STRENGTHS SCAN INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES

Ashley Thompson college friend

1. What are my standout strengths? (Very few others are as
good as I am.)
Great listener, loyal, committed and hard working and determined with
school and projects, she sees the best in people, good under pressure,
very optimistic.
2. What are my moderate strengths? (Im good so are many
others.)
organized, calm and peaceful demeanor... patient
3. How would people describe me?
i love you
4. What are my overdone strengths? (Things Im good at, but
not interested in using Im going to burnout if I keep focusing
on these.)
giving advice (?) i dont know
5. What are two skills I should strengthen? How would it help
me, given what I want to do?
communication and being assertive, both will help in more leadership
positions instead of just doing what youre told.
Jordan Hall coworker/friend
1. What are my standout strengths? (Very few others are as
good as I am.)
Always having an optimistic view, confidence in abilities, favorable
impressions with authorities
2. What are my moderate strengths? (Im good so are many
others.)
Relating to peers, taking the lead, time management, trivia
3. How would people describe me?
Energetic, passionate, intentional, articulate, strong willed, alpha
female
4. What are my overdone strengths? (Things Im good at, but
not interested in using
Im going to burnout if I keep focusing on these.)
This is actually a really difficult question and I don't know how to
answer sorry
5. What are two skills I should strengthen? How would it help
me, given what I want to do?
Public speaking and time management
Ali Dalbo life long friend

1. What are my standout strengths? (Very few others are as

good as I am.)
Relatable, easy to get along with, friendly, caring, respectful,
responsible, hardworking
2. What are my moderate strengths? (Im good so are many
others.)
Kind, sociable, organized
3. How would people describe me?
A very sweet, kind, and respectful person. Also organized and
hardworking.
4. What are my overdone strengths? (Things Im good at, but
not interested in using
Im going to burnout if I keep focusing on these.)
5. What are two skills I should strengthen? How would it help
me, given what I want to do?
Being bold and confident when meeting new people and not being
afraid to be yourself in those situations.
Charles Lewis life long friend
1. You are very self confident, you have a great social skills, big smile,
and ability to communicate well.
2. You get along well with everyone, great writing skills, and athletically
strong.
3. As a fun, energetic person who loves to be around people, enjoys
adventure and a loyal friend. Someone who when they believe in
something will give it their all and a hard working women who loves
her family, friends and Jesus.
4. Athletics, mentoring, and education
5. Public speaking and sales, what ever field you want to go into public
speaking is a great tool to have and also to have the skill of personal
selling also allows you to be able to efficiently work your way around in
a professional business environment.
Robin Dunchack mother/ coworker
1. What are my standout strengths?
Finding Gaps, Leadership Qualities, Exceptional Problem Solving Skills
2. What are my moderate strengths?
Punctual, Detail-Oriented
3. How would people describe me?
Outgoing, Focused, Compassionate
4. What are my overdone strengths?
Over Organizing

5. What are two skills I should strengthen? How would it help

me, given what I want to do?
Effective Time Management
THEMES AMONG QUESTIONS:

TALENTS INQUIRY
All of us need to begin to think in terms of our own inner strengths, our
resilience and resourcefulness, our capacity to adapt and to rely upon ourselves
and our families.
1. THINGS I AM NATURALLY GOOD AT
a. Math Always been good with numbers. When I was in
first grade I would make my uncle write out algebra
expressions for me to solve. I also memorize peoples
phone numbers very easily and have Pi memorized until
about the 25th decimal point. My friends often come to me
for help in math courses also. I am a natural math nerd.
b. Helping people I have always had a heart for people. It
doesnt matter who it is, if I am presented the opportunity
to help someone I will do it. I volunteer at the Boone
Hospitality House for fun and I really enjoy it. My pet
peeve is hearing people gossip about other people.
Everyone has a story and I am always wiling to lend a
listening ear and give a helping hand.
c. Problem solving logical issues Problem solving logical
issues is a strength I have always had. When a problem
arises that seeks a logical plan or answer, I am often the
one who has an idea. My friends always come to me for
logical answers. This will benefit me in my future career,
because as a future healthcare executive I am bound to be
presented multiple logical issues in my career. My ability
to solve these will help me to strive in my future
organization.
d. Athletic My friends always rolls their eyes at me, because
I am often very quick to learn a new sport or good at
anything that involves athletic abilities. For example, this

