Personal Narrative: My Five Greatest Strengths

After completing the StregthsQuest survey, I learned that my five greatest strengths are Harmony, Competition, Achiever, Includer, and Communication. Some of these strengths I had previously recognized as a strength, but a few were a surprise to me. Growing up, I was always a competitive person. I enjoyed the thrill of winning, whether it be in a team effort or individual effort. Also, I have always wanted to achieve great things in both my personal and professional life. I believe that I have always been great at communicating with others and love to include others in everything that I do to achieve a goal. The biggest strength of mine that surprised me most was Harmony. However, after reading about each strength, I know how I have utilized
As a manager, it is my job to communicate effectively to my peers, my employees, and my manager. Also, I must get my team of employees to hit their goals in order to be successful and to hit my goals. I want everyone on my team to feel included and as if each one of them make a difference and contribution to the team goals (as they do). As a leader, I group everyone together at one time and lead a healthy discussion. Each month, I use this healthy discussion to include each one of my employees in an open forum where we, as a team, decide what our team goals will be and what actions we are going to take to achieve these goals.

The strength the surprised me the most was Harmony. StrengthsQuest says, "In your view there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so you seek to hold them to a minimum" (StengthsQuest, 2000). After reading a more in depth definition of Harmony, I know how I can utilize this strength. In my career, there are many peers and employees who thrive on conflict. By using this strength, I can sit down with both individuals who have a conflict and guide them towards resolution by breaking down what goal we need to work towards and what it takes for us to get
The biggest result that I have seen from having a strength-based organization is having happier employees and with happier employees leads to better results for the company. I have seen two different types of organizations: one that only focuses on opportunities and weaknesses and one that focuses on strengths and goals. By focusing on opportunities and weaknesses, the managers are constantly breathing down their employees necks and it creates dissatisfaction amongst the employees. Dissatisfaction in employees leads to poor results within an organization. These employees that are dissatisfied feel as though what they do doesn't make a difference so, why does what they do matter. By focusing on strengths and goals, the employees are satisfied and happier. They feel as though what they do makes a difference so, they work harder for their company. I am a firm believer that happier employees drive performance and the company produces better results. By focusing on an employee's strengths, they know that they are positively contributing to the company and that their results matter. I believe that the frontline employees are what drive a companies success and in order for their to be success the employees must be satisfied with their company/job. By having a strength-based organization, you know what each employee's strengths are and then you can pair them with other people of different