Assignment 1: Personal Assessment Of Strengths—After Complet ✓ Solved

Assignment 1: Personal Assessment of Strengths — After compl

Assignment 1: Personal Assessment of Strengths — After completing the CliftonStrengths/StrengthsFinder assessment and reviewing introductory materials, write a one- to three-page reflective paper that addresses the following: 1) Describe your initial reaction to learning your top five strengths. 2) Explain how your top five strengths relate to your leadership style and the key managerial functions you would need to perform (planning, organizing, leading, controlling). 3) Identify traits you need to develop most to become a good leader, and explain whether these traits differ from the strengths needed to be a good manager. 4) Indicate which of your strengths you anticipate using most in college or your future career.

Paper For Above Instructions

Introduction

Completing the CliftonStrengths/StrengthsFinder assessment produced a clear map of my dominant talents and offered a structured language for self-reflection. The inventory’s focus on what I do best aligns with strengths-based development literature that encourages leveraging innate talents for personal and professional growth (Rath, 2007; Buckingham & Clifton, 2001). This paper reflects on my initial emotional and cognitive responses to my top five strengths, explains how they inform my leadership approach and managerial responsibilities, identifies developmental priorities, and clarifies which strengths I expect to use most in college and my career.

1. Initial Reaction to My Top Five Strengths

My immediate reaction combined validation and curiosity: validation because the top strengths described patterns I recognize in my behavior, and curiosity about how to translate those talents into deliberate strengths (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001). I felt energized—research shows that recognizing strengths increases engagement and confidence (Linley et al., 2010). There was also an element of surprise where a listed strength highlighted a productive talent I had underused. Overall, the assessment created a constructive lens to view both capabilities and growth opportunities (Gallup, 2020).

2. How My Top Five Strengths Relate to Leadership Style and Managerial Functions

My top strengths suggest a leadership style that blends relationship orientation with dependable execution. Strengths that emphasize empathy, responsibility, and relator tendencies indicate a people-centered approach consistent with transformational and relational leadership models (Northouse, 2018; Kouzes & Posner, 2017). Such strengths help in motivating followers, building trust, and fostering team cohesion—central to the leading function of management.

Planning: Strengths that favor strategic thinking and consistency assist with visioning and predictable processes. A talent for seeing patterns or being strategic supports long-term planning and goal alignment (Yukl, 2013).

Organizing: Relator and responsibility strengths contribute to structuring teams and clarifying roles. Managers with these strengths often excel at aligning tasks with people’s capabilities and establishing dependable routines (Mintzberg, 1975).

Leading: Empathy and relator strengths directly bolster the leading function by enabling effective communication, conflict resolution, and motivation. Emotional intelligence—closely linked to empathy—improves leader effectiveness and follower satisfaction (Goleman, 1995).

Controlling: Consistency and responsibility support monitoring and corrective actions. These strengths create a bias toward fairness and accountability, which helps maintain standards and measure performance objectively (Katz, 1974).

In sum, my strengths align with a servant-leaning, relational leadership style that emphasizes people development, reliability, and structured approaches—qualities that complement core managerial functions (Northouse, 2018; Mintzberg, 1975).

3. Traits to Develop to Become a Better Leader and Differences from Managerial Strengths

While my strengths emphasize relational trust and execution, several traits merit development to broaden my leadership effectiveness. First, I need to strengthen strategic foresight and risk tolerance to complement my preference for stability; leaders must balance consistency with adaptive change (Yukl, 2013). Second, enhancing influence skills—persuasion, lobbying, and political acumen—will expand my capacity to mobilize resources and stakeholders (Kouzes & Posner, 2017). Third, cultivating comfort with ambiguity and rapid decision-making will mitigate the tendency to over-rely on established routines.

These developmental traits differ somewhat from the day-to-day strengths advantageous for managerial work. Managerial competence often depends on operational precision, process management, and performance monitoring—areas where consistency and responsibility excel (Katz, 1974). Leadership, by contrast, requires vision articulation, inspiration, and change leadership (Northouse, 2018). Thus, while there is overlap—communication and relationship skills matter in both—leadership development prioritizes strategic perspective and influence, whereas managerial effectiveness favors executional discipline and organizational skill (Mintzberg, 1975).

4. Strengths I Anticipate Using Most in College and Career

In college, strengths such as adaptability and relator will be most useful for group work, networking, and handling shifting academic demands. Empathy and responsibility will support teamwork and consistent academic performance. In a future career, responsibility and consistency will be assets in roles that require accountability and process reliability (Rath, 2007). Relator and empathy will help in roles emphasizing client relations, human resources, or team leadership. If pursuing managerial roles, blending these with enhanced strategic skills will be essential to transition from proficient manager to influential leader (Boyatzis, 2008).

Practical Development Actions

To develop identified traits I will adopt deliberate practices supported by evidence-based approaches: set stretch strategic projects that require long-range planning (action learning); seek mentors with influence and strategic experience; undertake training in negotiation and persuasion; and use reflective journaling and feedback loops to build comfort with ambiguity (Goleman, 1995; Kouzes & Posner, 2017). Strengths-based coaching and targeted competency development can convert talents into strengths that support both managerial tasks and leadership roles (Rath, 2007; Linley et al., 2010).

Conclusion

The CliftonStrengths assessment provided a useful framework for understanding how my dominant talents align with leadership and management requirements. My top strengths suggest a reliable, people-focused leadership approach that maps well to key managerial functions such as organizing and controlling. To become a more effective leader, I must intentionally develop strategic perspective and influence skills—traits that complement, rather than replace, my managerial strengths. By applying strengths-based development practices and targeted learning, I can leverage my natural talents for success in college and throughout my career (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001; Gallup, 2020).

References

• Buckingham, M., & Clifton, D. O. (2001). Now, Discover Your Strengths. Free Press.
• Rath, T. (2007). StrengthsFinder 2.0. Gallup Press.
• Gallup. (2020). CliftonStrengths. Retrieved from https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths
• Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th ed.). SAGE Publications.
• Katz, R. L. (1974). Skills of an Effective Administrator. Harvard Business Review.
• Mintzberg, H. (1975). The Manager's Job: Folklore and Fact. Harvard Business Review.
• Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. Bantam Books.
• Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The Leadership Challenge (6th ed.). Wiley.
• Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organizations (8th ed.). Pearson.
• Linley, P. A., Harrington, S., & Garcea, N. (2010). Strengths coaching: A potential-guided approach to coaching psychology. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 3(2), 75–87.