am really thankful!) It's indeed a surprise to receive so many encouraging notes about the blog posts. These motivated me to keep doing what I'm doing, and to do it even better each time. 

Using my Strategic:

The technological landscape has changed the way businesses are run. In Strengths School™, while our key business focus is to continue to deliver quality coaching and workshops for our clients, we also want to be ahead in our branding and marketing. Together with Jason, we set a goal for Strengths School™ to be the top Google search result for "Strengthsfinder Singapore." We want to be an authority in the field of Strengthsfinder in our home country and to be the best we can be in Singapore and Asia. Using my Strategic strength, I came up with different strategies to reach this goal. We are glad that we met our goal in November 2015! 

Using my Self-Assurance:

I believe that in order to be an authority in Strengthsfinder coaching in Singapore and Asia, I need to be effectively bilingual. Drawing on my confidence from within, I set an audacious goal for myself to facilitate Strengthsfinder workshops and coaching sessions in the Chinese language within a year. I had to intentionally set aside time to learn the different technical terms in the Chinese language, I pushed myself hard to overcome many challenges. I am proud to announce that I conducted a full 2-day Strengthsfinder workshop for a Multinational Corporation in Shanghai, China, using only the Chinese language. I scored an average of a 4/5 rating from the 20 participants who attended, which added to my personal satisfaction. I also facilitated 3 other Strengthsfinder workshops in Singapore using the Chinese language. My wife thought I was mad when I told her my goal at the beginning of the year. I think my Self-Assurance gave me the confidence to go for it!

Using my Command:

I've always believed that a stronger company is the result of a stronger team of high performing individuals. The Command strength gave me the confidence and clarity to direct the path. A goal was set to build a stronger Strengths School™ team by the end of 2015. Having started with a team of just 3, Strengths School™ has flourished to its present team of 5 full-time staff and over 20 associate trainers and facilitators. The Strengths School™ team leverages greatly on each other's strengths as we set out to fulfill our vision - "seeing every generation live out their full potential." Just recently, we celebrated Christmas as a team. It was truly a highlight!

As we approach the end of 2015 and move into 2016, the question I would like to pose to you is: "How are you intentionally living out your strengths every day?"

Written by Victor Seet

Activator • Communication • Strategic • Self-Assurance • Command

As a Gallup certified StrengthsFinder coach, Victor is passionate about strengths engagement and now runs his own training company, Strengths School™. He has been actively giving StrengthsFinder leadership and team building workshops to businesses and schools in Singapore as well as Hong Kong, China (Nanjing and Shanghai) and India. He also writes frequently on his blog (victor-seet.com).