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While I believe I and most others borrow a little bit from all five of the leadership practices as outlined by Kouzes & Posner (2012), we probably all favor one more than the other. Of the five-leadership practices, the practice that I most follow is “enable others”. Enabling others is all about that team effort towards growth or progress, and trust (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).
My greatest passion in life is watching others grow. I love helping a person realize a dream or goal and empowering them to reach that ambition. I have come across so many people over the years that just settle, remaining complacent when they could accomplish so much more – and often want to. It’s such a wonderful thing to inspire confidence in a person that did not have confidence prior, and seeing the transformation as it occurs.
Below are my top five strengths as outlined by Rath & Clifton (2017), my thoughts about those strengths, and how those strengths work with my top leadership practice of enabling others.
Realtor: A relationship-based trait, the realtor enjoys close relationships with others and finds satisfaction in achieving a goal (Rath & Clifton, 2017). Learning that I am a realtor does not surprise me at all, as I am very goal-driven, and also an introvert. I enjoy close relationships with a small, tight-knit group of people, and I challenge myself regularly to complete a goal or task – even normal, mundane objectives! I will find ways to organize just about anything into a goal for achievement, a challenge for the thrill!
This strengthfinder fits in well with my leadership practice of enabling others because I like to form close relationships for many reasons. And when helping a person grow or achieve a goal, there is often a layer of vulnerability that comes with the territory. Trust and respect help bridge that road, and close relationships are established.
Individualization: People with this trait are good at understanding others, and enjoy understanding why people are “the way that they are.” They are also organized and well prepared and are excellent problem solvers, exceling at process improvement (Rath & Clifton, 2017). This also plays well to the leadership practice of enabling others because I love when people challenge a process or ask “how can we do this better?”. People who feel safe speaking up are enabled, and I love when they do!
Activator: People with this trait make things happen! Anything and everything. All the things! We are also competitive (Rath & Clifton, 2017). Perhaps this trait plays “too nicely” with enabling others! I myself love to enable myself so much that I might not stop enabling myself! I would love for those all around me to have this same confidence and drive. However, while this is a good trait, it’s also equally destructive. If I’m not careful, I can bite off more than I can chew as I love to just jump into things. I feel passionate about an idea and I just want to go with it on the spot.
This trait along with the realtor trait, feed each other in me. I can be extremely competitive, in a friendly way, and as such I will set goals and just run to the sun if I myself, or someone else, doesn’t reign me in! I always look for benchmarks in an area with the goal of surpassing.
Harmony: People with this trait are team oriented, and dislike conflict (Rath & Clifton, 2017). I am all about teamwork and avoid conflict like the plague, so this one is no surprise. I’m also an excellent diplomat and really good at de-escalation and conflict resolution. The leadership practice of enabling others might not play so well with this trait, as sometimes people seek harmony as a means to avoid conflict where conflict is necessary. An empowered person should be comfortable speaking up when needed, and not keep quiet for fear of causing a conflict.
Input: People with this trait crave knowledge (Rath & Clifton, 2017). I am so fortunate that I live in the era of Google, where whatever random curiosity comes my way can be quickly researched. This trait is also why I probably love data so much, as data can uncover so many unknown possibilities. People with this trait are also excellent at breaking down complex ideas or tasks, into simple understandable chunks (Rath & Clifton, 2017). I have always excelled at this.
I feel the leadership practice of input is pretty neutral towards this strength. As this input strength is more about facts and learning, which are empowering tools, but not so much about acting or feeling empowered. But a truly empowered person armed with this strength is certainly primed for excellent leadership as the leader can use data-informed decision-making to problem solve and plan.
You can click here to view a complete list of the 34 strengths in Gallup's strengthfinders test, and some more detailed descriptions.
References:
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations Ed. 6. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Rath, T., & Clifton, D. (2017). Strengthfinders 2.0 from Gallup with Tom Rath. New York, NY: Gallup Press.