StrengthsFinder

I find it interesting that this summer, I felt like I had way more to write about than I had time to write it. I wonder if the reduced frequency of my blogging is related to the fact that I'm not outside as much in winter or if I'm busier or if I'm just out of stuff to say. I don't think I'm out of stuff to say, cuz man I talk plenty. Perhaps I'm just out of a rhythm with my blogging... yeah, that's probably it. There really is a lot going on to talk about because.

A few years ago I took the StrengthsFinder assessment (highly recommended) and my top 5 strengths were determined to be Learner, Relator, Achiever, Strategic, & Self-Assurance. I have been using this (along with other assessment results) to help me make decisions and understand situations. I have become such a believer in this that I'm now in the middle of leading a group of 16 people at Thrivent through this process. It's been great to see people start asking more questions of themselves and potentially embrace the "build on your strengths" paradigm rather than the "work on your weaknesses." I was a bit concerned because one person in the class said she just took the assessment again after a couple of years and all 5 of her strengths were different. That might just mean she is very well-rounded, but it made me concerned about the validity of the assessment. A couple of things have reaffirmed the value:
1) Of the 16 people, 13 are working actuaries, 1 is an actuarial VP, 1 is an industrial engineer, and 1 is an accountant. Although all are highly technical, the 3 of the entire group that had the least in common with others were the VP, engineer, and accountant.
2) When I re-took the test, 4 of the 5 remained the same (including Learner as #1 each time); my "strategic" was replaced with "responsibility."

I used to think this stuff was all psycho-babble until I had a number of assessments done for various reasons and went away for a couple of days to pray over them and look for common themes. It was remarkable as I started looking back to see where in my life I was thriving and where I was discouraged. They were highly correlated with the use (or not) of my strengths. Since then, my mentor has been tremendously helpful in using the knowledge of my strengths to help me understand my feelings in various situations.

I highly recommend the book for yourself or for any team that you are on; it is a great tool for forming teams and understanding teammates.

Lots o' Stuff

Hey crew... man what a whirlwind of stuff going on. Every day I have bloggin' on my to-do list, but every day other priorities take over - tonight I thought, I HAVE to get my thoughts down (to honor my commitment I've made to myself to do this).

Don't worry, I'm still gettin' some free time.... although today was a long day at the office (8:00am-6:00pm) and a ton of work to do tonight, I still made time to bring my kids to school (after a quick stop at the bakery), have lunch with my daughter, play 35 minutes of Game Cube (I beat all 3 kids in MarioKart -- oh yeah!), and order my wife a book she's been dying to get on-line. So don't think it's all work & no play!

Here's some of the things I've been invovled with that have been very rewarding and have contributed greatly to my leadership journey:
* Speaking at New Hope on 12/30/07 (continued learning as I expanded the circle of people I've brought in to the creation process) and scheduled to speak on 1/27/08; also scheduled to speak at Evergreen Community Church on 2/24/08.
* Teaching adult Sunday school which has continue to extend my understanding of God's overall plan for humanity and the stuff that our predecessors walked through
* Leading a lunch time discussion group at Thrivent on StrengthsFinder
* Starting to teach (tomorrow!) a weekly Leadership course at Cambridge Christian School to High School juniors & seniors
* Facilitating an all day staff & leadership meeting on 1/11; this did not go as well as I'd hoped but the learnings for large-group facilitation were huge and insights from the group were valuable

As you can see, it has become incredibly obvious that my life is moving more and more toward teaching, facilitation & relationships compared to the 100% technical (actuarial) that occupied my life less than two years ago. My biggest area of development continues to be in the area of relationships - in the actuarial world, as long as you did your spreadsheets rights and could somewhat explain them, you were considered a genius... in the relationship-driven church leadership world, success is measured quite differently and far less objectively. I'm so thankful for those who continue to believe in my gifts and encourage me as I march forward in my journey.

Life is good. Praise the Lord.