Having a strengths-based approach to life means you try to set yourself up to do what you’re good at most of the time rather than focus on “fixing” what you’re not good at. If you’re constantly struggling to improve your weaknesses, you’re more likely to live in a state of struggle, frustration, and disappointment. Life sure feels better, and success comes easier, when you’re doing things you’re good at.

Strengths assessments are everywhere

There are many strengths assessments in the world. My two favorites are StrengthsFinder and VIA Character Assessment. The Enneagram is also popular. Positive Intelligence isn’t technically a strengths assessment, but it kind of is.

And there are dozens more popping up, as life coaches figure out that the path to real money in this business is in creating their own branded curriculum and tools they can charge people for.

But not everyone wants to (or can) pay $50 or $60 for an assessment. That’s why I have created this one. It’s based on my own life experience, my 30+ years building and leading teams in a variety of settings, my experience coaching hundreds of people, and some input from an AI tool to review and synthesize the available literature on this topic.

How to use a strengths assessment

In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter which strengths assessment you use because they all serve two basic purposes:

A strengths assessment’s primary purpose

First and foremost, any strengths assessment is an entry point into a conversation with yourself.

When you get your strengths report from any of these tools, you should never take it as prescriptive or immutable. There’s as big a danger of creating limiting beliefs within yourself as there is of gaining valuable new insight. Don’t turn over your right to self-determination to a tool that verges on pseudoscience. (And don’t abdicate your responsibility to critical thinking by turning it over to artificial intelligence, either.)

When you get your assessment’s report, you get to decide whether you agree or disagree with it, and what you want to do about that, if anything. You get a chance to look at your life with a new perspective and view the true evidence that supports or refutes the strength assessment’s conclusions.

This is where the real value lies.

A strengths assessment’s secondary purpose

When multiple people use the same assessment, they gain a shared language in talking about their worldview, their approach to problem-solving, the things they bring to the table, and the their gaps and weaknesses.

This shared language can be incredibly valuable when overcoming conflict, finding the source of dysfunction, or planning resources for an upcoming project. When everyone uses the same words to mean the same things, communication is smoother and less error-prone.

For example, two people may both say “detail-oriented” but mean very different things. One might mean reliably accurate, while the other might mean micromanaging. Having a shared language with clear definitions can help smooth out those misunderstandings.

Take your strengths assessment now

This is not yet ready for prime time. You are welcome to use it, but a lot more is yet to come on the back end.

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