Despite being intuitively sceptical of personal taxonomies, I found this an extremely interesting process. It costs money and it’s time consuming but I came away from it with a more detailed understanding of myself, which I guess is the point of the exercise. It suggests my main areas of strength are strategic thinking and influencing while I’m good at some parts of relationship building and terrible at others:
Leaders with great Strategic Thinking strengths are the ones who keep us all focused on what could be. They are constantly absorbing and analysing information and helping the team make better decisions. People with strength in this domain continually stretch our thinking for the future.
Where I found it really useful was in the weaknesses it associates with each of these strengths. These are all things I’ve been dimly aware of, particularly in the last couple of years as I’ve taken on leadership roles, but it’s incredibly helpful to have them articulated in such a concrete and concise way. For example these are the challenges associated with being strategic:
When working with others, sometimes they may misinterpret your strong Strategic talents as criticism. Be mindful of what is already working well and what others have accomplished.
Because you evaluate patterns and pathways so quickly, others might find it difficult to follow or understand your thought process. Be aware that sometimes, you might have to backtrack to explain how you got to where you are.
These are the challenges associated with input:
Unrestrained input can lead to intellectual or physical clutter. Consider occasionally taking inventory and purging what you don’t need so that your surroundings — and your mind — don’t become overloaded.
You might have a tendency to give people so much information or so many resources that you can overload and overwhelm them. Before you share your discoveries with others, consider sorting out what is most meaningful so they don’t lose interest
And these ones are associated with intellection (eugh, horrible term):
Your limitless thoughts and ideas can sometimes overwhelm and confuse people. Consider refining your ideas and sharing only the best so others won’t reject them simply because they cannot follow your abstract thinking.
You might struggle to follow through on the ideas you generate. Think about collaborating with someone who can help you turn your best ideas into real results.
The final point feels a bit on the nose, particularly as I struggle in mid January with all the things I enthusiastically said I would do in mid December immediately before going on holiday 😳
(The fact one of my lowest scores was for positivity was interesting. I’ve had a few people I’ve met in the last couple of years tell me recently they see me as an extremely pessimistic person. Whereas before Covid I would have regarded myself as a deeply optimistic one)
Mark Carrigan 