Uncover your greatest strengths and accelerate your success

Why strengths matter: Discover your potential

After leaving a long-term job recently, I questioned how my skills would measure up on the open job market and whether I could set up my own business. I realized that over the years, I’d become very comfortable in my role and hadn’t taken the time to check in on what made my heart sing in the office or at home.

My lack of self-awareness made deciding my next career move difficult, as I hadn't considered what I wanted to do or what I was good at for many years. As a result, I didn't have any goalposts within which to work.

If I returned to the employee realm, I'd face job interview questions about my key strengths. I hadn't been interviewed for years and didn't know how to explain my strengths, but where to start?

According to positive psychologists, finding and using my strengths helps improve happiness and well-being. Those who uncover their strengths and use them for a purpose that's greater than their own personal goals live a happier, more fulfilling life.¹

Common personal strengths

I knew that critical thinking and strong problem-solving skills were beneficial in many jobs. Still, behavioral psychologists, executive coaches, and human resource experts agree² that common key strengths for achieving professional success are:

• Adaptability: Ability to adjust to new conditions and challenges
• Resilience: Capacity to recover quickly from issues.
• Emotional Intelligence: Understand your emotions and those of others.
• Strong work ethic: Dedicated to your job and responsibilities.
• Collaboration: Work well with others and contribute to team success.

At Marlee, 25+ years of research has shown the attitudes and work styles influencing success.

Successful entrepreneurs are more motivated by:

• Big picture thinking: Abstract, macro, global thinking and communication.
• Initiative: Taking action, getting things going, and thinking on your feet.
• Commercial awareness: Working with money, finances, and the commercial side of businesses.

As businesses mature, the research highlighted different strengths, which included:

• Goal-oriented: Setting targets and maintaining focus on goals over time.
• An Affective communication style: Nonverbal communication skills.
• An appreciation for structure and planning: Establishing a relationship between all the resources and parts of a project.

How to identify your greatest strengths

To figure out my greatest strengths and find my dream job, workforce engagement speaker Dan Negroni recommends³ considering your core values, listening to emotional cues, speaking with others who know you well, and strength assessments.

Reflecting on your past experiences and accomplishments

My psychologist often encourages me to "think less with my head and more with my heart," believing it's a more revealing path to self-discovery. So my deep dive into self-reflection involved analyzing previous roles as a team leader for creative projects, production project manager, and social media producer, looking for tasks and projects that:

• Inspired a feeling of achievement, or energized and enthused me
• Were completed on time, on budget, and met all their objectives
• Involved team members or third parties that I enjoyed working with
• Involved minimal stress or issues for me or my team
• Led to other positive outcomes, including more clients, sales, or projects

I felt it was important also to note my weaknesses so I could use them to eliminate incompatible roles, jobs, or clients. For me, this meant avoiding jobs requiring:

• Strict deadlines
• Prioritization of multiple time-critical tasks
• Analytical skills

Seeking feedback from others

I reached out to former colleagues and mentors who'd seen me in action or knew me well and asked them for constructive feedback on what they saw as my greatest strengths.

My creative coach, Katie K, helps creatives to grow efficient, profitable, and fulfilling businesses. She strongly believes;

"Intuition helps us make decisions, but many don't develop intuition because we don't stop and connect with our inner Self. Developing intuition is just like flexing a muscle, so keep using it!"

Katie saw my strengths as;

• A positive attitude and collaborative skills
• High-quality work and
• Collaborative skills allowing me to forge strong relationships, especially those related to education, mentoring, and connecting a community.

My strengths: Defined by me

After considering the common elements from my self-assessment and the external feedback, I made a list of my biggest strengths:

My best traits

• Strong communication skills
• People skills, including empathy and emotional intelligence
• Creative strengths, including high visual literacy
• Excellent organizational skills
• Great presentation skills

My preferred roles based on my values and passions:

• Education and events
• Content creation
• Networking and community development

Using strengths assessments

It was good to acknowledge that soft skills were among my greatest strengths, and it felt great to know what roles and industries I was most passionate about. Now, I wanted to uncover more details on the character traits that were my 'superpowers.'

The next step was to explore scientifically credible assessments to compare how my assessment matched data-driven results. I researched these four assessments:

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• DiSC
• CliftonStrengths
• Marlee motivational analysis

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The Myers-Briggs test is a well-known personality assessment tool in the corporate world. It is based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types that enhance self-awareness, improve communication, and foster growth in careers and relationships. By taking the survey, you identify which of the four personality type traits have the greatest influence on how you interpret situations and make decisions. The four types are:

• Extraversion-Introversion
• Sensing-Intuition
• Thinking-Feeling
• Judging-Perceiving

DiSC

Another behavioral assessment tool used by recruiters, leaders, and coaches to review employees’ actions is DiSC. Its 24 questions relate specifically to emotions and behavior, and by answering them, you get an indication of how much these four dimensions of behavior impact your personality:

• Dominance
• Inducement
• Submission
• Compliance

CliftonStrengths

Clifton Strengths Finder is an online talent assessment that measures a person's unique talents via their natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. The results are then categorized into the 34 CliftonStrengths themes sorted into four domains, including Strategic Thinking, Relationship Building, Influencing, and Executing.

