11 February 2022

Understanding Your Strengths At Work

Chloe Feather

Red Tiger Consulting

CATEGORIES

As a university graduate looking to secure their first role and kickstart their career, the thought of breaking into an industry without really understanding your strengths and how you perform best can be a bit daunting. How can you know if the role is right for you? Will it suit your skillset whilst continuing to energise and motivate you? Or will you feel more drained once you become settled into the role and realise, perhaps this specific job isn’t for you? 

I’d experienced some of these thoughts myself whilst I was applying for jobs, apprehensive about what would be the right fit for me as I’ve always been someone who is excited by a range of career paths but had no clear, singular passion as ‘their chosen route’. So once I had found my first role, it was important to me to figure out what my strengths actually are, and how I can use them in my work to perform better and enjoy what I do best.

Red Tiger actively encouraged me to take the Strengthscope® test and coaching session as it would benefit not only me personally, but it can help employers to create a better work environment that aligns with their employees’ strengths. Taking advantage of what Strengthscope® provides is definitely something that employers should support, because why wouldn’t they want to give you the tools to perform at your optimum?

WHAT IS STRENGTHSCOPE ® ?

Strengthscope’s® mission is to “reveal the unique strengths of people across the world enabling them to bring their most authentic and inspired selves to work and to life every day”. It is a psychometric test designed to help people identify their unique strengths, enabling you to stretch yourself in areas that energise you whilst acknowledging and addressing areas that fuel you with less motivation. This short video succinctly describes Strengthscope®.

I began by taking the test which is a series of questions that only took about 20 minutes to complete. It was important to answer honestly and without overthinking any of the questions, so that the results would reflect your truest self and more accurately calculate your strengths wheel and Significant 7 strengths. The resulting Strengthscope® Report contains a strengths wheel (see the image of my own wheel) that clearly depicts all 24 strengths with your scores rated on a standardised scale from 1 to 10, broken into 4 quadrants. Your Significant 7 are highlighted in purple; these strengths are the ones that are more natural and energising for you in work.

MY STRENGTHSCOPE ® COACHING EXPERIENCE

After the test I booked a 2-hour coaching call with a Strengthscope® Master Practitioner, Steph, to discuss my results profile in more detail. We broke down what the strengths wheel meant for me, looking at not just those in purple but other highly rated areas, such as Creativity and Courage, and those that I’m less strong in like Relationship Building. After that, we had an in-depth assessment of each of my Significant 7 strengths which were:

  • Critical Thinking
  • Detail Orientation
  • Efficiency
  • Emotional Control
  • Initiative
  • Resilience
  • Results Focus

I had expected the Detail Orientation and Results Focus strengths, which showed my Strengthscope® profile really did know how my mind works and how I like to perform, but a few others were more surprising and revealed some really interesting insights that I had never considered before, like my Emotional Control. This part of the session involved highlighting specific ways in which I can stretch each of my Significant 7, using relevant examples and scenarios from my own work. We also went through recognising overdrive risks and how to reduce them to avoid burnout, working through possible actions I could take to reduce these risks whilst still pushing my performance levels.

I also found value in being more aware of my ‘least strong’ strengths as we discussed examples in the workplace where these could arise, and how to deal with them. The coaching session felt very intense and personal, which makes sense since it’s all about you and what drives you! However, even as someone who can take a bit to open up, the session felt very comfortable and engaging, not to mention incredibly useful as I gained so much knowledge and insight into, essentially, how I function best.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR STRENGTHS WITH STRENGTHSCOPE ®

Understanding your strengths to fit to the role that's right for you jigsaw pieces graphic

I can’t stress enough the benefits of taking the Strengthscope® test and having the follow-up coaching session as a graduate or prior to finding a new role (whether it be a shift in role or an entirely new career move), rather than waiting until a motivational rut hits you and work begins to feel more draining than inspiring. Understanding your strengths can help you evaluate which roles align with what you need and where you could thrive, which is a great tool to have when applying for jobs as interviews then become a space for you to truly assess how the job would correlate to your individual strengths.

Once you’re in a role and have a busy workload, having that deeper understanding of your strengths allows you to shape the role and its demands to you rather than changing yourself to fit the job. This works individually as well as in a team setting; playing to your strengths and each others can help with balancing the workload, task prioritisation, and recognising signs of burnout or demotivation in your colleagues. By being aware of tasks that may not be the most suited to you and comparing your colleagues’ Strengthscope®, tasks can then be allocated accordingly. This helps to drive overall employee motivation and performance by creating the most cohesive team environment.

For me personally, I can see how understanding your strengths is indispensable to your working mindset; being attuned to your strengths and matching these to your methods of work enables you to push and challenge yourself without becoming drained or demotivated. In my 3-month review, my Strengthscope® was a really valuable source of assessing my performance in line with what I have achieved and areas I was working well in. When it came to setting objectives for the next 6 months, I could use it to set goals that wouldn’t hinder me but allow me to grow and develop.

If you would like to find out more about how Strengthscope® can benefit you, your team, or your business, please contact us on coaching@redtigerconsulting.co.uk.

Photo by Yan Krukov from Pexels

https://www.strengthscope.com/about


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Published by Chloe Feather

Chloe is a recent Human Geography graduate from the University of Leeds, working as Red Tiger’s Research and Marketing Manager

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