During the first half of the year, Strengths Partnership undertook extensive research on workplace strengths with an expert statistician, using a sample of 47,000 employees from our Strengthscope® database. Strengthscope® measures 24 work-based strengths divided into 4 categories: Emotional, Relational, Thinking and Execution strengths.
The findings were very exciting, with a selection of these described below:
- Strengths are universal. Strengthscope® strengths were found to be consistent across countries and regions. Across 26 countries and 5 geographical regions, differences in scores across 24 work-related strengths were found to be negligible. This tells us that the strengths Strengthscope® measures are universal and not affected by people’s country of origin.
- Strengths are gender-blind. Strengthscope® strengths did not differ significantly by gender. This means that users can be confident in using the system without being concerned about any risk of adverse impact relating to gender.
- Generations don’t differ. Across 6,000 baby boomers and 11,000 millennials, no meaningful generational differences were identified. This means for all the talk of workers changing markedly from generation to generation, what energises and strengthens people is actually consistent over these generations…people are not changing, at least not as fast as the world around them.
- Job role and industry strengths differ. Across different job roles and different industries, Strengthscope® profiles did differ, suggesting that people with particular strengths were more likely to pick roles and thrive in careers better aligned with their own strengths. So, employers need to understand the strengths most likely to be present in their industry and organisation in order to be best placed to get the most from their people.
- People professionals have a fascinating strengths profile. The most common strengths reported by those in the people professions (Human Resources and Learning and Development) were Relationship building, Detail orientation and Compassion. Least common strengths were Courage, Emotional control and Common sense. Which in itself presents a fascinating challenge…and opportunity…for the brand and image of people in these professions. And each profession and industry sector has its own unique strengths profile.
We are very excited by what these findings tell us about workplace strengths in 2017 and how they will look in years to come.
If you’d like to learn more about what these findings mean for your organisation and people, please contact us for more information.
Find out more about our strengths based assessments here.
