Strengths Finding

A couple of articles already this week talking about strengths and work. Penelope Trunk from Brazen Careerist put out a post this week titled To find your best next job, focus on the company not the job. In it she talks about evaluating a position based on the company culture and how your strengths fit into it. She emphasizes the point that in order to do this effectively, you have to perform some self analysis. [Edit: Senia from Positive Psychology goes deeper into the specific types of analysis in a response to Penelope titled When to Use Self-Report and When Not To]

Kathryn Britton from Positive Psychology carries this concept further in her post titled Using strengths when you work. The post presents good insight into some of the applications of identifying your strengths (from your personal analysis) and applying them in your specific situations.

Strengths tend to be specific in terms of some or all of why, with whom, when, where, or what about. For example, I like to speak to groups, but I hate to argue or debate. So I have another Strengths Statement that reads, “I feel strong when I present on a topic that is important to me to an audience that is receptive to new ways of thinking. I love to tell stories that resonate.” But I also have a Weakness Statement that reads, “I feel weak when I have to sell an idea to a skeptical or recalcitrant audience.” I can do it, but I dread it.

Both posts are worthy, quick reads with links that expand their topics. I’d also recommend looking at the comments/conversation of the posts - particularly on the Brazen Careerist - for bit about strengths vs. talents, managers, and more.  [edit: all the articles listed have grown with great comments worth reading. Senia and Kathryn both have great perspectives to consider when looking at strengths]