Finding Our Strengths and Getting Stronger

Last week, the core members of the City of Light team completed the Clifton StrengthsFinder Top Five Strengths Assessment. We love it because its concepts are easy to apply to any organization, regardless of size.

Through their 80+ years of research, Gallup has identified 34 strengths or ways people lead. The StrengthsFinder Top Five Assessment gave us a detailed report of our team members' top strengths, which fall into four categories: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking.

Our results show that the City of Light team is heavily oriented toward Strategic Thinking! That made a lot of sense to us, given our field. Everything we do, from grant writing to strategic planning to crowdfunding campaigns, requires these kinds of analytical and goal-oriented strengths.

We each have one top-five strength in the category of Relationship Building, which helps keep us glued together as a team. Nikki and I both have Executing top-five strengths that help keep the team focused and on-task. Nikki has the Influencing strengths that help us reach a broader audience and make sure our ideas are heard - both inside the organization and outside of it.

Now that we know our leading strengths, we're working to ensure that each of us does what we do best every day and leverages our biggest strengths for the firm and our clients. We also have a good handle on the strengths we'll want to consider as we bring on new team members.

Small nonprofit groups can use this tool in various ways. As the City of Light team discussed our results, we got excited about the ways StrengthsFinder could help nonprofit boards as they develop. Boards need to work together as a team, and StrengthsFinder can help them figure out where they currently have strengths and how to use those strengths - plus what strengths to look for in new members.

At $9.99, the Top Five Assessment is affordable for small organizations to approach board development.

Check out the team's Strengths Profiles below and let us know if you're using StrengthsFinder!

Nikki's Top 5: Woo, Strategic, Maximizer, Arranger, Individualization 

Alex's Top 5: Input, Futuristic, Ideation, Intellection, Connectedness

Laura's Top 5: Strategic, Ideation, Analytical, Relator, Achiever