Strengths Quest Heidi Lender Assistant Director Augsburg College

Strengths. Quest Heidi Lender, Assistant Director Augsburg College Strommen Career and Internship Center THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION Copyright © 2004 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved.

Understanding Your Strengths Helps You… VOCATION / LIFE PURPOSE Make More Informed Decisions Around… Career Planning & Meaningful Work academics RELATIONSHIPS LEADERSHIP Community Building THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION 2

KNOW YOURSELF! • We all can say what we are good at, but taking the Strengths. Quest assessment helps you to understand it at a different level and gives you language to articulate it better • We have all been given gifts or “talents” • Identifies your greatest talents, which are your sources of potential strengths • All strengths are created equal THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION 3

Understanding Strengths. . . • This instrument originated out of positive psychology • Developed by Gallup over 30 years ago for businesses who wanted to get the most out of their employees • Gallup conducted millions of psychological interviews and identified 34 themes of talent THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION 4

Understanding Strengths. . . • What’s the Opposite of a Strength? THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION 5

Weakness Fixing: The Wrong Assumptions All behaviors can be learned. • • If you try hard enough, you can do it. If you want it badly enough, you can do it. If you dream it, you can achieve it. Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninetynine per cent perspiration. Weakness fixing leads to success. How many positive affirmations do you need to off-set one negative one? THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION Copyright © 2004 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved. 6

FACTS…. • Gallup has studied Strengths and Weaknesses for over 30 years…. Their Findings: Ø You can’t really turn a weakness into a “TRUE” Strength Ø You can spend A LOT of time trying to fix a weakness, but you will only bring that D up to a C! Ø Trying to “Fix” your weaknesses drains you of all of your energy Ø People who concentrate on using their Strengths are more successful and more energized THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION 7

“Despite the American myth, I cannot be or do whatever I desire – a truism, to be sure, but a truism we often defy. Our created natures make us like organisms in an ecosystem: There are some roles and relationships in which we thrive and others in which we wither and die. ” Parker Palmer “You can’t be anything you want to be, but you can be a whole lot more of who you are” Curt Liesveld THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION 8

Talents and Strengths There is a difference between Talents and Strengths… Talent: A naturally recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied. Talents are inborn and can turn into a potential Strength THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION 9

Talents, Knowledge, Skills, and Strengths Strength: The ability to provide consistent, nearperfect performance in a given activity. To build your strengths, identify your talents, and add knowledge and skills. Strength = Talent + Knowledge + Skills “Talent without technique is merely a bad habit. ” Pablo Picasso THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION 10

Signature Themes and How You Use Them Strengths Description/ Definition of the Strength THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION Why it’s a strength (What does it enable/empower me to do) When/where I recently used this Strength Copyright © 2004 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved. 11