Strengths Paper
“ A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. ”~ Jim Rohn Throughout history, people have needed leaders to help them handle certain situations and work through problems. Anybody can become a leader, but first they must determine what their strengths are. There is now a test that one can take online that outlines their five top strengths and explains in detail what each one means. It varies for each person that takes it, but my top five strengths are achiever, adaptability, strategic, restorative, and relator.
The first of my strengths is achiever. This means that whenever I start something, I like to finish it and generally do whatever it takes to reach that goal. My second strength, adaptability, in a way, ties into the first one. Adaptability means being able to approach problems from different angles and finding new ways to complete things when one idea doesn’t work. I feel like these two strengths relate to me pretty well. I do not like to leave projects open ended whenever I start them and I’m usually pretty good at ‘rolling with the punches. These two allow me to tackle situations in a variety of ways and leave me with plenty of the proverbial “plan B’s” in case any of the first attempts do not work properly. My third strength, strategic, also aids my ability to work through problems. This particular strength allows me to think about the situation fully before jumping into it. Once I figure out what’s happening, I can come up with a plan that best suites the circumstances and work on accomplishing it. By nature, I have found out that I more of a planner.
I like to lay things out in my head before I start so things run more smoothly once I begin, which works well with my strategic strength. The last two strengths, restorative and relator, confused me for a little bit. I can put myself into other people’s shoes easily and I would much rather mend my broken relationships than burn those bridges, but I wouldn’t necessarily put them into my top five. It’s not a bad thing by any means, though! As a whole, these five strengths work well together nicely and, in a certain situation, could play off of each other in a very effective way!
For example, let’s say that I worked at a burger joint downtown. Well, everyone gets hungry and the need to eat usually overwhelms any other feeling that one could have. So, here’s the scene: it’s a hot summer day and after classes, I decide that I’m going to go get some free food at the restaurant that I work at. Walking in, I know what I want to achieve: I want a big, juicy burger with mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and cheese with a side of fresh onion rings. I grill the burger, pull out the buns, and head to the fridge to grab all the condiments.
I generally only like to make one trip, so I carry all the items to the table where my burger is waiting. Little did I know that someone had spilled Coke earlier in the day! As I slip on the spill, the pickles and ketchup fall to the tile in the kitchen and shatter. I have to adapt to the new situation, so I come up with a new strategy. Banana peppers and a little bit of mayo would fill in for the dropped items nicely! I bring all the items over to the table and restore what could have been a disaster.
I can now take my delicious lunch outside, find someone that I can relate to, and have a conversation over fresh burgers and crispy onion rings. Everybody has the potential to be a leader. Before they assume this responsibility though, it is best that they find out what their top strengths are so that they can benefit a larger amount of people more effectively through their actions. For me, my top strengths are achiever, adaptability, strategic, restorative, and relator. With these, I can figure out problems, find out ways to solve them, get others input on the subject, and come out of the situation intact.
