Do you ever feel unhappy or unsatisfied at work? It could be because you’re not working to your strengths and putting yourself in position to succeed. It’s not easy to do, but with some help, you can figure out your strengths at work and how best to utilize them. A survey conducted last year found that roughly one-third of employees believed their manager could identify their best strengths in the workplace. This leaves two-thirds of the workforce without a boss who could help them focus on their strengths, which is a rather high number if you ask me. Of the group that did not have proper guidance from their boss, only half were able to identify their strengths on their own and only a quarter of them actually felt engaged and happy with their work. This seems like a problem to us. Luckily, I’ve managed to put together these eight methods for how to find strengths at work. Hopefully, one or more of them will be your key to helping you work to your strengths better in the future.

1. 8 Helpfultips to find
strengths atwork
@CakeHR
Prepping up for professional success by
discovering and leveraging your strengths

2. Landscape that makesyou
thinkabout Strength
We question and evaluate our strengths whenever:
Others feel our work is subpar
?

3. Landscape that makesyou
thinkabout Strength
We question and evaluate our strengths whenever:
Others feel our work is subpar
There is a business setback
?

4. Landscape that makesyou
thinkabout Strength
We question and evaluate our strengths whenever:
Others feel our work is subpar
There is a business setback
There are unexpected work outcomes
?

5. Landscape that makesyou
thinkabout Strength
We question and evaluate our strengths whenever:
Others feel our work is subpar
There is a business setback
There are unexpected work outcomes
There are too many roadblocks in execution
?
?
?

6. Landscape that makesyou
thinkabout Strength
We question and evaluate our strengths whenever:
Others feel our work is subpar
There is a business setback
There are unexpected work outcomes
There are too many roadblocks in execution
There is a feeling of negativity and dissatisfaction
?
?
?

7. ‘Playing on Strengths is easy. The difficult
part is unearthing them’

8. A study shows that only 34% of
the managers can name their
employees strength. Which still
leaves 2/3rd of the employees
unattended
(Source: Strengths @ Work Survey, 2015)
34%

9. Do tools like Strength Finder
Assessment Help?
This is hugely debatable. Many a times it turns out
to be a quick fix entertainment option rather than
a real actionable tool
To uncover your real strengths requires some
hard work and deep soul searching

10. Top 8 Ways to find
strengths atWork
They help you with real answers

11. 1 Findyour energy
This method is all about self
observation. Notice the time or
events when you feel excited and
energized to perform a task with
passion and effort
Insights into this phenomena will
direct towards your core strengths

12. Symptoms to look out for when you are energized
for some task or situation
Your pupils dilate
You speak at a faster pace
Your body language is more open than closed
You don’t feel drudgery in performing the activity

13. 2 Putyourself in the Spotlight
In the process of improvement, it is
ok to act bit selfish. It is about you!
Stop bothering about other
people and their strengths. This
will delay the process.

14. Aping others’ strengths and
copying their behaviors will not
add value.Your strengths are as
unique asyou.

15. Read interesting stories on succeeding at
work by visiting our blog at
CAKE.HR/BLOG

16. 3 askaround
While it is not advisable to copy, it
is foolish not to consult.
People around you can give a
non-biased view and can surprise
you with their astute insights

17. Don’t be afraid to ask. People are
more willing to share things than
you mayassume or expect!
Even those who don’t interact with you on daily
basis, can recognize your strengths better than
yourself

18. 4 Find outwhat makesyou special
Each one of us have our exclusivity.
To explore what makes you stand
out, you need to spend more time
with yourself
Working alone on a project or
taking some time-off from work
can help to see yourself in new
light. It gives you chance to
reflect on what you miss the most.

19. A major part of disengagementat
work comes when employees don’t
knowwhat is expected ofthem
Sharing the exclusivity or special trait of the employee
can help managers to align performance goals with
employee strengths
Task
‘A’
Employee
‘X’

20. 5 Describeyourselfwith
Personality “Tags”
This requires some authentic and
out-of-the-box thinking to come up
with novel terms to describe you as a
person
Avoid clichés like hard-working,
loyal, achiever etc.. and try to come
up with words that truly depict your
way of living and working
Analytic
Opinionated
Perfectionist
Jubilant
Free spirit

21. A clearand concise description
using personalitytags helpsyou to
achieve goals more effectively
It shifts focus from over-analysis of employee
weaknesses and ways to fix them

22. 6 Read and Explore
Expand your horizons by breaking
away from the familiar.
Try new things and read new
things to see if something
interests or challenges you

23. Newspaperarticles, blogs, publications,
magazines, interviewarticles, case
studies are greatto getyour blinkers
offand soak new experiences
Even old emails and intra-office memos may hold
surprising clues to finding your strengths

24. 7 Testyour “Alleged” Strength
Putting your recently discovered or
realized strength through a test is
the best way to get the proof of
the pudding
Get in teams, projects or work set
ups that let you do this pressure
test

25. The sooneryou find out if
something is actuallya strength
or not, the better. It savesyou a
lot of heart burn and efforts!

26. 8 Don’t be afraid of failure
When you set out to test your
potential strengths, you can’t be
afraid of failing at it and adding one
more thing to your weakness bucket
The try outs will only bring you
closer to your real strengths by
eliminating the wrong ones

27. People who use their strengths
everydayare six times more likelyto be
engaged on the job
(Source: Gallup Survey, 2016)

28. Make sureyou join the
club ofthese
professionals who enjoy
6X
happiness, better
performance and balance
by discoveringyour
strengths atwork

29. WANT SOME TIME OFF TO EXPLORE
YOUR STRENGTHS?
Introduce your organization to the power
of self-serviced and simplified leave
management by exploring our software at
CAKE.HR
@CakeHR