This article is written by our intern, Fiona, who will be pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy.
To: Existing, new and even, future CliftonStrengths users!
Eh…Who is this?
Hello! My name is Fiona Quek and I am 'Intern 3' from Batch 2025 of Kingmaker Interns. I joined Kingmaker after my A levels and that was when I was first exposed to the concept of CliftonStrengths or Strengths in short.
“What will happen when we think about what is right with people rather than fixating on what is wrong with them?”
- Donald O.Clifton (Founder of CliftonStrengths)
Wait a minute… Fiona, what is CliftonStrengths?
CliftonStrengths is one of the world’s leading profiling tools to sieve out top Talent Themes in individuals! The whole idea is for individuals to capitalize on their Talent Themes and grow them to become Strengths. And the order of your talents is so unique that they are akin to your DNA. So you - yes I am talking about you! - YOU are 1 in 33.4 million!
34 Talent Themes in CliftonStrengths Domains — Victor Seet. (n.d.).
When I first started my CliftonStrengths journey just 5 months ago, I was amazed with the beauty of the language. Even till today, I am still intrigued and exploring the genius of my profile. But today, I don’t want to just share what CliftonStrengths is.
I am here to share with you what CliftonStrengths means to me as a 19 year old schooling individual.
In this article, let’s explore the 3 main lessons I took away from using and applying CliftonStrengths.
Hold up! Before we dive into that… Let me reveal my Top 5!
My Top 5 talents in order are:
Belief, Connectedness, Empathy, Relator and Developer.
As you can see, my Top 5 talents are mainly of ‘Blues’, or the Relationship Building Domain.
Thus, I excel the best as a Relationship Building Leader.
(keep that in mind as we move along!)
My talent themes are primarily from the relationship building domain.
Understanding the Relationship Building Domain of CliftonStrengths.
Lesson #1:
“Strengths taught me how to love myself, by showing me who I am.”
I started out wanting to use the Strengths language to prove my worth. I wanted it to finally explain to others that: “Hey! I can do training! I can speak well too! I can…”’
I’ve always wanted to speak well.
Public Speaking Confidence (n.d.).
So when I first received my Strengths results, and all I saw was the term:
“Leads with Relationship Building theme”, it left a bitter taste in my mouth that I can still remember today.
“Does that mean I can never excel in training…?” I remembered muttering under my breath. Disgruntled was the word I would have used to describe myself there and then. If I wanted to train well that means I would probably need to have talent themes from the Influencing domain like Woo, Communication etc… right?
Before I could continue this train of thought, my colleague noticed I was spiraling and challenged me.
“If this is true, does that mean people without Strategic Thinking cannot think?!”
This comment got me choking on my water, laughing so hard my stomach literally hurts. Upon sensing the atmosphere, I felt a wave of relief. “Oh my god ahahaha, that’s right lah” I replied.
“Empathy! That’s Empathy at work!” Another colleague exclaimed.
Upon hearing this, it dawned on me. My reaction showed me that I am someone that mirrors the energy from other people around me - I am undoubtedly a “Relationship Building” individual.
Then the question remains… Why did I hate being a “Relationship Building” individual?
I hated the fact that CliftonStrengths reminded me that I am one who cares, feels and experiences life deeply because I have never allowed myself to be one.
I have been trying to disguise myself to fit into shoes that would eventually hurt me more. Picture a gleaming new pair of high heels - ruby red, glistening under the sunlight, and just downright stunning. I was so fixated on trying to fit into this ill-fitting pair of heels simply because it was stylish, widely loved, and seemed… right. But as appealing as they looked, these heels hurt. They gave me blisters, made walking miserable, and…
They don't serve me well.
Heels Versus Sneakers
But only now did I realize that my good old pair of sneakers fit me better. And only now did I appreciate the footwear that brought me far in life. Sneakers that I can comfortably slip in, run around and just be myself.
I have learnt to accept and fit into the pair of sneakers that belongs to me — and only me.
This was my first lesson right after my profiling with this unique Strengths tool.
Lesson #2:
“Strengths is a language for what my heart always knew - but couldn’t always express.”
As a deeply reflective individual, I have always found myself thinking back about my experiences and extracting my learnings from it. Yet, if there was something I was unable to pinpoint and put into words, it was my ‘selling point’.
What do I have to offer to others? Who am I really?
Who am I? A philosophical inquiry
What do I have to offer to others? Who am I really?
I wasn’t able to say proudly what my best traits are.
I wasn’t able to stand tall and know I’m able to contribute to a team in a certain way.
I wasn’t satisfied with my current state, knowing I haven’t reached my peak performance.
