Strengthsfinder

A practical tool for:

Gaining self awareness

Increasing personal performance
Effective interviewing
 The Coach
Bob Hakes
General Manager, Kemps
• Strengths as a company culture

1.Context – insights from the past

2.Individualization – interpersonal uniqueness
3.Maximizer - excellence, next level
4.Arranger – shuffle, effective flexibility
5. Relator – engaged, one on one
 Overview
Gaining self awareness
• Development short cuts
• Top line intro to Strengthsfinder

Increasing personal performance

• Strength providers
• Finding your flow

Effective interviewing
• Strengths, substance and spiritually-centering questions
• Interview prep
• Over prepare, then go with the flow
 Development short cuts Gaining self awareness

Support
Self awareness
• Coaching
• Strengthsfinder • Mentoring
• Bar-On • Friend
• Meyers Briggs
Support
• Peers

Assessment

Challenge

Challenge (interview examples)

• Roles
• Setbacks
• Projects
 Gaining self awareness

Strengthsfinder overview
• Unique--millions of combinations
 Your signature thumb print (everyone is different)
 How your energy and excellence are best expressed

• Positive Psychology
 Build on what works

• Practical tool
 Vernacular to identify talents
 Develop talents
 Leverage strengths
 Gaining self awareness

Strengthsfinder overview
• Talent = Latent Strength
• Strength = Applied Talent
• Top 5 vs. 34
• Top 5 = 80% of what you do naturally
• Another 20%, so probably a #6, 7, or 8 in play
• Strengths are only part of all the factors of performance
 Values
 Character
 Social EQ
 Maturity

Strengths: in a word/phrase
Achiever – drive to accomplish, closure in the day
Activator – act/decide, proactive in the moment
Adaptability – mold/flex, radically in the moment
Analytical – microscopic seeing, prove it to me
Arranger – shuffle, organize, effective flexibility
Belief – values, transcendent cause
Command – will, influence, lead
Communication – story teller, translator
Competition – win, compare
Connectedness – transcendent meaning, 360* seeing
Consistency – fairness, equitable, guidelines/SOP
Context – sees/learns insights from the past
Deliberative – careful, close to the vest, sees obstacles
Developer – encouraging, sees potential, next step
Discipline – create structure/order to gain efficiency
Empathy – feelings count, sense feelings of others
Focus – create structure/order to accomplish goal
Gaining self awareness
Futuristic – sees an inspiring vision of the future
Harmony – consensus builder, great at assists
Ideation – innovate, sees break thru ideas
Includer – widen the circle, outgoing team builder
Individualization – discriminating, uniqueness
Input – hyper curious, encyclopedic knowledge
Intellection – deep study, simplify complexity (E=mc2)
Learner – drive to competence, can do, tackle new things
Maximizer – excellence, leverage, next level
Positivity – enthusiasm, fun, contagious optimism
Relator – engaged, friendship, one on one
Responsibility – deep personal ownership, follow thru
Restorative – fix, return to prior functioning
Self assurance – self confidence, sense of self
Significance – count, excels in spot light
Strategic – sees optimal path, recognizes big pic patterns
Woo – interpersonal persuasion, influence
 Strengths organization Gaining self awareness

Traction Lifestyle Wild Card

(Great at initial first steps, get movement, they have (These themes add seasoning/flavor to (These themes fit well with the other 32
spikes on them and are pervasive to others). the other strengths, orientation to life). and can’t really over function).
Activator Adaptability Communication
Command Belief Learner
Focus Consistency
Discipline
Driving Harmony Problem Solving
(Keep initiative progressing at rapid pace, more personal). Positivity (These strengths find solutions and next steps).
Achiever Responsibility Analytical
Competition Arranger
Maximizer Seeing Deliberative
Self-assurance (Show how we view the world around us). Input
Significance Analytical Restorative
Connectedness
Interpersonal Context
(Working with and approach to others, relationship building). Deliberative Problem Identification
Developer Futuristic (Brain stormers, pattern recog, clean sheet of paper).
Empathy Ideation Ideation
Includer Strategic Intellection
Individualization Strategic
Maximizer
Relator
Woo
 Increasing personal performance

Effective strengths collaboration

• How to utilize diverse strengths

– Gain a head start
– Consider all the issues
– More well rounded
 Increasing personal performance

Bob’s Top Five Greg’s Top Five

• Context • Woo
• Individualization • Strategic
• Maximizer • Positivity
• Arranger • Self-Assurance
• Relator • Activator

