One of the resources I use in building leadership teams is Gallup Consulting group’s FaithStrengths profile.

Living Your Strengths, by Albert L. Winseman, Donald O. Clifton, and Curt Liesveld, shows readers how to use their innate gifts to enrich their faith communities. With the insights from this book, readers can identify and affirm their talents, use them for growth and service, and discover their true calling.

I use the StrengthsFinders assessment with staff teams, vestries and boards – and in pre-marital conversations!

Here are my top ten strengths, in Gallup language: Strategic, Connectedness, Arranger, Maximizer, Communication, Futuristic, Relator, Positivity, Belief, Activator.

That is to say, I value my God-given talents, and as a steward of these gifts, I exercise and strengthen them – and use them to strengthen my life and work as a proactive, positive, forward-looking communicator who uses strategic thinking and planning to help choose the best way forward for the team or community – and to respond to changes and challenges to the plan.

I enjoy networking and connecting people in relationships, as well as identifying other peoples’ talents, arranging team members and events to maximize everyone’s performance – and their sense of reward and satisfaction. All of this is based on a strong and enduring Christian belief and appreciation of the gifts of faith, hope and love.

I combine my Appreciative Way and Living Compass training to round out the picture, and to address the question: “What is life-giving and healthy for you?”

We can’t change the past, but we can look forward to and beyond the horizon and chart a course for the future. The “activator” in me asks, “When can we start?”

So, when do we start strengthening you and your teams?