I Took the Gallup StrengthsFinder Test — And Discovered Why I Struggled at Work
It is surprising to see what a 30-minute test can tell us about our career choices.
I took the Gallup StrengthsFinder test, and realized I was working in the wrong role.
It might seem an exaggeration but that is what I feel after reflecting on the report and my experience at work.
After reaching a point, I struggled at work.
It is hard to believe, but what I didn’t realize in 2 decades of working, a 30-minute Gallup test helped me to know.
If I had known them when I was starting, or even during times of struggle, I would have made different career choices — not in terms of Industry, but probably in the roles I worked at.
I wrote this article so that it helps you too, to reassess and if required, to pivot.
Knowing it now too (in my late 40s) is helping. I am making better choices in both my professional and personal life.
In this article, I share my Gallup report and examine the two career-specific insights that anyone can get from it.
Disclaimer — I have no personal interest in talking about Gallup or its tests. I found it helpful, and so want to share the same.
The CliftonStrengths assessment — commonly known as Gallup StrengthsFinder — uncovers your unique rank order of 34 strengths.
The 34 strengths are — Achiever, Adaptability, Analytical, Command, etc.
It further categorizes these 34 strengths into 4 strengths themes — ‘Executing’, ‘Influencing’, ‘Relationship Building’, and ‘Strategic Thinking’.
The assessment is 30 minutes long and requires going through 177 paired statements and choosing therefrom. My Report came as under:
Rank | Strength | Strength Theme | Succinct extract from Report
- Input | Strategic Thinking
You typically read books, journals, blogs, or websites because you enjoy collecting new information and insights. - Achiever | Executing
You work hard and possess a great deal of stamina. You take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive. - Learner | Strategic Thinking
You have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites you. - Intellection | Strategic Thinking
You are characterized by your intellectual activity. You are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions. - Futuristic | Strategic Thinking
You are inspired by the future and what could be. You energize others with your visions of the future.
My full rank of 34 Strengths is as under (image):
2 ways knowing your Gallup StrengthsFinder helps are:
#1. Knowing the roles you will excel at and enjoy
The Gallup Report does not say which Industry or Roles are fit or unfit for you.
This is because any job can be done in multiple ways. Some famous US Presidents were Extroverts, and some were Introverts.
At the same time, though, it gives several clues.
Example:
If I look at my report, 3 of my top 5 strengths are Input, Learner, and Intellection.
As I pursue my goal of a Management writer — requiring me to read, research, and analyze — I find myself extensively using these strengths.
It thus explains why I feel so fulfilled as I write these articles; I am doing work that comes naturally to me.
Another Example:
If I were working in my old job at a bank — knowing the report — I would gravitated from my Ops Manager role to roles :
- that required more of Input, Learner, and Intellection, like — a) making Savings and Loan Products, their variations, studying the competition, notes & processes on the same b) working in a Compliance Role i.e. interpreting complex Regulatory Guidelines for other departments.
- that required more of Intellection and Futuristic strengths, like — a) Operational Risk, to help anticipate future risks for the bank, and b) Audit, to test the robustness of processes.
Any company will have several roles for which your combination of strengths would be uniquely suited. It won’t be a 100% fit, but if the bulk of the role is suited to your top 5 strengths, you will excel and feel fulfilled.
Knowing the strengths will thus help you to pivot to a more fulfilling role.
#2. Knowing the reason why you are struggling at work
The Gallup report can help here too, in two ways:
a) If you are using your strengths in a way that is incompatible with your role.
I recall I struggled at work in the Ops Manager role, as I moved up the corporate ladder.
I sat late and came on weekends, but still found it hard to cope with my work. It wasn’t that I had a bigger load than my peers. Or that I wasn’t delegating, as my ex-team members would tell you.
Now, I realize it was because I was using my top strengths — Input, Learner, Intellection — in the most obvious manner.
I was drawn to understanding activities and processes in their entirety. I was trying to solve issues and spearheading improvement initiatives.
And that can be an issue in working well as a Manager. A manager role requires that one avoids getting into the nitty-gritty of things as far as possible.
Knowing my StrengthsFinder report, I would have adapted.
Instead of using my Input and Learner strength to learn the nitty-gritty of activities, I would have directed it to understand how activities fit in the overall context.
Instead of solving everyday problems, I would use my Intellection strength to focus on bottlenecks, evaluate staff strength, and ensure the team had people with the necessary skills who in turn would come up with the solutions.
b) The report would have also told me that some of the components of Executing — Deliberative and Arranger — come last in my 34 strengths list!
