HR manager David South reviews the book StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. Review discusses how book and accompanying website helps employers find employees’ talents.
Tom Rath leads Gallup’s workplace research and leadership consulting worldwide. He coauthored How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life
and most recently authored Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford to Live Without
StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths
StrengthsFinder is both fun to read and interactive. Each book includes a unique access code which allows access to the online test on the website (www.strengthsfinder.com.) While taking the test, you pick between two sets of words or phrases that represents how you feel or can best relate. Responses to the questions need to be made quickly or the word or phrases will move on to the next set of phrases or words. The intent is to not allow too much time for the person testing to think too much about their initial response.
Instructions are very clear, and a sample question is offered before you begin to take the test. The test takes about 25 minutes to complete and should be taken uninterrupted. Once complete, immediate results are provided and can be sent via e-mail. The results will identify the top 5 natural talents ranked in the order of dominance.
What the StrengthsFinder test actually measures is talent, not strengths. The book was named StrengthsFinder instead of TalentFinder because the ultimate goal is to build a true strength, and talent is just one of the ingredients in this formula.
If you are familiar with the Myers-Briggs profile test, you will find this book different in that it focuses on your primary talents and further developing those talents as opposed to providing a general description of your personality profile preferences.
I had all my staff take the test and then identified everyone’s top five talents on a spreadsheet ranking them from one to five for each employee. I then assigned each of my staff an employee within the department to do a verbal report on their assigned employee’s top talents over lunch. Each talent also has limitations that are also clearly explained. It was truly an informative and fun experience to learn about one another’s natural talents and has helped each of us understand and utilize the talents within the department more effectively. We all found the results of our tests to be very accurate.
The book truly conveyed an important message of helping us all appreciate one another’s natural talents, and I didn’t find any particular weak points that would deter me from recommending StrengthFinder 2.0 to others in the HR profession. The information will challenge some traditional thinking best noted by the following traditional quote:
“You can be anything you want to be, if you just try hard enough”
which the book modifies to:
“You cannot be anything you want to be – but you can be a lot more of who you already are.”
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars
David South is Vice President of Human Resources at Christian Community Credit Union and has been working in the Human Resources field for over 18 years. He is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University where he obtained his BA in Business Administration and his MA in Human Resources. He served on Azusa Pacific University’s Human Resources Department Steering Board Committee. David is currently a member of M. Lee Smith Publisher’s Advisory Board, the HRD Network of Southern California, the Credit Union National Association’s HR Council and the Credit Union National Association’s Employee Solutions Board. David is a contributor to the HR Hero’s Guidebook Series.