When I further analysed my Strengths profile after profiling, that was my ‘Eureka’ moment…
“Ah… Yes yes, I am indeed someone that values high ethics. (#Belief)”
“Ya hor, I am patient with the students. (#Developer)”
“Okay okay, I don’t suppress my emotions a lot haha! (#Empathy)”
“ I have the ability to establish deep, long-standing connections among my friends. (#Relator)”
Suddenly, I was able to string into words what I have been feeling all these years. All those labels that I carried with me throughout the years. From a girl who was labelled ‘crybaby’ to a ‘teacher’s pet’ who always wanted to do the ‘right thing’, I felt misunderstood for most of my life.
Was I really just an annoying and sensitive teacher’s pet?
A 200-question strengths test saw right through me, giving me the clarity and language to finally express who I am to others.
Finally, I am understood and most importantly, I have a platform to connect and resonate to others what I stand for.
As a fresh graduate right out of Junior College, this is a sweet encounter at this crossroads of life. Having spent the last two years mugging away, swarmed in TYS (ten-years-series) and rushing assignments, it was easy to lose track who I truly was. And Strengths gave me that extra nudge to see who I am once again. Thus, in my recent University interview and networking events, I am able to confidently portray myself without force fitting as an ‘ideal candidate’. Even during day-to-day interactions, this is as useful! As goofy as it sounds, by simply knowing how to talk about yourself, you open up doors to conversations.
This was my second lesson as I worked my way through my unique Strengths profile.
Lesson #3:
“My Strengths results explained me, but it didn’t excuse me for what I thought I am not capable of.”
What was the next thing I did after seeing my Top 10? I zoomed in straight to where my lesser strengths are. Number 26 to Number 34… 7 out of 9 of them belong in the Influencing domain. Seeing the shew of ‘Oranges’ caught me off-guard.
The most instantaneous thought I felt was: “Why are all my Influencing talents clustered in my blindspots (#30 to #34)...”
My Influencing talents were not in my Top 10, not in my Top 20, not in my Top 30…
That was when I fell victim to the common misuse of Strengths.
As aptly phrased by Strengths Coach Victor Seet:
“We live in a world filled with people who look more at the bad rather than the good.”
As per human nature, we are always looking at what we are missing. More often than not, we hardly appreciate what we have. I took one glance at my Top 10 talents but took the next 1 hour moping over my lack of Influencing talents. Instead of reading how I could utilize my Top 10 effectively, I was just researching about my Bottom 5 talents.
As mentioned in Lesson 1, although I accepted my dominant domain - Relationship Building quite fast, it took me nearly my entire internship tenure to come to terms with the fact that:
I am no lesser because of my blindspots.
Until today, I still struggle with self-doubt. Will I ever be as engaging as a speaker with more Influencing talents? In hindsight, I realised that was my Number #1 Talent - Belief speaking. I have expectations so high for myself that they were crippling. I started fearing training. I lost sight of what was more important. I was using my blindspots to justify why I should not try at all.
The first time I decided to ignore what I couldn’t do and focus on what I could.
However, deep down, I knew I will always love training. My passion to teach runs deep. No matter how hard I try to ignore associating myself as a trainer and focus on other things like R&D, I cannot stop the unwavering desire to interact with students.
With that, I seized every single chance to train. I enjoyed the small interactions with students, I enjoyed seeing the spark in their eyes, I enjoyed being there on the ground. With my Belief, I gave passionate lessons. With my Empathy, I felt students’ emotions almost immediately and will adjust accordingly. With my Developer, I easily identify lagging students and will catch them during breaks to encourage them.
“Ms Fiona, I really enjoyed learning from you. It was very fun.”
- P5 Peer Support Leader
And it worked. A Peer Support Leader (PSL) from my Advocacy programme came up to me after class and beamed at me while saying these short two-liners. I smiled back knowing I’ve made an impact. It might not have been a major shift in the students' worldview, but they took away something from it. And that was the most important to me.
This is my third and most important lesson that I learnt by hard through many sweat and tears.
Closing Note
So there you have it, the 3 precious takeaways I have from using Strengths during my internship at Kingmaker. Now that I am ending my stint, I hope to carry the spirit of Strengths and continue applying it in my tertiary education journey. From embracing myself to understanding how I fit in a group, I can now appreciate just how fantastically unique we all are.
And Strengths is just an instrument and can only measure your condition at that point in time.
This is true for any instruments out there, whether it is Multiple Intelligence or MBTI. Frankly, these aren’t psychoanalysis tools, but ways to understand yourself better! Take it, understand yourself and appreciate what makes you uniquely you!
At the end of the day, if you invest in your Talents, it would turn stardust into the brightest star in the Milky Way!
Be the brightest star out there; shine on!
From: Fiona #strengthstransformed