- Strong interpersonal strengths, - Great networker, very persuasive,

practical problem solver.
- Powerful configuration for
leveraging people’s abilities.
- Ideal job – team leader, develop
people.
influence peddler.
- Powerful selling configuration.
- Ideal job – executive level selling.
 Increasing personal performance

Contrasting strengths
rub vs collaborate

Relator Strategic
& &
Woo Context
 Increasing personal performance

Find your flow

• Leverage strengths, experience, skills,

knowledge.
• Good for the company and good for you.

optimal

Good for
company

Good for you

 Effective interviewing

Strengths & value creation

1. Strength-surfacing questions.
A. What do you yearn to do?
B. What kind of work have people told you in the past sets you apart?
C. What are you naturally drawn to, even when it’s not part of your role?
D. What do you pick up on quickly, with untutored excellence or aptitude?
E. When was the last time you felt you were in the zone?
F. What brings you deep satisfaction?
G. Describe a time you added exceptional value and got results?

2. What common threads emerge from your answers above?

3. What do these common threads say about your unique value?
 Effective interviewing

Substance & capacity questions

1. What are you passionate about?
2. What are your non-negotiables?
3. Tell me about the last mistake you made?
4. What was the last difficult decision you made? What made it difficult?
5. Describe a time you took an unpopular position, stood up for the underdog or
backed someone who was wrongly accused.
6. What circumstances bring out positive emotion (Eustress) in you? Same
question for negative emotion (distress).
7. What have you found to be the keys to managing your emotional weather
patterns?
8. Describe a time you got results by working with someone with complementary
strengths and skills. What worked? Were there any frustrations?
 Effective interviewing

Spiritually centering questions

1. What do you feel God has prepared for you? How are you doing? Hopeful?
Despair?
2. What connection do you find between God, your strengths and your best & true
self?
3. Describe a time in the past when God spoke clearly to you? What were your
surroundings? What did it feel like?
4. How can your strengths become virtuous? What is the value of virtuous
strengths?
5. How do you refuel spiritually?
 Effective interviewing

Interview structure
Business Summary
Why did your job exist?
How did your job drive profit for the company?
30 seconds

Value Proposition
What unique value did you bring to your job?
What were you known for?
30 seconds

STAR examples
SUMMARIZE the situation
Describe the TASK at hand
What ACTION steps were taken
What were the RESULTS
90 seconds

©2010 Hakes/Edwards - All rights reserved

 Effective interviewing

STAR examples
Principles
• Examples give you credibility
• Your accomplishments from the past will be repeated in the future

Areas of what counts

Tasks that demonstrate:
1. Initiative and follow through
2. Taking a leadership role
3. Effective problem solving
4. Effective communication – persuading a person or group of people
5. Working with others collaboratively
6. Creativity and innovation
7. Results achieved through priority setting
8. Technical mastering

©2010 Hakes/Edwards - All rights reserved

 Effective interviewing

STAR example worksheet

Summarize summarize the situation, pithy facts and embellish

Task insert what counts for the task at hand

Action insert the strength leveraged during your action step

Results be clear, finish strong, primary and secondary

©2010 Hakes/Edwards - All rights reserved

 Effective interviewing

STAR example worksheet

Summarize Needed team approval on new business initiative/proposal

Task Communicating, influence, working with others

Action Individualization – during presentation used language that uniquely

spoke to each decision maker, pre-presentation provided
information to slower decision maker, checked in often to clarify

Results Initiative approved - Created excitement, generated momentum

©2010 Hakes/Edwards - All rights reserved

 Effective interviewing

Over prepare, then read & react

©2010 Hakes/Edwards - All rights reserved

 Effective interviewing

Meeting structure
Meeting I.
 Review Strengthsfinder top 5 and strengths-surfacing answers.
 Develop a clear value proposition.
 Introduce substance & capacity and spiritual-centering questions.

Meeting II.
 Play back your understanding of strengths and value proposition.
 Review substance & capacity and spiritual-centering answers.
 Intro biz summary and value proposition.

Meeting III.
 Tie together the three Q&A worksheets.
 Practice biz summary and value proposition.
 Intro STAR examples.

Meeting IV.
 Review completed STAR worksheet.
 Practice two examples.
©2010 Hakes/Edwards - All rights reserved
 Effective interviewing

Coaching information
• Coaching definition: helping someone meet the requirements of the game.

• Coaches: Dawn Edwards, Bob Hakes

• Next steps if interested:

Read “Now Discover Your Strengths” by Buckingham and Clifton.

Take the Strengthsfinder test to determine your top 5.
Fill out the strength and value creation worksheet (slide 13).
Contact Bud Becker at bbud1@comcast.net

©2010 Hakes/Edwards - All rights reserved