We all have a "worldview" or a lens by which we look at and view the world.
One of the items that make up that worldview is our Strengths.
There are 34 or more "strengths" as defined by Strengthsfinder 2.0
My top 5 Strengths are:
Connectedness or Connecting
Belief
Achievement
Responsibility
Relator
No one "strength" is better than any other. This is important!
Whatever your "Strengths" are, you can use them in any volunteer position and do a better job!
"We all communicate but few connect" a quote by John Maxwell and also a book by that title.
Our "Experiences" are another item that shapes our worldview and also how we interpret events in our lives and also what we hear and read.
I am including the above as a way for you to understand and interpret what follows.
If we are not connected on Linkedin, please consider this. Mention this post.
Do you do everyday what you enjoy doing and are good at?
If not, then have a plan or goal to accomplish that!
If you are volunteering in a non profit or considering it, ideally you should want to know your strengths and abilities. We are think we already know them, but do we?
If you are already volunteering at a non profit you might want to read a good book on what makes a non profit great. Good to Great in the Social Sector by Tim Collins.
Tim wrote this book after he wrote Good to Great.
He looks at companies to see how they went from being good to great.
The major key in their success was having the right people and those people in the right positions using their "Strengths". No one "Strength" is any better than any other.
A good book that you can probably get from your library is: Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton. This is more for managers & supervisors showing them how they can help their employees be more efficient in their work. A very good book!
There are several assessments that will show you what you "strengths" or "talents" are.
A good assessment is Strengthfinders.2.0 http://strengths.gallup.com/110440/About-StrengthsFinder-20.aspx You can purchase at Amazon for about $15
It has a code in the back of the book that you use when you go online to take the 177 question assessment. After taking the assessment you get an immediate printout of your top 5 strength and a commentary on how to further develop those "talents" into strengths.
The results of knowing your "Strengths" is that you can use them in your job, career, volunteering and in your marriage.
Now if you are ready to tackle your Abilities, a good book that is probably out of print is Discovering Your Natural Talents by John Brady and Jay Carty.
John Bardley has a company called Idak Group
They have an online Abilities Assessment. Cost $27. Very good.
If you wish to go further, you can find out your S.H.A.PE.
S is your Spiritual Gifts.H is your Heart or Passion
A is your Abilities
P is your Personality
E is your Experiences.
There are several websites that offer an online survey.
They are approaching this from a Christian worldview. The Spiritual Gifts part.
Gives you a great analysis on how to use your SHAPE in a Christian non profit.
If you don't do the Spiritual Gift section it also applies to a Secular non profit.
They give a great printout.
This is a brief overview.
You can go to a prior post to get a more detailed description of Strengths.
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