strengthsfinder & type

I'm so excited that I read this article by CPP on how they relate StrengthsFinder & Type. After discovering positive psychology, I've been reading quite a lot about it; and an area of interest is on strengths. I've also been very much interested in personality psychology cause an INFP always do soul searching and genuinely wanting to help others find their way. And the article which I've just read combines both of my interest areas :D

It's just an article. It doesn't have the statistical evidence nor even in depth explanation on how they link both of these assessments. Will definitely write to them to find out (and hopeful that they would share the details).

From the StrengthsFinder perspective, one should focus on using his/her strengths as much as possible in order to be in "flow" - a state of mind where you're engaged & absorbed in the activity that you're doing. However Type has a different opinion. A Type practitioner would encourage you to flex your non preferences so that you would be able to call upon them when needed - this is known as developing your "developed self".

What I find interesting in this article is that it shares with you which non preference you could flex, and in what manner. For example, I would need to flex my Thinking preference. But then the next question is in what manner I could do so? The articles shares with me that I could learn to think critically what may be lacking and manage anxiety about not being close to everyone.

So far, I've got 2 other friends who have taken the StrengthsFinder assessment & have their Type profile validated by a certified Type trainer :) So let me share with you my finding of this super small sample size - almost ALL of our top 5 strengths correlate to the non preferences we're recommended to flex except for 2 (out of 15). Only wished that I had a larger sample size to cross check!

I've barely scratched the surface in understanding each strength, and how a person's top 5 strengths relates to each other - painting an overall picture of a person. I guess it will take lots of practice to be able to do that well. At least for Type, I'm able to share more than a person's preferences - painting a richer picture of a person using temperament, interaction styles, cognitive dynamics & archetypes ;)

Click here to read the article by Dr. Sarita Bhakuni