God calls you to be authentically you but do you know what that looks like for you? My goal is to see how He has designed you specifically to do the job, the work, and the business He has called you to do.
Good Leaders Lead With Their Strengths
Let’s Look At Your Strengths
Strengths are those talents you have developed and performed consistently so that now you are an expert in that area. One of the tools that I use in my Calling Clarity program is the Clifton StrengthsFinder. The StrengthsFinder will help you begin discovering how God has equipped you to lead in your business.
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What Are “The Strengths?”
There are 34 strengths, called themes, and they fall into four categories. See if you can pinpoint which category you find most of your strengths. Then, find the words that resonate with you.
Executing
The Executing themes are the hardest working of the bunch. They tend to get things done with speed, precision, and accuracy. They put in the hard work now so that they are ready when it’s time to move. Putting ideas into action is the strength of this domain.
Some of the characteristic words of the Executing strengths are:
Influencing
These themes enable individuals or groups to sell the big ideas. They can take charge, speak up, and are heard. They are beneficial when you need to reach a broader audience or meet a bigger goal. This can happen both internally with the team or to external clients. They tend to influence forward.
Some of the characteristic words of the influencing strengths are:
Relationship Building
While not the only themes that deal with people (because they’re all about people), these themes have an innate ability to take the human component into the equation. They look at how individuals fit into the bigger pictures and can create pathways for them to thrive. They make solid relational connections that bind a group together around a cause, idea, or each other.
Some of the characteristic words are:
Strategic Thinking
When a plan needs to be made or a new idea created for solving a problem, these themes can help accomplish that. Whether it’s thinking about a current issue or dreaming about overcoming tomorrow’s, the strategic thinking themes can take a thought or idea and look for the best way to move forward on it.
Some of the characteristic words are:
If you have heard of these themes or have taken the assessment, let me know in the comments. What are your top 5 strengths?
My top strengths are, in this order:
- Command & Significance in Influencing
- Focus & Achiever in Executive and
- Input in Strategic Thinking
How Strengths Lead
There are definite ways each leader leads according to their Strength categories.
Executing leaders know how to make things happen. They implement solutions and work tirelessly to get them done. Leaders with this strength have the ability to “catch” an idea and make it a reality.
Influencing leaders help their team reach a much broader audience. They are always selling the team’s ideas inside and outside the organization. Leaders with this strength take charge, speak up, and make sure the group is heard.
Relationship Building leaders are the essential glue that holds a team together. They have the unique ability to create groups and organizations that are much greater than the sum of their parts.
Strategic Thinking leaders are the ones who keep the focus on what could be. They are constantly absorbing and analyzing information and helping make better decisions. Leaders with this strength continually stretch thinking for the future.
Everyone Has Strengths
The most crucial part of knowing your strengths is also to understand how to leverage the strengths of others to lead to your most tremendous success. Awareness of the areas that are not your greatest strength, and knowledge of team members who do have a strength in that area, will enable you to partner in creative ways.
For example, while someone with no relationship-building themes (like me) can have meaningful and fulfilling relationships, using the four domains brings awareness. They know they need to partner with strong relationship-building themes (my business partner, Mary) when people and relationships are of primary concern.
I see strengths showing up in my business by knowing how I want to lead my business and what type of business model I want to pursue. It is all about how I want to serve my clients.
God calls us to lead.
In the Biblical example of Deborah, we see she was a leader as a judge and prophetess in the Hebrew nation before God called her to lead the army against their oppressors. You can find her story in Judges 4 and 5.
Deborah trusted God with her next steps, and we also must trust God when He asks us to do more. Knowing Strengths gives us tools to see what God has already been developing in us and how we can use it. It does not matter if we are leading one, 100, or 10,000. God has a plan to grow us by trusting Him.
The beauty of understanding Strengths is that you can see the value in each person, each client. As a result, you can show up as your best to serve those in your sphere of influence.
Each of the four categories Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking, also have FOUR areas where they can uniquely show up as the BEST leader.
The areas good leaders lead with their strengths are:
- Building Trust
- Showing Compassion
- Providing Stability
- Creating Hope
Imagine having the tools to be your BEST leader. The Calling Clarity program gives you these tools and allows you to put into your own words how to implement them into your own business. I know there is a lot to process here. But, discovering your Strengths is just one piece of your beautiful mosaic that includes your personality, expertise, experience, talents, gifts, and values.
The essential part of Calling Clarity is that you are rooted in God and what He wants for your business. There is so much more to talk about, and the Calling Clarity program is it. If you want to chat directly with me to see if it is a fit for you. Please set up your Clarity Call.
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