Personal Strengths
Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best everyday?
In many cases, our focus on improving ourselves typically revolves around fixing our weaknesses. We are changing this perspective at Alexandria Industries by changing the way we grow and get better at our work. We are doing things differently by improving on our strengths, one person at a time.
We will no longer follow the direction that "You can be anything you want to be, if you try hard enough." We believe the key to human development and job satisfaction is to build upon who we are already. There is great value in providing opportunities to develop what we are naturally good at.
Alexandria Industries offers specialized "StrengthFinders" training, introduced by Gallup, that can show employees how to discover and focus on their strengths. The training helps us determine our top natural personality tendencies.
The areas of strengths in StrengthFinders include: Achiever, Activator, Adaptability, Analytical, Arranger, Believe. Command, Communication, Competition, Connectedness, Consistency, Context, Deliberative, Developer, Discipline, Empathy, Focus, Futuristic, Harmony, Ideation, Includer, Individualization, Input, Intellection, Learner, Maximizer, Positivity, Relator, Responsibility, Restorative, Self-Assurance, Significance, Strategic and Woo.
Each theme describes why our personality fits a certain strength. It gives us ideas on how to take action to grow upon our strengths. And it offers insight into how we can work with others that have the same or different strengths than ourselves.
To date, 65 employees have taken part in the StrengthFinders program. We look forward to growing that number, and looking at ways we can use our strengths to help employees grow in ways that are more natural to the things they are good at.
When asked, some employees who have gone through StrengthFinders have been pleasantly surprised to learn about their strengths, along with looking at ways to align their strengths with their daily work tasks and performance goals.
The untapped potential employees can identify by knowing and capitalizing on their strengths can make a positive impact on their lives and help them be even more successful.