I received this from a Linkedin Connection Paul Hayes. Paul gave me permission to quote him.
"In the DFW area, there are a lot of churches that are utilizing StrengthsFinder as part of their ministry. I don't have the exact figure, you can probably find it on the Gallup website somewhere, or if you post in one of the LinkedIn SF groups, someone will probably know and reply, but my understanding is that the likelihood of someone else having the same order for the 34 talents is infinitesimally small. I don't trust my memory, but the figure less than a dozen in the world's population sticks in my mind for some reason.
Awareness of this instills into people that we are all unique creations of God; what is unique about each of us aligns with the purpose we were put here for; and when we find what our passion is, the likelihood that we are also finding the purpose God has planned for our lives will also be found. Additionally, like any other organization, knowing the strengths of each member helps the organization deploy talent most effectively, just as would be the case in a business. It also is an effective tool for life changes support such as ministering to those seeking work, marriage and divorce, grief counseling, etc.
The other thing is what I call 'out bounding your strengths'. We all enter into situations where we ask others to make significant decisions based, in part, on their judgment and trust of who we are. For example, when you might be asking a major donor to fund an endeavor of your ministry or The Red Cross.
Using the 3 page summary report of someone's top five is a good way to frame that perception. In business, during the times when I have been asking someone to spend $100,000 or more at one time, I always include that as the last section of the proposal.
I usually introduce it by saying if I were being asked to spend what I am asking them to spend, I would want to truly know who I was dealing with, and this is not only who I perceive myself to be, it is who Gallup's assessment given to over 12 million people perceives me to be.
I urge them to take $10 and an hour of their time to determine if they think who that assessment perceives them to be is accurate or not, because if they consider that to depict who they are, then they can have confidence the following depicts who I am.
It puts StrengthsFinder before influencers who can spread it to more people, and it does so in a matter of fact way about it being something real. In effect, it is doing with StrengthsFinder the same thing that a life of example is ultimately a ministry.
I did not get more than the top five till about a year and a half after taking the assessment for the top five report. When and if you ever decide you want to delve deeper into your strengths, you can go back to the purchase page and purchase the full 34 report for $89. It is generated from the same answers that generated your top five report. As soon as you pay, you have the full 34 report. When you have the list going deeper, you see ways that top fives combine with lesser strengths. For instance, my belief about only being able to receive through giving is something I attribute to my #14 Connectedness, #9 Relator, and #7 Empathy much more so than anything in my top five, yet that is an essential core of who I am. Such things are why eventually it is nice to have the full 34."
Thanks Paul for your insights and wisdom!
In a previous post, I mentioned S.H.A.P.E.
Would be interesting to see how our "Strengths" work together with our "S.H.A.P.E."
