What do you do best? Do you do it everyday?

"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?"

- Benjamin Franklin

The StrengthsFinder website (http://www.strengthsfinder.com/home.aspx) begins by asking a simple question: Do you do what you do best every day? It then continues with a sad reality, “chances are, you don’t.”

From cradle to cubicle, most people spend more time focusing on what they can’t do right, versus what they do right. And, often times, what comes naturally to people (whether it be designing great architectures or giving great speeches or motivating the masses) is what people like to do.

I don’t know about you, but StrengthsFinder resonates with me. Personally, I am tired of living in a world that revolves around fixing weaknesses versus harnessing strengths. 

Ask Yourself: Do You Do What You Do Best Every Day?

Gallup says, “Society’s relentless focus on people’s shortcomings had turned into a global obsession.  What’s more, we have discovered that people have several times more potential for growth when they invest energy in developing their strengths instead of correcting their deficiencies.”

Peter Drucker, business guru extraordinaire, knew the secret of focusing on strengths.  He said, "Most people think they know what they are good at.  They are usually wrong...And yet, a person can perform only from strength."

Tying StrengthsFinder to our own team member engagement surveys, is critical. Over the past decade, Gallup has surveyed more than 10 million people worldwide on the topic of employee engagement (and how positive and productive people are at work), and only one third “strongly agree” with the statement of “At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday.”

Talent x Investment = Strength (StrengthsFinder, pg. 20)

And for those team members that do not get to focus on what they do best – their strengths – the costs are staggering.  In a recent poll of more than 1,000 people, among those who “strongly disagree” or “disagreed” with this “what I do best” statement, not a single person was emotionally engaged on the job.” (StrengthsFinder 2.0, pg 1-2)

They go on to say having someone at work who regularly focuses on strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged and more than three times as likely to report having a excellent quality of life in general. Interesting enough, they also report that having a manager ignore you is even more detrimental than one who focuses on your weaknesses.

Who is focusing on your strengths?  Are You?

Now, to my team, some of you, reading this, are reading to jump in and take the assessment. Others are rolling their eyes and saying, “why, oh why?” Please, humor me. Take a leap of faith. Take the StrengthsFinder assessment and, upon completion, send me a copy of your five theme report so we can harness those Strengths. I think our collective themes will be a very interesting story to celebrate.

The rest reading, buy the book either hardcopy or kindle/reader and take the survey and take a chance on doing what you do do best everyday.

Thanks for letting me share,

~Stacy

StrengthsFinder. 2.0. Gallup Press 2007. Rath, Tom. Cllifton, Donald.