This possibly explains why I faced issues when leading large teams / multiple projects. I was taking on projects without realistically understanding the efforts involved.
It is hard to believe but I now recall a peer giving me this exact feedback after a meeting, more than a decade back. I had dismissed him back then as being negative!
Knowing the report I would have taken this feedback seriously.
Gallup sums up with “Whatever you set your mind to, you will be most successful when you craft your role to your signature strengths (top 5) most of the time.”
More Examples
In their books, “First, Break All The Rules” and “Now, Discover Your Strengths” Gallup gives many examples of people who have used their strengths to excel at their jobs, and where required, made choices in line with their strengths.
For instance, the second book has the example of Sherie S.
During medical school, Sherie realized she didn’t like being around sick people. Rather than giving up being a doctor, she reflected. She realized she likes to help people, just not very sick people. So, she opted to be a Dermatologist.
Then there is the example of Paula L.
Paula is an executive editor of a successful magazine. She likes her work, using her strength of conceptual and creative mind to work with writers and sub-editors.
Because of her work, she repeatedly gets offers to become an editor-in-chief of different magazines. She turns them down because that will require her to do more of a PR role, attend award functions, hobnob with celebrities, etc. which doesn’t appeal to her.
Personal Life
Knowing your Gallup strengths will help in your personal life too.
If I look at my top 5 strengths — as the report suggests to focus on — 4 of my top 5 strengths: Input, Learner, Intellection, and Futuristic come in the ‘Strategic Thinking’ theme — with only the Achiever coming in the ‘Executing’ theme.
This was a big insight for me that I am better at strategic thinking than at executing.
Knowing it has changed how I interact in the local community or in relationships (friends and extended relations).
I now restrict myself to helping through knowledge-based, fact-finding work. Or giving suggestions based on the same.
I deliberately avoid going into the nitty gritty of implementation. I feel lighter and less burdened as a result.
An Example
Sometime back, a relative called up to ask about an EdTech company. And whether he should buy their online tuition for his children.
I didn’t have any experience in the matter. I am a bachelor and don’t have kids.
So I used my Input strength. I searched for review videos on YouTube, made by parents whose children had taken tuition from that EdTech company. And forwarded them to my friend. The friend was appreciative of the same.
I deliberately avoided implementation — making the decision for him.
Criticism
Personality Tests (Gallup StrengthsFinder or any other) have their criticisms too.
The primary criticism is that the result ‘labels’ a person. Depending on the person and the company culture, it could pigeonhole the person into a fixed role/s.
Overall, though, I feel the benefits outweigh the negatives.
I feel you will get the most benefit if you look at it as a tool that helps you to get additional insights about yourself.
Why I prefer Gallup StrengthsFinder over other personality tests
I have also taken many personality tests over the years, like — The Big Five, Myers Briggs, EQ, Career Aptitude Test, Hogan Assessments, The Four Tendencies, DiSC profile, Values exercise, StandOut 2.0, etc.
Every one of them helps us to know an aspect of our personality which in the normal course wouldn’t be so obvious to us.
The reason I am drawn to Gallup Strengths is because of the logic.
Our strengths are a combination of what we are born with (genes) and what we go through in the first 15-odd years of our lives.
All of this shapes us into the unique person we are.
The rest of our life, the pace and pressure therein, means we continue to rely on these specific strengths to bail us out in every situation. This, in turn, leads to our strengths getting more and more ingrained in our psyche.
So knowing these strengths — our default system — is helpful.
Another reason is the succinctness of the report.
Personality tests tend to be multi-page reports and have cross-linkages — how they work with other factors.
In the case of Gallup StrengthsFinder, it is just 5 action words, for your top 5 strengths.
The core message of Gallup is:
“Your greatest chance to succeed — at work or anywhere else — lies in strengthening what we naturally do best [Your top 5 / 10 strengths] and doing more of it.”
Conclusion
Work is a big part of our life. It is supposed to be fun, enriching, and enjoyable.
But it wouldn’t become so by itself. You will have to make an effort if you want to have a long and fulfilling work life.
The best way to go about it would be to first understand yourself, and your personality. Once you know yourself, you can reflect on your job — which aspects of it gel with your personality, and where it is a challenge.
Thereafter you can start making efforts to bring it in sync.
Today, we are fortunate to have tests that help us to know so much about ourselves. We don’t need to spend years coming to those realizations.
Take them, reflect, and you will have a great edge in your career.
If you are in an Individual Contributor role, or a new Manager, I have created an eBook ‘How to Get a 5 (Excellent) in Year-end Appraisal’. Download your copy here.
