My Top 5

What?

I am very amazed at how Clifton StrengsFinder provides each and every person with their personalized Signature Themes after taking a string of more than a hundred questions. I’m not sure if it happens to anyone else, but I think that these themes really affect my thoughts and actions. I think if you believe that these Signature themes are a part of your life, you will see that they become more prominent and obvious in you day after day. That happened to me. I have taken it twice, but the most recent one is obtained from the Strengths Based Leadership Book by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie. Basically, these 34 Signature Themes (The Clifton test will provide you with your Top 5) will be categorized into the 4 domains of leadership strengths: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking.

My copy of Strengths Based Leadership

So What?

My Top 5 Signature Themes in increasing numerical order are Restorative, Adaptability, Relator, Analytical and Consistency. According to Rath and Conchie (2008), leaders with dominant strength in each of these domains are able to do the following:

Executing:  They know how to turn ideas into reality.

Influencing: They are advocators in the organization; they usually take charge and speak up.

Relationship Building: They keep the whole team together and going.

Strategic Thinking: They keep the team focused by constantly analyzing information and  help the team make better decisions.

Can be seen below is the result of my top five Signature Themes grouped under the four leadership domains. None of them is in the Influencing domain. That may explain why I don’t usually speak in front of a crowd, but I still do if I have to. That’s because I am more to the Executing and Relationship Building domains.

My Top 5

Now What? 

The Clifton StrengthsFinder is a good way for one to discover one’s strengths and learn how to focus on them to achieve success. It certainly helps to gain confidence by knowing that you are good in something, when all the while, you think that “there’s nothing special about me – I’m just an ordinary person with no talent whatsoever”. The downside is that the Clifton StrengsFinder is not available for free. The website needs a special one-time-use access code that can be purchased through the books by Gallup or on its own online. It’s definitely an interesting experience for me to discover and pave my own roads based on my strengths.

The access code at the back of the book