Is the Maximizer Strength one of your top Strengths?
People who are gifted with the Maximizer Strength as defined by the Clifton StrengthsFinder are naturals when it comes to transforming good to great.
It is in the DNA of a Maximizer to want to take good to great. They possess a strong orientation towards excellence and actions that will lead to high quality outcomes.
Maximizers have a built in preference to work with and for the best. The drive towards excellence and can often create new standards of success for themselves, other people and for an entire group.
You can find out how you’re wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of strengths into leverage that comes out in your personal power!
Jeff Snyder Coaching
Is the Learner Strength one of your top Strengths?
People who are gifted with the Learner Strength as defined in the Clifton StrengthsFinder have a constant appetite to learn and they continuously want to improve.
For a Learner, it is more often the journey of learning that excites this person rather than the destination. Learners generally do not like learning plateaus. They do not like it when they have mastered a subject or a topic and learning comes to an end.
If you are a Learner or if you’re in charge and you are lucky enough to have a Learner on your team, you should know that this person can learn quickly. When they’re focused, they can keep a team on the cutting edge.
You can find out how you’re wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of strengths into leverage that comes out in your personal power!
Jeff Snyder Coaching
Is the Empathy Strength in your Top Strengths?
Empathy is a powerful relationship building theme in the Clifton StrengthsFinder. People who are gifted in this way have a built-in ability to sense others feelings. This is important because people who are gifted in this way possess an instinctive and powerful ability to anticipate questions and they instinctively anticipate how others are feeling.
Consider Dale Carnegie’s words.
People with the Empathy Strength are generally very good at forming relationships that have great emotional depth. In my proprietary research on what people want in a leader they are willing to follow, the topic of empathy came up frequently.
People want to be listened to. They want their thoughts and ideas to be considered and they want to be understood. It takes Empathy to listen, consider and to understand.
Empathy is one of 15 skills measured by the EQi-2.0 Emotional Intelligence assessment. The good news is that Empathy can be measured and improved upon. Great managers need to possess Empathy. Great leaders need empathy.
You can find out how you’re wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of strengths into leverage that comes out in your personal power!
When a Resume and LinkedIn Profile are Built Strategically, Big Things Can Happen
One Year Ago
Yesterday afternoon, a client who invested in Resume Coaching and LinkedIn Coaching with me a year or so ago called to talk about additional coaching. He has a great problem that needs some attention.
Just over a year ago when this Cyber Security professional called me for the first time, he was in a good job that paid well. After his Resume was rebuilt and his LinkedIn Profile was rebuilt, he landed a job at $153,000.
Prepared When Opportunity Knocked
He wasn’t looking for another job so soon but he told me yesterday that his LinkedIn profile has been attracting 5-10 inquiries every week for the past year. A start-up company reached out to him recently and offered a job he couldn’t refuse at $200,000.
Summary
The Cyber Security professional invested $409.00 with me one year ago to build a winning resume and a winning LinkedIn profile that are aligned and carrying the same message. In a period of one year, the Cyber Security went from compensation in the low $100s to compensation exceeding $200,000.
When opportunity knocked, the Cyber Security professional was prepared.
Striving For Excellence
The problem my Cyber Security coaching client has today will turn into opportunity for him once we work together to get his Emotional Intelligence balanced so he can learn to behave like a $200,000 Vice President. We'll accomplish this through Emotional Intelligence Coaching.
Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.8810
Is the Focus Strength one of Your Top Strengths?
People who are gifted with the Focus Strength found in the Clifton StrengthsFinder are great to have on a team. When others on the team start to mentally wander, the Focus gifted person has a natural ability to push the team to be efficient while helping everyone to keep their eye on the ball.
People with strong Focus are generally very good at taking direction and following through. When others are attracted to the distracting shiny objects that float by, the Focus person is very good at staying on track.
You can find out how you’re wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of strengths into leverage that comes out in your personal power!
Jeff, Why Are You Writing About Strengths?
This is a very legitimate question brought to me by someone who reads my blogs. I love questions because questions enable me to write blogs that I know at least one person cares about!
A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to exercise my public speaker muscles at the CISO Forum of ISSA in Las Vegas. My best guess is that there were 60-70 people in the audience. I asked for a show of hands from those who had taken a Clifton StrengthsFinder.
Approximately 45 of the hands went up. I asked a follow-on question. For those who had their hands up, I asked how many people had been coached after they took a Clifton StrengthsFinder. I was surprised when only 5-10 hands at the most stayed up.
