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
• Coaching
Self awareness
• Strengthsfinder
• Bar-On
• Meyers Briggs
Support
• Mentoring
• Friend
• 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
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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
Gaining self awareness
Achiever – drive to accomplish, closure in the day
Futuristic – sees an inspiring vision of the future
Activator – act/decide, proactive in the moment
Harmony – consensus builder, great at assists
Adaptability – mold/flex, radically in the moment
Ideation – innovate, sees break thru ideas
Analytical – microscopic seeing, prove it to me
Includer – widen the circle, outgoing team builder
Arranger – shuffle, organize, effective flexibility
Individualization – discriminating, uniqueness
Belief – values, transcendent cause
Input – hyper curious, encyclopedic knowledge
Command – will, influence, lead
Intellection – deep study, simplify complexity (E=mc2)
Communication – story teller, translator
Learner – drive to competence, can do, tackle new things
Competition – win, compare
Maximizer – excellence, leverage, next level
Connectedness – transcendent meaning, 360* seeing
Positivity – enthusiasm, fun, contagious optimism
Consistency – fairness, equitable, guidelines/SOP
Relator – engaged, friendship, one on one
Context – sees/learns insights from the past
Responsibility – deep personal ownership, follow thru
Deliberative – careful, close to the vest, sees obstacles
Restorative – fix, return to prior functioning
Developer – encouraging, sees potential, next step
Self assurance – self confidence, sense of self
Discipline – create structure/order to gain efficiency
Significance – count, excels in spot light
Empathy – feelings count, sense feelings of others
Strategic – sees optimal path, recognizes big pic patterns
Focus – create structure/order to accomplish goal
Woo – interpersonal persuasion, influence
Strengths organization
Gaining self awareness
Traction
Lifestyle
(Great at initial first steps, get movement, they have
spikes on them and are pervasive to others).
(These themes add seasoning/flavor to
the other strengths, orientation to life).
(These themes fit well with the other 32
and can’t really over function).
Activator
Command
Focus
Adaptability
Belief
Consistency
Discipline
Harmony
Positivity
Responsibility
Communication
Learner
Driving
(Keep initiative progressing at rapid pace, more personal).
Achiever
Competition
Maximizer
Self-assurance
Significance
Interpersonal
(Working with and approach to others, relationship building).
Developer
Empathy
Includer
Individualization
Maximizer
Relator
Woo
Seeing
(Show how we view the world around us).
Analytical
Connectedness
Context
Deliberative
Futuristic
Ideation
Strategic
Wild Card
Problem Solving
(These strengths find solutions and next steps).
Analytical
Arranger
Deliberative
Input
Restorative
Problem Identification
(Brain stormers, pattern recog, clean sheet of paper).
Ideation
Intellection
Strategic
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
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•
•
•
•
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Context
Individualization
Maximizer
Arranger
Relator
- Strong interpersonal strengths,
practical problem solver.
- Powerful configuration for
leveraging people’s abilities.
- Ideal job – team leader, develop
people.
Woo
Strategic
Positivity
Self-Assurance
Activator
- Great networker, very persuasive,
influence peddler.
- Powerful selling configuration.
- Ideal job – executive level selling.
Increasing personal performance
Contrasting strengths
rub vs collaborate
Relator
&
Woo
Strategic
&
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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What are you passionate about?
What are your non-negotiables?
Tell me about the last mistake you made?
What was the last difficult decision you made? What made it difficult?
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