The Power of Strengths

"Congratulations Trevor," I heard over the phone after debriefing my final strengths coaching exam. "You are now a certified Strengths Strategy coach!"

The amount of gratitude I felt in that moment didn't surprise me as much as the tears that came with it. I had started the 10-month program a year and a half before and had wondered countless times if I had it in me to turn my financial and emotional investment into an official coaching certification. But it wasn't the certification itself that brought me to tears, it was the transformation I had experienced during the certification program. 

"Trevor?" My name through the phone speaker brought me back from my tearful reflection to my dining room table.  

"I'm sorry," I said with a broken voice. "I didn't expect to get this emotional after hearing I had earned the certification. It's just that I have experienced some overwhelming life changes over the past couple of years and nothing has helped me get through it more than this program. What I've learned about strengths from this program saved me." 

Three Years Earlier...

"Have you ever heard of StrengthsFinder?" my boss asked me one day during my work shift. I was working at my university's Business Career Center and a recruiter from Gallup had come that morning to present on Strengths-Based Leadership. "No, I haven't," I responded and she went on to describe an online assessment that produces your Top Five Signature Themes of Talent. "The idea behind strengths psychology is that you have the greatest potential in the areas that come most naturally to you so that's where you should invest the majority of your energy," she explained.

The concept was intriguing albeit counterintuitive. I had grown up being taught that I should identify the areas of greatest weakness and spend all my effort "bridging the gap." I was constantly trying to be good at everything, completely well-rounded, the ultimate embodiment of perfection and success. With some reluctance and a bit of skepticism I took the assessment and was surprised by the results, mostly because a few of my themes were words I had never seen before. My Top Five Signature Themes of Talent were:

1. Strategic
2. Connectedness
3. Ideation
4. Individualization
5. Empathy

I dove into my Gallup StrengthsFinder reports right away and began a thorough study of what these themes meant and how they manifested themselves in my life. It was hard at first. My first theme was the most challenging to see. I shared the description of my Strategic theme with my closest friends and asked them to describe to me how they saw it. Soon it became very clear how my Strategic theme was woven into my life approach - I was always looking at the big picture and was energized by identifying a goal and then generating multiple options or paths to get there. Almost everything I did was an innately calculated step towards my end goal. 

I quickly became more acquainted with the less familiar themes. Connectedness, for example, was my natural ability to connect the intricacies of my life and the lives of others together and ultimately to something bigger. Ideation explained my mind's habit of connecting the dots and my natural creativity and imagination. Individualization led me to learn everyone's story, understand how they ticked, and celebrate their unique talents and perspectives. My Empathy showed up through my innate sensitivity to the emotional state of others and my ability to truly stand in another's shoes.

Before taking the StrengthsFinder assessment, it wasn't as clear to me that these particular themes of talent came more naturally to me than perhaps they did to others. According to Gallup's definition of a talent, these themes explained my natural patterns of thought and thus greatly affected the way I saw things. Understanding how my themes of talent combined uniquely to make powerfully unique contributions not only gave me a newfound confidence but it also helped me see and admire the unique and powerful contributions of others. The 34 StrengthsFinder Themes of Talent provided a powerful and clear framework to understand other people's perspectives and their greatest contributions. 

With this newfound strengths language and a simple way to see the unique contributions each team member was making, our team began to transform. Instead of competing with each other we began to rely on each other for the strengths that each of us brought to the table. Those with Woo thrived working with recruiters and made them feel instantly welcomed when they visited campus. The Maximizers were given the opportunity to improve processes and encouraged to offer valuable feedback to help increase efficiency. As we let go of needing to be great at everything, we naturally settled into the roles we were best at and enjoyed the most. As I freely acknowledged and celebrated the talents of my fellow team member, I felt like my unique contributions were being acknowledged and celebrated in return.

My boss asked me to strategically integrate StrengthsFinder into our team culture and leadership curriculum (to my Strategic's delight) and I put my Themes of Talent to work. I saw each of them at play as I considered the individual characteristics of each team member and generated ideas that would allow each of them to shine. The more I saw how positively StrengthsFinder impacted our team, the more I wanted to share it! It wasn’t long before all of my immediate family members and closest friends had taken the assessment.  

A year later I began the Strengths Strategy Coaching Certification to become a professional strengths coach. For the next 30 weeks I experienced an even deeper personal transformation as I learned how to be confidently vulnerable. I gained a greater level of confidence in my strengths and became more willing to be vulnerable about my blind spots and weaknesses. I saw more clearly how the frustration and fulfillment in my life was directly linked to my strengths. I learned tools that helped me eliminate and respond more effectively to toxic triggers. I acquired the skills I needed to see the power within myself and others via their strengths. 

During and directly after the coaching certification process I went through a huge life transition. I graduated from school, began a new relationship, moved across the country, started a new job, examined my faith, and came out as gay. There were times when I was completely overwhelmed by all the processing and change I was experiencing. What helped me get though it was the knowledge that regardless of the changes happening in my life, I would always be able to find happiness and fulfillment using my strengths to help others. 

I use what I've learned about strengths everyday in my work and in my relationships. It helps me more authentically admire others and their unique contributions. It enables me to be more understanding of different perspectives and approaches. It gives me the words to acknowledge and point out the good in others. It helps me stay true to myself and be okay with what I am and what I'm not.