It has been said that Information is Power. In the case of the Clifton StrengthsFinder, information is nothing more than a report. There's no power in the information until it meets up with action.
Understanding has to be added to knowledge in order to get to Power. My coaching clients go through a process of learning about their unique Strengths so they can ultimately embrace their Strengths
Once they decide to embrace their unique strengths, I can then show my clients how to Leverage their Unique Strengths. This is when Power comes from Information.
That’s why I’m investing time to write about all 34 Themes that make up the Clifton StrengthsFinder report.
This assessment has been taken over 13,000,000 around the globe. It is powerful but only when one embraces their unique results and learns to leverage their results. This is why I provide Strengths Coaching.
Is the Deliberative Strength one of Your Top Strengths?
People who are Deliberative are characterized by the serious care they take in making decisions. Deliberative people generally love restraint and caution in the face of risk.
People with this Strengths Theme high on their list are generally very careful and vigilant. Deliberative people sense risks that others do not sense. They bring a thorough and conscientious approach to decision making that more often than not produces sound decisions.
When someone is gifted with the Deliberative Strength Theme, they frequently bring the ability to reduce risk and to prevent problems through their natural gift of anticipation.
You can find out how you’re wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of strengths into leverage that comes out in your personal power!
Is Competition in Your Top Strengths?
The Clifton StrengthsFinder theme of Competition causes people who have it as one of their top Strengths to measure their progress and performance against others.
This type of person is driven to be the best and they work exceptionally hard to excel. They have a need to compare their performance against the performance of others. They generally love to compete and to win.
People who are gifted with this Strength in or near the top of their Strengths Themes have the ability to raise the bar for others and they can often stimulate others to a higher level of achievement.
If you happen to have the Strength Theme of Competition, you have a gift and a potential curse. The curse side of Competition is that you need to learn to harness the power of this gift. Too much of a good thing often has a downside. That is the case with Competition.
Do You Ever Have Trouble Pushing the “GO” Button?
If you have trouble getting going or if you’re part of a group that has trouble turning ideas into action, there’s a reason. It is very likely that you and/or your group is lacking someone who is gifted with the Activator strength.
From the Clifton StrengthsFinder there is a strengths theme called Activator. People who are strong in this theme are generally impatient for action. They are people who get things started. They are quick to turn thoughts and ideas into action.
If you are stuck, you might need to partner with an Activator. If your group is stuck, you might need to add an Activator to your group to turn the group’s thoughts into actions.
Out of the 34 strength themes that make up the Clifton StrengthsFinder, 11% of the population has Activator in their top 5 Themes.
You can find out how you’re wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of strengths into leverage that comes out in your personal power!
To All Smart People
Getting Fit
Warning! Your Results Are About To Change
Her Winning Resume Opened an Interview Door
You Are Built to Be Great at Something…Find out What Your Something Is
The more opportunities I get to introduce my coaching clients to their natural Strengths as their Strengths Coach, the more I’m convinced that everyone is capable of producing some kind of greatness.
Whether you aspire to be a great nurse, a great doctor, a great auto mechanic, a great teacher, a great CISO or great at something else, everyone has potential to be great at something. The key is to learn about your natural Strengths, to embrace your natural Strengths and then to apply your unique Strengths to activities where you’ll be capable of delivering a Great performance.
This is the journey I’m fortunate to take my coaching clients on when they hire me for Strengths Coaching.
A Great performance will be satisfying to you and appreciated by those around you who get to benefit from your performance. It’s a winning situation for everyone involved.
One of my current coaching clients has everything he needs in terms of top Strengths to become a great manager and ultimately a great leader. Like most people, he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Sure, he has had experiences that he has enjoyed and experiences that he has tolerated. However, until yesterday, he didn’t know exactly why he enjoyed certain activities and tolerated other activities. Now he knows and now he’s in a position to make clearer decisions.
What makes this rising star stand out from the crowd is that despite not knowing what he doesn’t know, he has stepped out of his comfort zone to find out what he doesn’t know. This is what most people will not do. Light bulbs lit up in yesterday’s Strengths Coaching conversation as John began to learn what needs to work with in terms of his natural strengths.
Once John learns about his Strengths, he can then choose whether or not to embrace his strengths. If he chooses to embrace his Strengths (and I’m confident that he will), he is then in a position to learn how to leverage his Strengths into a Great performance.
