Every high performer I’ve studied is very aware of his or her strengths, weaknesses, and interest. When you think about it, this makes sense. You know what you like to do and what you don’t like to do. You also know what you’re good at and what you would have someone better than you do.
So why is it so difficult to identify our strengths? For one, people often doubt what they know. They are so wrapped up in the emotion of performing that they can’t objectively determine where they succeeded and where they can do better. Also, we rarely get quality feedback. Quality feedback helps us discover something we didn’t know about ourselves. General feedback such as “You did a good job on that report” doesn’t help. So between doubting what you already know and getting general feedback, we’re often left wondering what our true strengths are.
Before we get into identifying our strengths we need a foundation. I’ve found there are two types of strength. The first are personal strengths. Taking an assessment such as the strengths finder survey or something similar to that can identify these types of strengths. For example, my top three strengths are relator, strategic, and responsibility.
The second type of strength consists of tasks in which we excel. These tend to be more job-specific. For example, a recruiter needs to be good at qualifying candidates, matching candidates to the appropriate opportunity, selling candidates on the opportunity, and a lot of other things. People who are good at these tasks will make good recruiters. What’s also interesting is that people who are good at these things also choose recruiting as a career.
So how do we identify our strengths? Well, it depends on the type of strength we’re examining. There are many great assessments that help you determine your personal strengths. Taking these will help you see areas where you have a propensity to excel.
For job-specific strengths, you can start with a complete description of what is required for success in your target job. This includes key responsibilities, tasks, competencies, and traits that make one successful. For each item, look at measures of how you’ve performed and ask people for quality feedback for each item. The more specific the feedback is, the better it will help you identify your strengths.
It’s important to note that identifying your strengths before determining your purpose is like making sure you’re packed and ready to take a trip without knowing where you’re going. Your purpose in life will help you set a direction. In addition to knowing strengths, weaknesses, and interests, high performers have a purpose that guides their life. Once strengths are identified, your purpose will inform which ones to focus on growing and which are just interesting.
Where you go from here is up to you. Just know that in order to be successful you need to align your purpose, your personal strengths, and your task strengths with what you do.