Completed a StrengthsFinder 2.0 survey early in January and it’s interesting to see the results.  The core idea of StrengthsFinders is that people are happiest when doing what they’re naturally good at.  You take a questionnaire where you answer questions about your preferences, and at the end you get your “Top 5 Themes”.

RTPprojector

I came to look for something like StrengthsFinders two ways.  First, I spent quite bit of time in December and over the holidays exploring ideas about what makes people happy.  There are a ton of TED talks on it (including a TED Radio Hour) and lots of other info around the web, and then there’s Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness that I pick up from time to time.  It’s all fascinating stuff.  Second, I was exploring Chatter profiles and ran across another employee who had taken the survey, and became curious about what they meant.  So I took a bit of a deeper dive and decided it was worth $10 to find my top 5.

Coincidentally, through my day job with Salesforce, I had an opportunity a few months ago to do a similar exercise during a training and I found the results fascinating.  I was primed for the pump.

My Top 5 themes (and their short descriptions from StrengthsFinder) turned out to be:

Strategic - People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Ideation - People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

Relator - People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.

Restorative - People who are especially talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.

Adaptability - People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

I don’t know yet what I’ll do with this info.  So far I’m mostly meditating on it.  One thing that surprised me as I read it just now (now!) was one of the “Adaptability Ideas for Action”: “Avoid roles that demand structure and predictability.  These roles will quickly frustrate you, make you feel inadequate and stifle your independence.”  That’s so true it’s scary.

You can find the full list of traits and themes here.