past weekend I played darts for the first time and beat 5
boys (who all play darts often) before I finally lost. I also
play at least 5 intramural sports throughout each school
year. I have always enjoyed sports and basketball is one of
my favorite past times.
e. Being patient I do not get mad easily and people always
ask me how I am so patient. I think this goes along with
my understanding of people. If I do get upset, I am usually
quick to forgive people. This quality is beneficial for me in
the future because it will help me to work with all kinds of
people. I am easy to get along with because it takes a lot
to annoy me or make me upset.
f. Listening to people I have always been a good listener
and this is definitely one of my biggest strengths. I would
rather listen to other peoples input and get their point of
view prior to inserting my own opinion. This is a strength
that my friends and family have always admired about me.
I am easy to talk to. This will help me in the work place
when it comes to making decisions. I seek input from
others before I make decisions to make sure I make the
best decision possible. This is also a weakness, because as
a leader you have to be assertive and I lack assertiveness
at times.
g. Crafting I really enjoy crafting a lot and have always been
crafty. I enjoy looking at things and replicating them. I am
not very creative however, so I do struggle to come up with
things on my own. My longest friend from my kindergarten
class always says she remembers me as the best colorer
in the class, because I have always been a perfectionist
and made sure to stay in the lines. My roommate always
comes to me when she needs something to be written
neatly or if she needs something drawn and she has a
picture for me to look at and copy. This is another favorite
past time of mine. I am trying to become more creative so
I can make my own crafts.
h. Being optimistic This is another strength of mine that has
always come naturally to me. I do not like to harp on the
negative, however I love to focus on the positive.
Someone who is negative all the time would probably
present the biggest challenge for me to work with. I am
understanding of people, so I would still be able to work
with them effectively, but they would bother me by their
constant negativity. Being optimistic will benefit me as a
healthcare leader when our organization is presented
problems and morale is down.
2. THINGS I AM NOT NATURALLY GOOD AT

a. Writing papers - I lack creativity and enjoy numbers. I have

never had a big vocabulary, because I do not enjoy reading
very much. Overtime I have learned to enjoy reading
more, however it is not one of my favorite pastimes.
Therefore my writing abilities lack. Again I think I have
grown in my writing over the years, but it is definitely not a
natural talent.
b. Analyzing I am good at analyzing logical problems, but
when it comes to looking for a hidden meaning or looking
for an interpretation I struggle. In the work place this could
present challenges if I am asked to analyze something and
find hidden meanings.
c. Studying This could go with my work ethic in general, but
I lack motivation to study. I often do well in school without
much effort, so I have not been motivated to put in the
extra effort to study. In school I am an A/B student with
very little studying, if I put in effort I know I could easily be
an A student, I just lack the motivation to study. When I do
study I dont tend to see a huge improvement, because
how I study is not very effective either.
d. Time management I work well under pressure, so
because of this I tend to wait until the last minute to
complete things. This often leads to me being stressed
out, but overall I do believe my work ends up better when I
am under pressure. I am more focused when I have little
time left to complete something. In the work place this
could definitely be a con when I have multiple tasks at
hand that I need to effectively plan for and complete in a
timely manner.
e. Public speaking I feel a lot of my public speaking nerves
come from my lack of preparation when I do present
things. I will practice a presentation only once or twice
before doing it, so I am often nervous because I draw
blanks when I am in front of people. I need to learn to
prepare better and practice my speeches more in front of
friends and family in order to get better. In the work place
as a future health executive I am sure I will have to
publically speak often. I will need to learn to be a better
speaker and learn tips to improve this.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
After looking at my talents inquiry I noticed common themes
among the answers my peers presented. My strengths include things
like being kind, friendly, easy to get along with, hard working,
responsible, organized, patient, athletic, being optimistic, and