Gallup research for the past 15 years suggests that +-70% of the U.S. Workforce is disengaged in their yearly surveys. That leaves only +-30% of the U.S. Workforce that qualifies as engaged when they go to work.
If you’re ready to find Engagement in your work, Satisfaction in your work and you’re ready to discover how you too can produce a Great performance, call me at 719.686.8810.
He Doesn't Know What He Doesn't Know
Jeff,
"Thank you so much for the Strengths coaching session. It definitely helps me understand why I enjoy certain tasks so much and don't prefer certain jobs. It will undoubtedly help my job search and career transition.
As I contemplate what I learned in the coaching session, I want to best interlink my strengths with new positions. One of the things that keeps coming to mind is that I don't know what I don't know. Where I focus to search is only based on what I know, but I don't know what I don't know or what I'm missing."
Are there career fields that you're aware of that might be a good fit?
Regards,
John
A Satisfied Resume Coaching Client Wants More Career Coaching
I Set Goals Following Open Heart Surgery
This photo of the Grand Canyon belongs to the Grand Canyon Association
I haven't hit the 2 year mark yet following my open heart surgery of 2014 but it's coming up soon. A week before my open heart surgery, I skated three hockey games and skied two times. I showed up for this life-changing event in the best shape I could in order to take care of my part of the deal.
The other part of this deal belonged to the heart surgeon. He promised me that the better my fitness was coming to the surgery, the faster I would recover. I took this advice seriously by skating over 200 hockey games and by skiing over 200,000 vertical feet in the three years before my open heart surgery.
The week before my surgery, I spoke with the heart surgeon and he helped me to set realistic recovery goals following my surgery. I crushed every single one of my goals. I crushed some of them alone and I crushed some of them with my wife's help. Other goals were crushed with the help of a couple of good friends who are also my hockey and mountain biking buddies.
This beautiful Grand Canyon photo represents my final written goal following open heart surgery. On my white board from April of 2014, I wrote down the goal of hiking the Grand Canyon from Rim to Rim. That trip is now in the planning stages for this Spring.
I have found a thrill seeking adrenaline junkie, goal setting, goal crushing person just like me who has expressed an interest in helping me to crush yet another goal.
Coaching Results!!!
Transitioning from Law Enforcement to Private Industry is Possible
The police officer called and stated that he was ready to move on to the next chapter of his career.
I asked the police officer to describe the next chapter in his career.
He quickly told me that he didn’t have any idea what the next chapter might look like and he didn’t even know where to begin to find the next chapter.
I was interested in this caller’s problem. In order to solve this kind of problem, two conditions had to be met.
- Someone had to know how to solve the problem. In this case, that was me.
- The police officer in this case had to be willing to face what he didn’t know in order to get out of his own way to receive help. He had to demonstrate a coachable and teachable spirit. He got out of his own way, admitted that he didn't know what he didn't know and he asked for help.
Personal Strengths Coaching
Both conditions were met and a plan of action was established. Since the police officer had never been in position in his career to truly make choices, we started with Strengths Coaching. Strengths Coaching enabled me to show the police officer how he was built and what he ultimately has the potential to be great at when he aligns his natural strengths with his chosen work.
This step opened the police officer's eyes to possibilities he had never before considered.
Personal Packaging, Branding and Marketing
We also addressed the police officer’s marketing, packaging and branding. In this case, we worked together to build a resume that was designed for the benefit of the resume’s next audience. The next audience doesn’t use the same vocabulary as the police officer’s current audience. I taught him how to blend the right mix of technical writing, business writing and creative writing in a resume format that has opened doors around the globe.
Align the Resume's Message with LinkedIn's Message
In addition to the resume work, we also worked together to build the police officer’s LinkedIn presence to match his resume with a similar message. Because the police officer was pursuing a career move, I taught him how to build his LinkedIn profile in a manner that would make it easy to find by recruiting professionals.
An Interview Door Opened...Interview Coaching
The police officer’s first success was an interview for an investigator role with a very large public utility. While this first interview did not produce a job offer, it did give me an opportunity to provide interview coaching; something he police officer had never received before.
Winner!
The police officer was and continues to be a great student. The second job the police officer pursued was an investigative role with a public defender’s officer. This time, everything came together and he got the job.
Moving from law enforcement, government or a federal agency is entirely possible but there is a learning curve. You can either approach this learning curve without guidance and figure out what it takes to crush the learning curve by yourself or you can fast-track your learning by investing in coaching that is proven to crush learning curves and deliver results.