Leading with the Strategic StrengthsFinder Talent

From clutter to clarity

July 31, 2023
strategic game of chess

There is unknown ahead, but you don’t flinch. You lean in, both excited and curious, looking for patterns. Once you see the best path to navigate down, you’re able to quickly chart a course forward.

If this resonates with you, you likely have the strengthsfinder strategic talent. 

Learning to leverage this strength as a leader brings you and your team an extraordinary advantage. No more, “lets just try what we did last time. “ Instead, you can help your team and organization quickly access and adapt. 

Your Strengths Have AntiPatterns

Strategic StrengthsFinder TL;DR

The Strategic StrengthsFinder talent means you can parse through the cloud of inputs, sorting out the relevant details and crafting a solution. 

You likely have an affinity for puzzles or problem-solving as you see the patterns and consequences before others do. Strategic leaders can’t seem to leave a problem unsolved.

What seems obvious to you will likely be obscure to others.

A leader with the strengthsfinder strategic talent won’t follow a canned or unevaluated suggestion. Instead, they will imagine the unknown possibility and execute it.

If you’re already familiar with StrengthsFinder, you can skip over the next section.

What is StrengthsFinder?

SterengthsFinder, now CliftonStrengths, is an assessment based on strengths psychology. The fundamental premise is you will get farther by maxing out your strengths rather than trying to improve your weaknesses. 

I’ve seen numerous leaders grow as they identified their talents and turned them into well-developed strengths. But you don’t have to be a leader to benefit from StrengthsFinder, and you can apply it to more than just work. 

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses helps you better understand and live out your unique design.

Strategic is just one of the 34 different strengths measured by StengthsFinder. When you take the assessment, you will get back your top 5 strengths. You can pay for an ordered list of all 34, but I wouldn’t recommend that the first time you take the assessment.

Focus is critical to developing your strengths. Keeping just your top 5 in view helps you make meaningful growth in the areas of your life with the highest leverage and impact. 

How do you lead well with strategic in your StrengthsFinder top 5?

So you’ve taken the StrengthsFinder assessment, received your results and found strategic in the list. Now you’re wondering how to grow or leverage this strength in your leadership. 

With strategic in my personal top 5, I know that thrill of discovery and problem-solving. I want to help you leverage your strategic strength to chart paths to better outcomes wherever it takes you.

These are four strategies I’ve seen strategic leaders use to bring clarity and direction to those around them.

  1. Share your insights and ideas.
  2. Be mindful of your communication.
  3. Look for puzzles and problems.
  4. Look for creative work.

Learn to recognize behaviors when you're over-leveraging your strengths to the point that they become liabilities. And discover the path back to health.

Share your insights and ideas.

What seems obvious to you will likely be obscure to others. 

When you have an insight or make a connection from the problem to potential solutions, outline the possible scenarios for others. You may feel like you arrived at this understanding instantly, but you must bring others on the exploration.

You can parse through the cloud of inputs, sorting out the relevant details and crafting a solution.

Visualization is your ally. Get your ideas on a whiteboard where others can see them. It can be an actual physical whiteboard or a digital whiteboard.

Facilitation is also a powerful skill for a strategic leader. Once you have the problem and possible solutions drawn out, guide your team as they eliminate down to the best one.

Be mindful of your communication.

It can be easy for others to see your evaluation as criticism. And to be fair, you are critiquing. 

But because your evaluation is likely moving faster than you’re communicating about it, others won’t make the connections you are. It’s understandable when they tell them a story of criticism to make sense of their experience.

Go out of your way to be clear that you're helping them look down the road and avoid obstacles. 

I like saying, “I’m on your team. We’re in this together, let’s find a way forward.”

Take time to walk them through your thought process. They will have insight and nuance to contribute, and together you will produce an even better solution. 

Look for puzzles and problems.

As a leader with the Strengthsfinder strategic talent, you're a natural problem solver. Give time to develop this into a strength. 

I’m not talking about Sudoku or Rubik’s cubes. Though there’s nothing wrong with those. 

I’m talking about offering to help other teams or friends who seem stuck. When you see they’re overwhelmed by a challenge, you can ask something like, “That’s a big problem to solve. Would it help to have someone to bounce ideas off? I could write on the whiteboard while you verbally process and ask questions along the way.”

Visualization is your ally. Get your ideas on a whiteboard where others can see them.

Now the crux is that you actually need to come in with that posture. Don’t bring your solution and sell it to them. Neither of you will enjoy or benefit from that interaction.

Look for creative work.

Strategy at its core is creating. To thrive and grow as a leader, look for work where you can cultivate this kind of creativity.

Facilitation is also a powerful skill for a strategic leader.

It doesn't have to be artistic, but where something is being created, where order is being brought forth from chaos. The discovery will energize you.

As you learn to lead using your strategic strength, you can help the team move from clutter to clarity. 

There is unknown ahead, but you don’t flinch. You lean in

Instead of everyone just trying something and hoping for the best, you can them identify a clear path and understand how to navigate down it.

Action Plan

Leaders with the strengthsfinder strategic talent can struggle with an antipattern of control. Learning the strengths antipatterns will allow you to continue growing as a healthy, intentional leader. 

You are on an extraordinary journey to living and leading from your strengths. You can explore the list below to learn about the rest of your top 5 strengths.

Frequently Asked Questions

StrengthsFinder

So do I totally ignore my weaknesses and just focus on my strengths?

Strengths-based growth doesn’t encourage you to ignore your weaknesses but not to spend too much time trying to turn them into strengths. Instead, you may need to find team members or systems to fill in your gaps.

Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.

There are strengths I think I have; why didn’t they didn’t show up in my top 5?

For some people, their strengths ranked 5, 6 or 7 are almost even. You could also be misattributing a skill or behavior to a specific strength.

Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.

Should I pay to see all 34 strengths?

Seeing your other 29 strengths can help give you a fuller picture. But initially, someone should focus on further developing those top 5 strengths rather than trying to give attention across the list. Once you have a good grasp on what it looks like to lead from your top 5, it can be helpful to explore the rest of the list.

Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.

What’s the difference between a talent and a strength?

A talent is your natural way of thinking or behaving. A strength is a talent developed over time through knowledge, skills and practice.

Learn more about how StrengthsFinder influences your leadership.

Ready to level up your company? Get in touch today!