Abraham Maslow said in 1966, “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
I love the StrengthsFinder tool, and think it is amongst the most flexible tool around! Priced at 10USD it is also one of the most affordable around.
But we need to remember that StrengthsFinder isn’t your all-purpose swiss army knife, although can comes pretty close to it!
Here are some comparisons on when StrengthsFinder might or might not be the best tool for your suited purpose.
Hiring and Recruitment
Some people are wondering if StrengthsFinder could be used in a recruitment process, and it’s important to note that StrengthsFinder is a developmental tool, not a selection tool. StrengthsFinder helps identifies a person’s talent (natural recurring way of thinking, feeling and behaving) but does not show how mature that talent is. Neither does it help identify the skills, knowledge or experience that is required for a particular role.
There are other tools available for hiring and recruitment, but StrengthsFinder isn’t one of those designed for it.
Talent Management and Development
Besides hiring and recruitment, another key Human Resource (HR) function is that of Talent Management and Talent Development. This is closely tied to several important HR goals such as:
- Retention
- Employee Engagement
- Succession Planning
- Business Continuity
And StrengthsFinder would be an excellent tool as it is a developmental tool. This will help your high-potential learn more about his or her strengths and how to leverage on it. Having an experienced Strengths Coach will help the person leverage on their strengths, mitigate their weaknesses, and develop strategic partnerships with others, and how to build highly effective interdependent teams.
StrengthsFinder is definitely one of the best investments one can make for talent development.
Career Planning and Direction
StrengthsFinder would give a good general direction in terms of types of roles or environments that may be more suited for you. In your StrengthsFinder 2.0 Action Planning Guide, you will find some suggestions as to the type of roles or environments that would be suitable for you.
For example for people with high Adaptability:
- Seek roles in which success depends upon responding to constantly changing circumstances. Consider career areas such as journalism, live television production, emergency healthcare, and customer service. In roles of this type, the best react the fastest and stay level headed.
- Avoid roles that demand structure and predictability. These roles will quickly frustrate you, make you feel inadequate, and stifle your independence.
While there are certain types of roles that may be more suited for particular themes, StrengthsFinder really doesn’t tell you what you can or cannot do, but rather how you can go about accomplishing it.
For someone who is looking for some Career Direction, I would recommend the Strong’s Interest Inventory (see sample report here). A trained facilitator would be able to help the person explore his options that best suit his needs. When combined with StrengthsFinder, we would have an even stronger tool to help for career planning.
If you are interested in exploring using the Strong’s Interest Inventory for Career planning, drop me a comment with your email below and I’ll contact you to discuss.
