Gallup Strength tests and how it turned out

As most things at Oranga Tamariki,
The Gallup Strengths test which I so looked forward to ended up being such a disappointment.
 
I’d taken Gallup Strength test thanks to an amazing management team at Massey
during my time at MAWSA for the role that was the best job I’ve ever had.
I was encouraged to do it, and it was also an opportunity for the staff member who guided me through it as a training and development opportunity.
It was not only a highlight for me,
it also ended up being something I often looked back to and referred to in intellectual conversations with my favourite friend – who also did the test,
and when preparing for interviews for the jobs I applied for after my contract at MAWSA ended.
Thanks to Sarah and Mags, and Anna who took me through the Gallup strengths test,
I felt like I got to not only know myself better,
I felt the parts of myself that made me who I am got recognised and highlighted through this test.
It was a very amazing feeling to be recognised for one’s strengths,
instead of constantly being beaten down for your weakness – which is what I experience on a weekly basis in my team at Oranga Tamariki.
And after a few years of hoping I could do it again,
And even requesting for it in one of the team huis prior,
we finally got offered before our team hui this year.
After we each did the Gallup strengths test, we would bring our results with us to our team hui.
In the 1st day of the hui, for the whole afternoon, we went through our strengths as a group,
and also got around the hui space to find our “ideal” partner.

I used the Gallup key words for strengths and sought for the following qualities in the colleagues in my team
(because these are the qualities I value in human beings in general, therefore they’d make great coworkers as well):
“Context”
“Harmony”
“Empathy”
“Inclusiveness”
“Positivity”
And it was great to see that the colleagues who I like a lot happen to BE the very ones that fulfil these criteria I seek in people.
And they were: Mandy, Wendy, and Claudia.
It was a shame that Xakielia wasn’t there, because she already makes a great colleague,
I’ve no doubt she’d check off some of my favourite qualities herself.


What became outright disappointing though
Was how the Strengths test result ended up categorising me by my leading traits.
I apparently lead by Strategic.  
So on the 2nd day of our team hui,
We were asked to sit in groups according to our leading Strengths trait.
I ended up in a group for Strategic,
3 of whom were the dominating voices in the group,
While Yen and I sat there totally didn’t feel like we belonged.
We both liked watching romantic comedy and probably were just congenial semi-introverts that led us to fall under this group,
because if you prefer to spend time alone watching shows and reading books, you’d end up with the attribute of “intellection”.
I can’t remember what Yen got in her top 5, but she certainly was like me, surprised to find ourselves in the Strategic group,
While the 3 loudest voices in the group spoke of things they love and hate that I myself definitely could not relate to less.
One was saying, they must align the color pens in gradient colors.
One said, no fluff, please give me factual, fact-checked, evidence-based information, and that the information needs to make rational logical sense;
and that they cannot have matching colors, unlike the 1st one.

The Execution group voiced their Love and Hate,
Love - “No Fluff”
Hate – “Fluff.”
The last and biggest group in my team was Relationship Builders --
Love – “Fluff”
Hate – “No Fluff”.
By this point, I was getting out of mind
internally putting my head in my hands
feeling like I really wanted to put my hand up and ask to be in the Relationship Building group
and mentally tell myself to stay as much away from the Execution group people as possible in life.
I don’t know why I ended up with Strategic as my leading trait,
But I 100% emotionally and mentally connect more with the Relationship Builders.
I need fluff, and I expect fluff.
The most fluff the better.
I’m all about caretaking of others, and making sure others’ feelings are acknowledged, recognised, and looked after.
I could not STAND the 3 in my Strategic group.
What they hated or loved I could not relate,
and I could not be bothered to add or disagree with anything they raised in their Love & Hate.
I just wanted to add “I need fluff”.
Fluff is important.
People are important,
how saying/doing something makes people feel is important,
whereas Execution people -- simply don’t care,
and Strategic people simply don’t care about people – it’s all just ideas, evidence, facts, data and uniformity or scattering colors.
Those will never be my kinda people.

I don't know how the Strengths calculation did its job,
I calculated all the items in each 4 leading attributes
The highest number of attributes I have is actually under Influencing. 
That'd make more sense to me than any of the other categories... :(

How can you NOT do something without taking consideration of how it would make others feel and of its impact on others?
It’s the basic of basic acts of humanity and sign of maturity to take into consideration of others in every action we take and with every word we say.

1 of the people in the Strategy group even said,
“I found out that Empathy is at the very bottom of my list,
which made me feel so much better as a person.”

They said it with such pleasure
i couldn’t but gawk and gasp and pull my hair on the inside!
Get me out of this group!
What ARE these people? 
Are they even human???
I don’t belong here!!