Analysis of My Top-5 Personal Strengths

For the duration of my life, I’ve always been taught to focus on my weaknesses rather than my own strengths. As a child, while I get expressed admiration for all the A’s I have gotten on my many subjects, the low grades such as C’s even B’s was what my guardians were mostly focused on as they without hesitation bulked down on me to get a 4.0 grade point average. Fast forwarding to when I’m on the football field, during the course of a game or practice, while my coaches also praises me on all the consummation and the positive attitudes I have on the field, it was invariably important to focus on the area that I can cultivate on. All my life, I’ve educated myself that in order for me to become a well-rounded person, I should focus on developing my weakness in order to turn that into a strength because a strength is something that I’m already good at, so there is no reason to do anything more about it. Forasmuch as, it was very alluring for me to target on scrutinizing my strengths for once because not only did I detect that many of the traits that I see as a weakness turns out to as a matter of fact to be a strength, but I also established that it’s majorly beneficial to focus on my strength and keep the ball rolling on it then just focusing on my own weakness. A good leader will learn to understand his personal strengths and abilities, as well as his own “gaps,” knowing that “without an awareness of your strengths, it’s almost impossible for you to lead effectively”. Leadership is one of the most important principles in your everyday life. Without insightful team of leaders, in my case on the football team we are more likely not able to flourish. To be lucrative as a leader, it is pivotal to put people in situations where they can work using their strengths. In the book, Strengths-Based Leadership, by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, they deliberate how to develop teams based on followers’ strengths. As part of the book, Rath and Conchie discuss the critical principle that the first step in leadership is fathoming your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Thereafter reading the book, there are subsequently five strengths determined for me as a leader, each of these strengths are outlined and are shown on how they help me attain success in the workplace. Succeeding the completion of my ‘Clifton Strengths for Students’, it was concluded that my top five strengths are adaptability, belief, ideation, significance, and responsibility.

People exceptionally 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. The adaptability theme acknowledges that I am able to adjust to events as they materialize, continually adjusting as needed based on the circumstances and the needs. Adaptability theme also refers to me as being efficiently tired when spending a lot of time with individuals who are unavailable and don’t take the minimum time period to enjoy what life has to offer. I am an adaptable team player which means I don’t get defensive. I am always willing to learn something new. It’s acceptable if it takes time to grasp something new, so long as you are willing to attempt. There are people out there for whatever reason get defensive if they have to endure change or learn something new. They put their walls up. They make it crystal clear that change is not something they want to deal with. But change happens all the time. People need to understand on the grounds of it being new doesn’t necessarily mean it will be bad. In high school I had a strength and conditioning coach for the past 3 years then as soon as I hit my final year, senior year we gain a new addition to the team a new strength and conditioning coach. Me as well as the other players were so accustomed to the other workout routines that when this coach joined the program, it was a challenge to meet his expectations in the workouts, and the head coach made the mistake in choosing a person without deliberation of how they fit within the team, when people are not “recruited to the executive team because their strengths are the best complement to those of the existing team members”. I take pleasure in new plans to better our team so I decided it would be in my best interest to willingly listen to his plan to help take this team to state. With that I built a bond with the new coach as he helped me hone my skills to play at the collegiate level. People exceptionally talented in the belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their lives. A person who has a secure moral compass would tend to belong in this department. How I was raised as a child can have a huge contribution in how unyielding the belief trait is. Due to the intimacy of my family members, I want them to have the world and more on the grounds that everyone deserves the world. My family tends to provide me with the best sacrifices for me to have the opportunity I have and in return I want to repay them for all the sweat and tears that they have had to endure. Believers gravitate to have a high impulse to want to be independent and take care of oneselves. Such as completing tasks that benefit another can have a chain reaction that have a more definite outlook on life because you know that you have aided someone out. Everyone must have an entity to hold onto and believe in throughout their life. An experience I had was when I coached for a little football team where the drive that had refined in the final quarter carried into overtime, where a failure of communication lead to a tragic loss. Despite everything, that was the uttermost dynamic moment I have ever experienced that season on a team because everyone knew what they had to do to accomplish a common goal. I took delight in knowing that my beliefs towards my teammates made us accomplish a common goal. It takes every fundamental of a team to execute what needs to be done.

People exceptionally talented in the ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena. In other words, they will perceive that no idea is an awful idea. Hence, they always keep pursuing the connections ‘tween seemingly disparate phenomena in order to catch sight of perspective to address challenges. This has helped me with teamwork because the mother of my child and I continuously argue over our child and who he will stay with once I graduate. We’ve established a concrete plan that we will put into action together with both sides of the family because it seems like an idealistic even though it sounds challenging. People exceptionally talented in the significance theme want to make a big impact. They are independent and prioritize projects based on how much influence they will have on their organization or people around them. Like I previously said I have a son, even though I don’t agree with the mother sometimes I plan to work with her for the sake of my son. I focus my energy on school and football for the chance that one day all this hard work will influence and benefit my son’s life.

People exceptionally talented in the responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty. Within the vital of teamwork, it is essential that every person involved both fathoms the work they are responsible for and makes the effort to finish the task on time and it’s acceptable. With the entire team functioning accordingly by taking accountability for their own work, they can work as one to complete what needs to be done. As being part of a football team I believe it’s part of my responsibility to put my team on my back, because I can’t help but feel responsible for others, especially for the people I care most about. When we are given a playbook as homework to fill out what each play is, what you do in these plays and so on the day before game day, I find as though it’s my responsibility to help my housemates who happen to also be my teammates in completing the task. We could get penalized the next day if this isn’t done correctly and accurately. As any person playing a game, you are required to know the plays because on game days when you freeze or don’t know the plays from front to back you will need to take ownership of your role as a player that you didn’t complete what your coach has asked of you, not only failing yourself but also your whole team. Every Friday night I take it upon myself to aid them in the struggle of completing it because the result not only falls on me and them but the football program as a whole.

My strengths are established on my upbringing and how I was raised to have a secure moral compass. I consent with all the results from the assessment, but in inclusion I also thought I had discipline. This trait keeps me from being able to handle change in a positive manner as long as everything should never change and should be routine. Those who are acquainted to me well would say that I am a creature of habit, which stems from a discipline trait. Another reason being is I grew up in an area where I always respected people not only older but younger than me and always acknowledging them with either yes ma’am or yes sir. I am fond of doing things by the book, but at the same time can acclimatize to changes. On the football field we have many strains we need to take on that isn’t by the book, but I can still manage to adapt to the environment. Talent times investment equals strength. You probably have the talent to do something but if you are not going to devote your time to better yourself then you will not be able to use your strengths adequately. Life is about taking risks and challenges and without knowing our strengths and being able to use them to lead others we are useless. The point Rath and Conchie have made clearly depicts and relates to not only our daily lives but also on the assessment. The ultimate effective leaders recognize better than to try to be someone they are not. They should always be inquiring for opportunities to reinvest in their strengths. Leaders need to stay true to who they are and make sure they have the right people around them as I am gradually beginning to do.

Works Cited

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