Marlee motivational analysis

Marlee is an innovative collaboration and performance AI technology designed to identify the motivations of individuals and teams to bring out their best. It proved to be the most comprehensive and helpful tool I found.

The app was built from 20+ years of scientific research into human behavioral traits, represented by 48 motivational traits. After answering questions on my work style, Marlee generated a personalized list of 48 traits, ranked in order of which had the strongest to weakest influence on my behavior.

Here's how Marlee ranked my motivations:

My top five motivations

• Affiliation: Bonding, belonging, and building personal relationships at work
• Period of Time: A specific period of time to pass for me to be convinced
• Affective Communication: Importance of tone of voice and non-verbal expressions
• Depth: Motivation for detailed information
• Procedures: Following a proven step-by-step process

My bottom five motivations

• Achievement: Focus on achieving results
• Breadth: Abstract, macro, global, big picture thinking and communication
• Automatic: Drawing a conclusion after just partial exposure to something
• Power: Desire to be the person in charge and in a position to influence
• Future: Future orientation and long-term thinking

Marlee's list of motivations gave me valuable insight into how I work. I was comforted to see that many traits at the top of Marlee's list were also on my own list. The only surprise in the top five was Period of Time.

It's true that I indeed need more time to process information and make decisions, and I had viewed this negatively as being 'slow' and 'inefficient.' Marlee, however, pointed out that time also "allows more space for information to come in," which can improve decision-making and self-confidence. Patience also signifies intentional thinking rather than a knee-jerk reaction.

An unexpected benefit of answering Marlee's questions was that I was triggered to think more deeply about what I liked and disliked in a job and task. This unintentionally helped whittle down my list of preferred roles and tasks, too.

How to tailor strengths to different industries and roles

The best part was that I could then ask Marlee questions about any task, role, industry, or team. When I asked Marlee for examples of strengths and weaknesses when I am in the role of marketing manager, Marlee responded with:

My strengths

• Nonverbal communication expert: I enjoy great communication with teams, clients, and partners and have an intrinsic understanding of consumer behavior. A positive trait for producing any kind of marketing material.
• Team player: I naturally create bonding experiences with others, which inspires cohesive teamwork and close-knit communities. My interpersonal skills will be beneficial when collaborating on a project and establishing a partner network.
• External frame of reference: I consider the needs of other key players when making decisions that affect the whole team. A beneficial trait for a team or project leader.
• Problem predictor: I identify problems before they arise, helping to avoid crises and stress in the future. A handy trait for completing projects on time.
• Visual preference: I make decisions that result in creative solutions, high-impact campaigns, and premium-quality content. This trait is invaluable for any marketing or sales professional.
• Detail-oriented: I produce precise strategies that allow me and the team to execute tasks accurately. Great for keeping us on time and on target.

My weaknesses

• Sensitivity to non-verbal cues may cause me to get distracted during discussions
• Slow decision-making may be a hindrance when working in a fast-moving marketing role
• Time management will need careful attention when taking on multiple projects or tasks with tight deadlines

This response gave me even more appreciation for Marlee. When the list of weaknesses included issues related to poor executive functioning, like time management and distraction, I felt it was right on point for someone diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder).

Seeing them on the list reinforced my desire to monitor these behaviors and reminded me to pull up my superhero tights when I encounter them. The list will also be an invaluable guide as I choose my future career moves, look for a job, and attend interviews.

Finding a dream role

I was excited by the ability to ask Marlee questions about roles and industries, so my next question was, "What roles am I best suited to?" Marlee enlightened me with this data-driven list based on my work-style motivations.

Ideal roles

• Customer service representative: My focus is on building rapport, and understanding others' needs, and a desire to solve customer issues.
• Sales or marketing manager: My ability to build strong client relationships and my writing skills will go far.
• Coach or mentor: I enjoy nurturing the skills of others and value connections in team and group environments.

Non-ideal roles

• Senior project management: It requires strong time and task management, adherence to schedules, and usually involves an intensive work environment.
• Start-up founder: Decisions need to be made rapidly, and the work involves constant change and adaptation.

I was relieved to see that I was naturally aligned with marketing roles, and while my interest in education had never extended to becoming a coach or mentor, Marlee planted a seed for future consideration.

How to develop any gaps to land your dream interview

Marlee identifies your professional strengths and any gaps and helps turn them into fully-fledged superpowers. There is a library of free online coaching programs that take just a few minutes over a few weeks to complete. This is the perfect professional development tool to grow my greatest skills and tackle my Kryptonite!

Based on my unique goals and motivations, Marlee's top coaching program recommendations were; Goal Catcher to help with starting my own business and creating impactful communication; and Trust your Gut Feel to strengthen my ability to express my beliefs confidently in the workplace. I can also develop some of that big-picture thinking that ranked low on my list of motivational traits by starting the Big Picture Thinker program.

Understanding my greatest strengths

I finally know my greatest professional strengths and weaknesses after taking the time for some much-needed self-reflection, asking trusted peers for feedback, and completing assessments like Marlee's. This knowledge is the superpower I now use to sell my strengths, find compatible jobs, and perform at the next level. Oh, and by the way, I've started my own business!

Start your journey with Marlee and answer questions on what motivates you at work.