Overview of the Executing Strengths

Executing strengths are one of the four Strengths Finder categories.  People with executing strengths know how to make things happen and when you need someone to implement a solution, these are the people who will work tirelessly to get it done.  These people have the ability to “catch” an idea and make it a reality and tend to get things done, with speed, precision, and accuracy. Executing strengths provide energy and drive. 

Recognising and understanding our strengths can build our confidence in what we do well, enabling us to use them more effectively in our role and within our team. The nine executing strengths are:  Achiever; Consistency; Focus ; Arranger; Deliberative; Responsibility; Belief; Discipline  and Restorative. Below are the key features of each strength.

Achiever 

The Achiever theme helps explain people’s drive.  It indicates a need to achieve in concrete ways, a natural energy for being busy and a need to get through work.  People with strong talent in Achiever enjoy being given work to do and being recognised for the amount they achieve.  They tend to start each day or week with a list and enjoy ‘ticking things off’.   Being prevented from achieving – an unproductive day, or inefficient meetings - are very frustrating for them.  A bad day is on a day when they do not achieve what they intended in the first place.  They tend to have naturally high energy levels, enjoy working with other high-achievers, and are often very busy outside work as well. 

Arranger 

People with strong talent in Arranger are natural conductors. They are good at taking complicated ideas and situations and simplifying them so that others can make sense of them.  They like a broad structure or framework within which they work quite flexibly; the structure helps them to control and feel comfortable that they can do what is required. They are good at multi-tasking, seem to spin plates effortlessly and are often good at coordinating projects.  They are also  skilled at positioning and re-positioning people so as to get the right structures and combinations to get the job done.  

Belief 

This indicates a passionate belief in certain core values that are enduring.  The values vary from one person to another but often relate to family values, altruism, spirituality, responsibility or high ethics in yourselves and others.  These beliefs affect your behaviour and how you chose to spend your time and working life, being energised by things which have real meaning to you.  People with strong talent in Belief enjoy work which they know makes a positive difference to others.  They will be quite outspoken and courageous in defending ideas, values, things or people they really believe in.  Some might describe them as “strongly opinionated”, even “stubborn”.  

Consistency 

Balance is important. This describes the ability to quickly see inconsistency in the way people are treated, in the way processes work or in the way that things are arranged. People with strong talent in Consistency are good at establishing routines and enjoy using and sticking with these. They are often very practical people who can be frustrated by abstract or overly conceptual thinking.  They will stand up for fairness and are frustrated by situations where they believe that people have been treated unjustly.  You’ll object to situations where connections or background lead to unfair advantage. 

Deliberative 

This theme are careful and vigilant, with a desire to weigh up the pros and cons of situations and to be more cautious than most about making key decisions.  People with strong talent in Deliberative are good at slowing down decisions which need to be carefully thought through and see issues through the lens of risk’. They are also good at writing papers which are well reasoned and thought through, presenting considered options. They prefer to have information in advance of meetings so that they can carefully consider it in advance of discussing or making decisions.  They may find spontaneous changes hard, are unlikely to be energised by surprises. Colleagues may see them as  private people.   

Discipline 

People with strong talent in Discipline have an attraction to routine, and a natural tendency to attend to detail and create order.  ‘A place for everything and everything in its place’ can often describe them well and they enjoy establishing processes and routines.  They tend to be very thorough and dislike disorganisation or untidiness and can tend to be detailed rather than “big picture” thinkers. 

Focus 

People with strong talent in Focus need clear goals and markers to work towards.  They usually show strong ability to concentrate and to prioritise, are often clear thinkers who can help others to see and stick to priorities.  They find vague targets and frequent changes in direction confusing and are frustrated by managers or colleagues who are vague about goals, who frequently change their mind, or who distract them when they are working. People with strong talent in Focus are likely to benefit from having very clear expectations, responsibilities, goals and targets.  

Responsibility 

People with strong talent in Responsibility tend to be very conscientious, will do what they say they will do and are usually very concerned about delivering high standards.  This is a value-based strength so they take psychological ownership for work, things and people and hold themselves accountable to do what they believe is the right thing to do.  If they say a piece of work will be ready by Friday, it will be, even if they have to work on Weds and Thursday evenings to ensure it is.  They tend to be fairly easy to manage as they take their commitments seriously and will usually ask for help, to ensure their deadlines are met. 

Restorative 

This describes a tendency to enjoy sorting out problems, spotting what is wrong and being irritated when it cannot be put right.  People with strong talent in Restorative enjoy resolving problems and are more likely to spot and work with what is wrong than what is right.  They may also be acutely aware of their own short comings, may be self-critical and may to need more help than most to focus on their strengths They may benefit from spending time listening to their ‘inner coach’ more than their ‘inner critic’. They can feel very deflated if they cannot solve problems and may need support from managers to help them sort things out.  Working in a role where their job is to “fix –problems for people or with equipment or processes”, can be very satisfying for them. People with this theme are more likely to focus on what they have done wrong rather than what they have done right! 

Find out more 

If you’d like to understand more about your own strengths and / or those of your team, using Strengths Finder, please contact us at kate@3d-professional-development.co.uk.