Monique has described the experience of discovering her strengths and beginning to work strengths-based

Learning to work strengths-based is like learning a new language

Let me first introduce myself; my name is Monique, and I am an intern at Strengths Consultancy. I work with communication, both internally and externally for the company. Besides that, I am a student at Erasmus University Rotterdam, studying Communication and Media. When I first came in contact with Eva and Eline from Strengths Consultancy, I was introduced to strengths and began working strengths-based with them. Since then, setting out to learn my strengths has provided me with much beneficial insight. Read along to hear more about my experience with strengths.?

Learning to work strengths-based is like learning a new language. As much as there are new terms to familiarize yourself with, the experience of discovering your strengths opens a new way of speaking and communicating in the workplace, and even more so with yourself.?

At the time of writing, it has been around two months since I completed the CliftonStrengths assessment. It was an exhaustive experience in the sense that the tool forces you to take a stance towards various statements very fast. I was slightly worried when taking the test, wondering if my response would truly reflect who I am. To my (then) knowledge, a 30-min evaluation rarely defines any person, so I was skeptical about the outcome and very curious.?

When I received the first results report from Gallup, I saw an outline of my top five strengths. Frankly, I did not understand my number one strength: Input. Yet when seeing the titles of my four other strengths, the results already started to resonate very strongly with me. I went deeper into each strength, reading what it is, how it works, and how it might be impacting my actions, and then my number one strength surely also started to make a lot of sense. I came to learn that the simple wording of the strength should not fool you for what it actually is, as it entails so much more detail and expert knowledge than what is shown firsthand.??

Afterward, I attended an individual coaching session with Eva from Strengths Consultancy. Here, we went through my top ten strengths one by one. As we tried to assess how each strength impacts my life, it became clear that the interplay between them is essentially how they come to be expressed. Me being Futuristic comes together with being an Achiever and a Maximizer which gives me a certain approach to projects and the planning of my life. Similarly, my strengths of Individualisation, Communication, and Empathy also impact each other and how I feel when listening to others and experiencing people.?

So far, in my offset to working strengths-based, I have learned two major things. Firstly, it brings clarity to how I approach my assignments and when I enjoy working the most. Secondly, it enables me to see why group work so often goes wrong, considering that we all have a perspective that is strongly impacted by our strengths.?

Working strengths-based at Strengths Consultancy, I see that Eline and Eva are very aware of their employees' top strengths as they try to divide and organize work accordingly. They know that some naturally want to start projects, others enjoy finalizing them, whilst some care for the details and challenges during the project instead. This means that everyone gets to approach tasks in ways that satisfy them, leading the team to a better work spirit and to less conflicts. Thereby, also changing the workplace communication, as the knowledge of strengths is so ingrained and understood by everyone, like a shared language.

By now, I definitely trust it as a tool for insight and a way to approach new things. Therefore, I recommend booking a Strengths Session, if you are looking to improve the understanding between people in any team or project and with yourself.

Written by Monique Veni J?rgensen?