StrengthsFinder 2.0 – Using Your Talents

Have you taken the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment yet? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it! I originally took the assessment in October 2007. See my update below when I took it again in June 2018. I republished this post December 2019.

The book StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Jim Rath is a #1 Wall Street Journal and #1 BusinessWeek bestseller that introduced the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment with features that include a personalized Strengths Insight Report, an Action-Planning Guide, and a web-based Strengths Community. The Gallup organization recently re-branded the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment to CliftonStrengths. The CliftonStrengths assessment is the same one featured in StrengthsFinder 2.0 and their other bestselling books.

The online assessment will bring your top 5 strengths, they call talents, to the surface. Knowing these strengths is powerful because it can help you stay focused in your job, business, organization and your personal life. It helps you understand what you like, how you work with others, and what makes you happy!

Learn How I Work as well as about my strengths!

My Top 5 are Activator, Communication, Ideation, Focus and Futuristic …

So, what does that mean?

The book (and now their online reports) explain all of the talents in great detail and what careers or roles you will be good at naturally. It suggests people to partner with who have opposite strengths to help you meet your goals. Knowing your strengths helps you focus on your job, business, team, or organization. Its fun to ask others what their talents are too to help create stronger relationships and improve teamwork.

If you fully understand what my Strengths are, then that will give you a clue as to the type of service I offer my clients.

1 Activator

“When can we start?” This is a recurring theme in my life. I thrive on action. Action makes things happen and leads to performance. Action is the best device for learning. I enjoy start-up or turnaround projects. I can transform innovative ideas into immediate action. I work with creative and innovative clients to help move their ideas forward. I can easily energize the plans my clients have already created or develop a plan from scratch. I have the ability to create motion and momentum in others.

2 Communication

I like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. I energize events and ideas to make them exciting and vivid. I believe most people have a short attention span, they are bombarded with information and very little survives. I want information I create with my clients – whether an idea, print material, website, a product’s features and benefits, a discovery – to survive. I love blogs, newsletters, podcasts and online communication tools.

3 Ideation

I am fascinated by ideas and concepts. I am always looking for connections, I am energized by connecting people and fulfilling their needs for one another. I get a jolt of energy when I get a new idea for a workshop, a group, a blog post. I love start-ups who have lots of questions and need lots of ideas to get their business started. I like working with clients who need a makeover too, new ideas to infuse their business with fire! I love to read and learn more about marketing, business and finance. I love to create a list of ideas and let my clients pick the ones that resonate with them, then focus in on those and make them a reality.

4 Focus

I often ask, “What’s the plan?” I like to know where I’m headed, I need a clear destination. I set goals that serve as my compass, helping me determine priorities and make the necessary correction to stay on track. My Focus is powerful because it forces me to filter; I instinctively evaluate whether or not a particular action will help my client move towards their goal. Those that don’t, we ignore. Having a Focus strength helps me be efficient naturally. During meetings and sessions, I am the one who brings the group back to focus on the task at hand. I have the discipline to balance my work and home life, business and family, community and travel. I enjoy roles where my clients give me independence. I build their trust so when they have an idea or a project to be completed, they can comfortably say, “Can you just take care of it?” They don’t need to hold my hand and constantly check-in on my progress. They know I provide results, and do it efficiently. Having focus as a talent helps lead me to solid and long-lasting success.

5 Futuristic

This talent surprised me at first, but after I fully understood its meaning, I get it. Being Futuristic means asking the question, “Wouldn’t it be great if…” I do love to peer over the horizon and am fascinated with what the future holds. What can be developed or invented by my clients? I am a dreamer and I love to learn about the vision my clients have for their business or organization. Visions energize me and, with my other skills, I can energize others too! Again, this is why I like new ideas, new products, start-ups and makeovers. I like to get the ball rolling. I love brainstorming about ideas to make them better, I inspire others with my ideas and images of the future. Some say I make a great coach and teacher. I love helping clients move forward.

So, if you are looking for a marketing person with talents like mine, I’d love to hear from you! AND…I’d love to know what your Top 5 Strengths are too so we can maximize our time together.

Learn more about the CliftonStrengths Assessment and the Gallup Organization.

Update: December 3, 2019 – New Assessment Results

A good friend of mine is certified in CliftonStrengths and she coaches people and organizations on the subject. In June of 2018, I retook the assessment to see if my priorities, and how I view myself, changed as I got older and moved into a new stage in my life. My top 5 Strengths did indeed shuffle a bit, and I also paid an additional fee to open up my full 34 talents in order to see what happened to the ones that dropped out of my Top 5 and where the new ones ranked last time. It’s taken me a while to embrace my new Top 5. It’s like finding out you aren’t who you thought you were and it’s taken some getting used to. I know my original Top 5 off the top of my head, still learning to recite my new Top 5 but they do make sense given what I focus my time on these days.

1 Maximizer (previously #7)

I focus on strengths as a way to stimulate excellence in my clients and their organizations. I seek to transform something strong into something superb, like revamping a website! I routinely use my insights into people’s strengths to energize and inspire them to do what needs to be done, like teaching my clients how to keep their website updated. I honor the special and rare qualities in people and I try to position them to attain ever higher levels of excellence. I invest time thinking about people’s good points rather than agonizing over their shortcomings. By nature, I have an ability to talk with people. I savor conversations in which ideas or feelings are freely exchanged. I am always excited to learn about my client’s needs.

2 Learner (previously #10)

I have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than outcome, excites me. I long to know more so I can remain on the cutting edge in my field and areas of interest, I research a lot! I like it when my clients ask “Can you make my website do x?” My inventive mind usually generates more possibilities than I can handle sometimes. Nevertheless, I am committed to acquiring knowledge and skills. I enjoy a quiet room to do my thinking and my research so I can focus. I regard education as an ongoing activity.

3 Activator (previously #1, see above)

4 Futuristic (previously #4, see above)

5 Relator (previously #11)

I enjoy close relationships with others and I find a deep satisfaction in working hard with friends and clients to achieve a goal. I do my best work when I can bring my expertise to my client or a group. I am often referred to as a counselor, people keep coming back to me for words of wisdom, opinions and advice, I’m approachable. I enjoy learning what others want to accomplish and often find myself digging into their subject by reading books or blogs to learn more. I feel fulfilled when I am performing tasks to further my client’s goals.

Communication moved to #8, Ideation to #15 and Focus to #19. I still lead with Influencing CliftonStrengths themes, they help me to take charge, speak up, and make sure others are heard. I enjoyed learning my new Top 5 Strengths. Do you know what yours are? It’s so insightful to learn your own because you can start to determine what strengths your teammates have when you work together and it creates stronger relationships and respect for others.

Michelle Aspelin, Entrepreneur and Professional Implementer
Mindshare Marketing & Implementation Services, LLC