Tara Simo 101

The fun part of working in a college is that they are always striving to be innovative. They do workshops, skills assessments, group simulations, training. All in an effort to be more cohesive, unified and stronger. When I worked at Rio we did a campus wide initiative to assess our strengths. This program called "StrengthQuest" was a personal assessment that involved answering a bunch of questions. The goal was to determine what top five strengths each person possesses (out of a full listing of 34). The idea was that having this knowledge would help others highlight the strengths of their colleagues and work more efficiently together as a unit. I first took this assessment in October of 2009. I thought I'd share and give you a snapshot of who I am. Here are some short descriptions of my results in order of highest strength:


RELATOR
People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.

MAXIMIZER
People who are especially talented in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.

EMPATHY
People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.

INPUT
People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

RESPONSIBILITY
People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

In a matter of 7 months I had moved on to another college and ironically enough was asked to fill out the same assessment. The following became my strengths in order:


RESPONSIBILITY

RELATOR

ADAPTABILITY
People who are especially talented in adaptability theme prefer to "go with the flow." They tend to be "now" people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

DEVELOPER
People who are especially talented in the Developer theme recognize and cultivate the potential in others. They spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from these improvements.

INPUT


So from the two assessments 3 strengths remained the same, 2 had dropped off and 2 more were added. The order of the original 3 had shifted.

It was puzzling to me that new strengths came forth and then I realized that as a person is placed in different situations, the environment causes an adaptation of strengths (I think of the above as my top 7 strengths). Everyone has a bit of all 34 strengths but there are some that are more potent than others and some that are "flexed" more often.

I stumbled upon the last assessment earlier this week when I was reading through some emails I had sent a friend. I couldn't quite understand my feelings and how I was handling a difficult situation and reading this list helped comfort me. It was enlightening to understand why so many of my blogs are about values such as honesty, integrity, trust, and communication. As my responsibility strength shows this is immensely important to me.

It also helped me to realize "wow.. I really am an empathetic person" (although my relator strength would argue that I am selectively empathetic to those I have deep personal relationships with). I want to understand a person and really not judge. I want them to develop. To see and become the potential that I see: they're ability to be great, happy and successful in work and life!

My responses to things at times seem unorthodox even to me but I realize these strengths all combine to make me who I am. Someone I will always respect, admire, and be proud of. I wouldn't want to be anyone else...