How to Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses in Personality Testing

As an executive, identifying your weaknesses is one of the most difficult tasks you will ever have to undertake. It's a process of judgment and self-evaluation. The purpose of this exercise is twofold: First, to discover where you are weaker than the rest of your peers, and second, to use these weaknesses to your advantage. When you know what your personal strengths and weaknesses are, it's much easier to find a way to make them work for you.


One of the first steps in recognizing your personal strengths and weaknesses is to perform an assessment. Assessments can be academic, but they can also be more fundamental, like asking yourself questions like: What is it that I'm good at? How can I improve my performance? What do people look for when hiring me? (A recent study revealed that the top ten job requirements for CEOs included: communication, leadership, open mind, and passion.)

Once you have conducted assessments to determine your strengths and weaknesses, it's time to use them to your advantage. That means coming up with a game plan and developing strategies to use your strengths to your advantage. For example, if you know that you're a terrible customer, then one of the ways you could use your strengths is to get into a coaching session with a client and ask how you can improve your customer service. You can hone in on your weaknesses in the coaching session to help you overcome them.

Your strengths and weaknesses may also be applied to your job as a hiring manager. If you're a good performer, for instance, you might discuss with a hiring manager the ways in which you can improve your performance. This could include an assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, as well as a review of your performance that include a review of what you've done to fix those weaknesses.

One method you can use in this coaching session to identify your strengths and weaknesses is the Johari Window Model. The Johari Window Model is based on a psychological study about how people view what is inside a circle. In this case, we'll look at the four broad strengths and weaknesses that you identify. These are your Personal Strength, Social Safety, Social Support, and Influence. As you move through each of these quadrants, you'll see how your behavior affects your environment and others.

In quadrant two, the Personal Strength encompasses the positive aspects of your character, such as your being a hard worker, your enthusiasm, and your creativity. These are good qualities that will attract the support and cooperation of your coworkers. In quadrant three, the Social Safety takes in aspects of your physical appearance and how you fit into the group, including your hair and clothing. Finally, in quadrant four, the Social Support takes in your emotional well-being and how you cope with conflict.

In order for you to answer the question, "How do I identify my strengths and weaknesses?" in your personality assessment, you would write down all of the positive and negative characteristics that you identify in each of the four quadrants on the johari window model. Once you have a complete list of your strengths and weaknesses, you would compare them to the characteristics of people who typically function in the positions in which you would be interested in working.

When you have completed this process, you should be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses. However, it is not enough to simply note their presence. To truly learn how to deal with them, you need to apply techniques to strengthen your weak areas and work on the strong sides of your personality. For example, if you are weak at communicating with others, consider taking a communication course. This step alone could improve your interaction with people on a daily basis.


How to Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses in personality testing | weaknesses | strengths | personality assessment} Identifying your strengths and weaknesses allows you to get more accomplished in your job. It also allows you to take appropriate measures to protect your strengths and build on your weaknesses. Most important, it helps you to know yourself and to build on the strengths that you possess. For more information regarding developing an effective work style and strategies for dealing with weaknesses, contact a personality assessment consultant today.