high trust leader

After taking Clifton’s strengths an assessment test and assessing my results, I can confidently say that all my five identified strengths resonate well with me. Empathy and Responsibility are the strongest values that I can abide with more on a daily basis as compared to my other strengths.

Empathy

I was very surprised after taking the test and reading the Accord Your PERSONALIZED STRENGTHS INSIGHTS” What makes you stand out survey. The reason being my results were so accurate. For example, when it comes to empathy; I would like to share a small passage from the results which states as follows: “You spontaneously tune in to what individuals are thinking and feeling minute by minute. These insights are likely to make you a better educator. By nature, you enjoy interacting with young children more than with adults. I am therefore naturally aware of how youngsters think and feel. This allows me to experience the world with fresh eyes and an open mind. I’m a strong believer in spirituality. As a Christian, my parents raised me to always think sympathetically of others feelings and situations. I believe this was the first lesson or value I ever learned because apart from my parents being constantly close to my three siblings taught me to support them emotionally and care for them when they felt vulnerable and distressed. This natural value that was installed in me since I was young is the reason why I have always chosen careers and jobs that relate in helping others emotionally and physically. I like to see people happy. Having worked as a medical assistant in Oncology Unit in Huntsville Hospital, Alabama, I have always tried to provide an empathetic response. This at one time led me at one time to be awarded a “Certificate of excellence” at my workplace in recognition of these values. Even as a teacher I strongly believe in having empathy for your children because it helps build relationships. Most children don’t have a solid foundation at home. Children will copy what you do. I strongly encourage my students and my 3 children to show empathy towards other people.

Responsibility

I feel as I’m responsible for the people I care and love. I feel as that the life I lead as a young single mum and having to make sure that my children are taken care has made me be more responsible when it comes to important things in life. As a teenager when something went wrong in my life or things didn’t plan out the way I wanted I was very angry and I felt sorry for myself. But as I grew up started to develop my confidence and my spirituality kicked in and I started to understand life more clearly. I came to realize that some of the things we do are by choice and sometimes we have to take responsibility for the good and bad choices that we make in life. For example, when we fall in love and decide to have children it’s my responsibility to make sure my children are okay regardless of how I might feel. Every action has a consequence. Been a Christian and a person who learns from the past I thank God for helping me develop responsibility. I use responsibility every day. It’s my responsibility to wake up early every day making sure my children go to school to receive an education. It’s my responsibility as an instructional aide to make sure all my students are learning

Developer and Believer.

Another strength that I possess is being an inventor, a developer and have faith as a believer. I think these two values go hand in hand. The personalized strength insight states “It’s very likely that you like to lift the spirits of the people around you. You know what to do and say so individuals feel useful, valued,” appreciated, and important(Gallup, nd). This quote is accurate. I have always been told by many individuals that I see good in people. In my head, I have always felt that everyone in this world has a purpose of living. Sometimes however our circumstances cause us to lose hope in ourselves resulting in depression and other factors. It’s important that we uplift and believe in each other especially our children who are the future.

Futuristic-In week one I talked about being creative as one of my value. I stated that “my intention of been a creative teacher is to develop a learning action plan to accomplish successful academics with my students and allow my students to think outside the box. With that said I’m so surprised when the test stated “By nature, you naturally spend a lot of time creating innovative ideas about what will be possible in the weeks, months, years, or decades to come. When you concentrate on your areas of mastery, you frequently exhibit the behaviors of an inventor, a visionary, or a dreamer” (Obviously the test does not lie)(Gallup, n.d)

What does that mean for you as a leader?

As a leader, it’s important to recognize and work with my strengths, for that matter empathy, responsibility, developer, believer and futuristic and use them to my advantage to solve any problems that might occur and help others along the way to become greater. Empathy is important for me as a leader because it will and has enabled me to understand people’s situation and come up with realistic ideas of how we can change it based on the circumstances they are encountering. Responsibility- I’m responsible for my students and the people around me. You build great relationships with people you believe and uplift without tearing them down. As a leader this important because not only does it build a relationship it also makes people respect you. Futuristic-its important as a leader to keep been innovative and develop new ideas for the future believe and development-As a leader I have to uplift people in order to succeed.

Gallup. (n.d.). CliftonStrengths [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/Home/en-US/S…