One of the most important personality surveys I participated in is the Clifton Strengthsfinder. The results of this survey accurately describe how I interact with peers and the world around me. I took the test as a freshman at Virginia Tech and been shown time and time again how accurate the results are for me. In order, my strengths from this survey are as follows: achiever, learner, input, intellection, and developer. Interestingly, three of my top five strengths are in the strategic thinking domain as defined by Clifton. This makes sense because I often take time to make leadership decisions only once I have all of the information I deem necessary. However, I do still include other strengths like executing and relationship building. These three areas are all areas that I hold in high importance in my leadership practices.
As an achiever, I tend to have a strong work ethic and stamina to finish projects that take a long time to accomplish. I can harness this work ethic to manage several complicated projects as a leader of organizations. I have exhibited this skill with leadership in my service organization as I have helped start two international community collaborations. In addition, I believe I can use the stamina to work hard in careers as I go into the workforce. I believe working hard will help me be able to take on more responsibility in the workplace and help lead teams within my employment.
Learner, input, and intellection are all from the same Clifton Strengthsfinder domain. As a learner, I often have a drive to better myself and gather more information. I believe I can apply this to future leadership endeavors to maximize my leadership ability and recognize and fix leadership efforts simultaneously. As I continue practicing leadership, I think the recognition that I can continually learn will help me stay focused and flexible with receiving criticism. The input trait applies to my collection of things and relationships over time. As a leader, I can use input skills to document progress and keep detailed notes and presentations for future use. I am highly organized and I can use this organizational skill and the want to collect items to maintain a strong base of projects that could be used as reference for other leaders and followers alike. The intellection trait speaks to my affinity for introspection and insightful conversations. This trait is helpful for me as a leader because I can remain open to new ideas and new discussions. I can remain open to new insights and appreciate the deep conversations about leadership and strong organizational goals and actions. These three traits mean that I can employ information gathering in my future leadership experiences to make informed decisions and communicate this information well with others.
Lastly, the developer strength helps me understand that I seek to help others gain skills and strengthen their own abilities. I can use this trait to remain focused on member development in addition to the mission or goal at the same time. With this skill, I can maintain follower engagement and allow for increased member autonomy while also achieving the goals the organization sets out to accomplish.
The Clifton Strengthsfinder results are commensurate with other personality tests that I have taken before. The Myers-Briggs personality test gave me the result that I am an “INTJ”: Introversion, Intellection, Thinking, and Judgement. This is a rare personality type but describes me well. I am generally a quiet person who takes time to think through problems and gain information. This result shows me that I can work to gather information and think through all of my decisions as a leader. This result also indicates that I would rather look into myself instead of others. I can use that to maximize and strengthen my leadership abilities. Overall, I seem to be a leader who can focus on personal development and gaining information to help others grow in their own personal potentials.
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