energetic. These talents go hand-in-hand with what I see as my

strengths. My strengths include math, helping people, problem solving
logical issues, athletic, being patient, listening to people, crafting and
being optimistic. These will help me as I pursue a career in healthcare,
because I am very people oriented. I understand people, I am kind and
I am patient. I believe these strengths will benefit me in the work
place and help me to get along well with everyone I encounter. I am
also very easy going, which again will help me to get along with
people. When I think of a leader and core characteristics I would like a
leader to hold I think of someone who is first optimistic. My ability to
see the best in people and work with what we have will help me to
effectively lead during challenging times. I also think my optimistic
viewpoint will help bring an optimistic attitude into my future
organization by leading by example. If I had a leader who was always
negative, it would decrease my morale. When challenges arise it is
important to be positive and look at how we can fix the problem as well
as how we can use the challenges to grow as an organization. Another
trait I look for in a leader is someone who is a good listener. While
leaders should definitely be assertive and lead with authority, which I
am lacking in and need to work on, it is also important for them to be
good listeners. I admire leaders who listen to their employees and
seek input from multiple levels of staff. This effectively allows leaders
to engage employees and shows staff that just because leaders are in
a higher position, they do not have all the answers. Listening to staff
members ideas as well as their needs and wants will allow me to be an
effectively leader. I have many traits that I personally look for in a
leader and it will be important for me to continue to use these
strengths as I look for a job and get a job. However, I also lack in some
areas such as being assertive, time management, and public speaking.
While I do have some great strengths that will benefit me in the future,
it is important to look at skills I lack and work to improve those. Time
management is key when you are a leader. Health leaders are very
busy and have hectic schedule, so time management skills are a
necessity in order to strive. I need to look into getting a planner and
actually using it in order to plan and use my time wisely. I also should
look into finding ways to practice my public speaking. Group
presentations are one way I practice that in classes, but I can also
volunteer to answer questions in class instead of listening to other
peoples ideas and staying quiet as I usually do.
I have a few examples to demonstrate my usage of my
strengths. As stated in my talents inquiry I am good at math and
numbers. An example of this would be how I easily memorized Pi to
the 25th decimal point. I was helping my little brother with his math
homework one day and we both decided to look further into Pi (past
the classic 3.14 that everyone knows) and after about 30 minutes we
both had it memorized and we enjoyed doing it.

One of my favorite quotes is by Thomas A Kempis that states,

Be assured that if you knew all, you would pardon all. This reminds
me that everyone has a story and their actions dont always accurately
depict what kind of a person they are. Getting to know people on deep
levels can help you to understand them better and judge them less. I
love to hear peoples stories and help those in need. Helping people is
another talent of mine that I thoroughly enjoy doing. People can see
this even by looking at my resume at my volunteer experiences
specifically. I volunteer at the Boone Hospitality House for fun,
because I enjoy helping out there and getting to know people. A lot of
the volunteers are people who need community service hours for a
club, their major, or for specific reasons, so the staff was kind of
surprised when I said I just wanted to volunteer for fun. I help with a
number of different duties. I have helped cook, prepare food boxes,
cleaned windows, organized shelves, and help prepare for their
Halloween event by painting cardboard boxed to look like haunted
houses. I really enjoy my time there a lot and love being able to bring
hope into the residents lives. The summer of 2014 I also volunteered
for a month at a YoungLife camp in Williams, Arizona. I paid for my
flight there but once I was there I got to stay at their cabins and eat for
free to compensate for my work. I spent the majority of the day
working at this camp and setting up activities for middle school and
high school kids to come and have the time of their lives. YoungLife is
a Christian organization that seeks to mentor kids and teach the
gospel. My specific job was to run the zip line, rock wall and swing.
During this time I learned to work well with my team and ensure a safe
and fun environment for the kids. This was one of the most rewarding
and fun experiences of my life.
I am also very patient. An example of this is how I can put up
with a lot of things that others cannot. For example, last year for
spring break me and 13 other girls got a house together in Florida. As
you probably could have guess, there were a few times some girls did
not get along. I got along well with all of the girls and did not get
annoyed with anyone. On the other hand some of my best friends
were getting annoyed with some of the girls who joined us from UNC
Chapel Hill; my ability to get along with everyone allowed me to be the
peacemaker in the house and keep everyone together as a group.
By submitting my talents inquiry to friends, coworkers, and
family members I got a good perspective as to how my peers view me.
Knowing how I am seen by my peers and by evaluating my strengths
and talents own my own assists me in knowing and being confident in
my skill set. It also helps me to assess my potential as a healthcare
leader. This also helps me to form my personal leadership model. My
goal is to be a transformational leader that produces positive change in
an organization and helps followers to become leaders. By knowing
my strengths I can form my personal leadership model that will help

me to be the leader I want to be. I want to inspire people by my

optimistic viewpoint, engage people with my drive and focus, allow
others to inspire me by listening to their opinions, needs and wants
and be a strategic and logical thinker. I believe using my talents to be
each of these things will help me be the transformational leader I strive
to be and use this to guide my personal leadership model. The talents
inquiry and strengths scan were very beneficial for me and helped me
to reflect on how I have used my strengths in the past and continue to
use them daily. Being aware of my strengths and continuing to
improve my weaknesses will help me be a successful leader in the
future.