I recently read the book by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie called Strength Based Leadership. The book looks at what strengths each person has in terms of leadership. Each of us may have different strengths that we bring to the Job. The book infers that if we evaluate what our strengths are and what are the strengths of those around us we can better organize and use the strengths of each person to build the best possible organization. The book defines thirty four themes of leaders and categorizes them into four domains. I won't list all 34 themes, but the 4 domains are; Executing, Influencing, Relationship building, and Strategic Planning. When I purchased the book it came with a code so that I could go to their website and take an evaluation questionnaire that would tell me my leadership strengths. The program they use is call Strength Finder 2.0 and the website link is http://strengths.gallup.com/110659/Homepage.aspx . As you may have guessed I took the evaluation. My top five themes of leadership are "Arranger, Individualization, Context, Connectedness, and Futuristic". I will show the results they sent me for the first theme "Arranger" just so you can get a taste of what they came up with. The Arranger theme falls under the Executing domain.
Arranger
By nature, you are willing to stop whatever you are doing and thinking to talk to group members about large-scale ideas. Often these conversations help you figure out how to coordinate events, projects, investments, schedules, mergers, or trips. Chances are good that you sometimes marvel at how good your life is. Favorable feelings may flood over you when you determine how diverse individuals can better cooperate. Perhaps you are happy when you can figure out how they can be more productive. Maybe you are delighted when even just a few people begin to appreciate each other’s talents, knowledge, or skills. It’s very likely that you are likely to be a team member in some cases and the team leader in other instances. The role you play probably reflect the demands of the current situation. Because of your strengths, you occasionally take on additional tasks. Why? Maybe you want to keep busy. You may be compelled to assume full ownership of your work. Perhaps you continually discover more things you can do, should do, or must do. Perhaps you willingly accept the consequences of your words, deeds, action, or lack of action. Instinctively, you may feel good about life when someone important takes a special interest in you as a person. Perhaps you can recall educators or coaches who gave you extra attention, pointers, or assignments. Sometimes they may have removed bureaucratic barriers so you could benefit from opportunities to acquire knowledge, master a skill, or gain experience.
By nature, you are willing to stop whatever you are doing and thinking to talk to group members about large-scale ideas. Often these conversations help you figure out how to coordinate events, projects, investments, schedules, mergers, or trips. Chances are good that you sometimes marvel at how good your life is. Favorable feelings may flood over you when you determine how diverse individuals can better cooperate. Perhaps you are happy when you can figure out how they can be more productive. Maybe you are delighted when even just a few people begin to appreciate each other’s talents, knowledge, or skills. It’s very likely that you are likely to be a team member in some cases and the team leader in other instances. The role you play probably reflect the demands of the current situation. Because of your strengths, you occasionally take on additional tasks. Why? Maybe you want to keep busy. You may be compelled to assume full ownership of your work. Perhaps you continually discover more things you can do, should do, or must do. Perhaps you willingly accept the consequences of your words, deeds, action, or lack of action. Instinctively, you may feel good about life when someone important takes a special interest in you as a person. Perhaps you can recall educators or coaches who gave you extra attention, pointers, or assignments. Sometimes they may have removed bureaucratic barriers so you could benefit from opportunities to acquire knowledge, master a skill, or gain experience.
Based on what strengths we have will help determine how we approach a challenge and what circumstances may require help from others.
I have Strength Based Leadership in my library so you can read it, although Brett currently has it checked out. I will also be happy to share the entire results of my evaluation. If anyone is interested in my evaluation just let me know and I will e-mail you the PDF.
Brad, nice work on keeping the Blog fresh. I'm skeptical about the water cooler, because there will be too many freeloaders, and those who pay will become annoyed. I think we ought to just let it go, and let everyone get a water filter pitcher or bring their own. Then, if there is renewed demand, send out the hat.
ReplyDeleteOnly four people opted out of the water. It seems that almost everyone wants the water to countinue as before. We will give it a shot for one year or until the initial money has been spent. So far I have collect about $140
ReplyDelete