Benefits of Working with Your Strengths

Unleashing Your True Potential with the Clifton StrengthsFinder

Written By: Debbie Jung

In certain countries, like Japan, finding the true reason for living is the foundation. Ikigai is a reinforcement which means “finding the true reason of living”. It’s broken down into 4 concepts:

• finding what you’re good at 
• what you love
• what the world needs
• what you can get paid for

One of the concepts that needs to be explored within Ikigai is finding what you’re good at, also known as your strengths. We will be exploring the benefits of working with your strengths. 

Unfortunately, you might not have the everyday chance to work with your strengths. You might not even know what your strengths are. To truly find your strengths, self-reflection is key. But where do you start? 

How to Find Your Strengths

At Mercury, we ask all our employees to take a Gallup’s Clifton StrengthsFinder prior to joining our world-class team as we look to build on an individual’s strengths. This is not a simple personality test for fun, but in fact, a performance-based tool to help you understand your innate skills. The research behind this test includes 50 years of Gallup data and analytics. It has helped over 9 million worldwide discover their true strengths. * 

Gallup Clifton StrengthsFinder

The Clifton StrengthsFinder consists of 177 paired statements that ask you to decide which best reflects you. It’s important to answer these statements truthfully, as the assessment then categorizes them into 34 Clifton Strength themes. After filling out the assessment, you will be provided with personalized results catered to your strengths. The results break down your strengths and certain action items you can take to get started right away.  

Your strengths ultimately come from your talents—the natural behavior, thoughts, and feelings you have. Mercury trusts the foundation Gallup has built and we always look to relentlessly improve with our employee’s strengths. The benefits are endless.  

Benefits of Finding Your Strengths 

Employees are more successful when working with their strengths because it comes naturally. This leads to happier employees, which then provides longevity of trust between the company and the employee. Employees feel appreciated when working with their strengths, which then develops their confidence and overall attitude to produce quality work.  

Confidence is important in both professional and personal life. Mercury improves our employees in a fulfilling way, meaning we want our employees to be well-rounded people not just for our company but for their community.  

What About Our Weaknesses? 

All of this doesn’t mean completely ignoring your weaknesses and solely focusing on your strengths. It’s still important to acknowledge your weaknesses but look to minimize them by focusing on building your strengths.  

Weaknesses are important but engaging too much will lead to false thoughts and diminish the confidence needed. 

Conclusion

Delve into your strengths using the Clifton StrengthsFinder or any other credited self-assessments that will truly show what you’re talented at. Look for a company that will work with you to develop these strengths. Allow your employees to utilize their strengths to produce quality results. As proven in many companies, working with strengths can only lead to greater results. At Mercury, we focus on relentlessly improving for our clients. We use the Gallup CliftonStrengths Finder to learn more about ourselves to then better serve our clients. 

Resources 

* Gallup: How Employees' Strengths Make Your Company Stronger. 

* StrengthsFinder 2.0 From Gallup: Discover your CliftonStrengths by Don Clifton