Strengths Profile is the most comprehensive of the three evidence based strengths assessment tools – read more about what value it offers for your participants or clients
This post will tell you a bit more about discovering your strengths using the Strengths Profile tool and it’s main advantages and disadvantages.
If you wish to learn more on the topic of strengths:
- Read more about strengths based approach and why would a trainer use it in previous Trainers Toolbox Strengths based approach 101 – What is strengths based approach and how to use it? blog post.
- Check out Strengths based approach 103 – Strengths Assessment Tools for comparison of different tools to explore personal strengths
- For tools similar to Strengths Profile, make sure to check VIA and Strengthsfinder 2.0 articles
Strengths Profile measures 60 key strengths across three dimensions – performance, energy and usage of that strength. It categorises individuals strengths in 4 groups: Realised,
As one of the metrics for strengths, it takes into account how much energy one is gaining or losing from using a certain strength, taking that as an indication if a certain strength is a real, “inborn” strength, or a learned behaviour.
Comprehensive but greatly informative
Although the report is a quite comprehensive list of 60 strengths, the two categorisations within it give it sense and structure.
The first one is the 4M model, dividing strengths into 4 groups:
Image 2. – 4M model from R2 assessment, earlier version of Strengths Profile (CAPP, 2015)
- Unrealised strengths – the things individual finds energizing and perform well, but doesn’t use so often. Maximize for development, career advancement, and to reach your goals.
- Weaknesses – the things the individual finds hard to do well and finds draining. Minimize to make them irrelevant by knowing what to work on, what to avoid, and what to pass on to others!
- Realised strengths – the things individual finds energising, performs well, and uses often. Marshal them for outstanding performance by dialling them up and down, depending on your situation.
- Learned behaviors – the things individual learned to do well, but that don’t energize you. Moderate to prevent burnout by using them less and working from your strengths more.
The second one is categorizing strengths into 5 different families: Being (our way of being in the world), Communicating (how we give and receive information), Motivating (our drive towards action), Relating (how we relate to others) and Thinking (our approach to situations). The report lets individual know what strength family he/she is best at or least good at.
Strengths Profile is a great tool do dig deeper into own strengths and adds a valuable concept about unrealised strengths and learned behaviors as complementing realised strengths.
As it is quite comprehensive, it can also be a bit overwhelming. Of these 3 tools (VIA, Strengthfinder 2.0 and Strengths Profiler), Strength Profiler is the most information rich but that also makes it the most difficult to find a clear focus within the report and clear action points to take away (there are simply too many options for actions).
If you are interested in how this survey compares to the similar strengths assessment tools, check out Strengths based approach 103 – Strengths Assessment Tools for comparison of different tools to explore personal strengths.
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