Showcase Friday: Allyson

What are your Top 5?
Harmony, Context, Consistency, Developer, Relator

How do you see them playing in your life?
 I see my strengths at work all day, every day, but I see them the most in my relationships with people I interact with. If I meet someone new and find something in common with them, I get really excited about the conversation. I realize that is my relator strength. I also love history, and find myself looking back to my past experiences to explain and understand who I am today. That is my context strength. I love working with people who want to better themselves, and seeing people have their “ah-ha”, or breakthrough, moments. That is my developer strength, a strength I want to hone in on.

 What's your favorite theme?
It is difficult to choose a favorite because they are all important to me, but I think my favorite (at the moment at least) is harmony. It is my favorite because it has helped me deal with the shadow of harmony, which is conflict. Conflict is a part of life, and before I went through StrengthsFinders, I didn’t realize how uncomfortable I was when I had to confront someone over an issue, or be confronted. My fight or flight instinct kicks in and flight is always my instinct because I don’t want to deal with the conflict. Now that I know and understand my harmony strength, and realize why conflict is uncomfortable, I better understand how to embrace it and use my harmony strength to resolve the conflict, instead of shying away from it.

What's the one theme that "get's in your way?
Relator gets in my way a lot in social situations. I am terrible at small talk and I always feel awkward when I can’t find something in common with someone. As soon as I do find something, I latch onto it so that I have some context (another strength!) of who that person is. Once I am able to connect with them I am instantly more comfortable and enjoy the conversation. This also hinders me on a professional level when it comes to networking. I would be terrified to go into an event where I do not know anyone. I feel like I am missing out on opportunities because I am too scared that I will not be able to relate to the people I come in contact with.

How has knowing your Top 5 empowered you to live a more authentic life?
When I first saw harmony as my top strength, I was actually upset. As someone who has always been intrinsically motivated and a goal setter, I felt like my top 5 did not align with who I thought I was. But as I read the details of each strength, it was like looking into a mirror. I kept nodding my head as I was reading the descriptions, going “yep, that’s me…yeah, that sounds about right”. Once I understood my strengths and saw how they played out in my life, I felt empowered. I realized that, while I might be a goal setter and enjoy achieving these goals, I have other strengths that are more important to me, and that I enjoy more. Now I have these badges to wear that showcase my personality and help me to explain who I am.

---

reCreate's Strengths Mission
For strengths to come alive, we must have the opportunity to use them everyday and make them personal.  We showcase our friends, family, clients and anyone who dares to show us the personal side to their Top 5. These post are meant to encourage, inspire and connect you to having a life well-lived in strengths. 

Want to be featured?  We would love to showcase you!!!

Haven't taken Strengths yet?!  Click here!

Like this post?! Comment below!!!