Forums

Has anyone read StrengthsFinder 2.0? Was it worth it?

I'm in a book club at work, and we are voting on which book we will read next. The candidates: StrengthsFinder 2.0, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and Why CEOs Fail

Which would you choose?

jmckinney's picture

I've read StrengthsFinder 2.0 and Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and the management team I'm on is doing some work now on the Five Dysfunctions model.

I've found each of them valuable in their own fashion. StrengthsFinder is laid out more like a reference volume than a book you would read cover-to-cover. If you use it, I would recommend that everybody in your book club take the online test included with the book, read up on your own strengths, and have a conversation about what you each found out about yourselves and each other.

Five Dysfunctions has more of a narrative format and would probably work well in a book club format. I felt an irresistible urge to link the traits displayed by the characters in the story to colleagues past and present (I'm Martin) :)

Hope that helps.

Jason

 

Davis Staedtler's picture

It's very worth it.  I find 2.0 heads above Lominger and Myers.  It's easier to connect to everyday life than the others.  The 5 Dys's of a team is good if trust and effective communication are an issue throughout your team.

-Davis Staedtler

 

@voxaeterno Listening to and speaking about what matters the most in social media, the arts, technology and purposeful communities.

RichRuh's picture
Licensee BadgeTraining Badge

Our book club read "First, Break All the Rules" and then "Now, Discover Your Strengths".  I thought that "Now, Discover Your Strengths" was just a derivative from the first, better book.  My assumption is that "Strengthsfinder 2.0" is just a rehashed version of "Now, Discover Your Strengths," but I could be wrong.

Although I had fun comparing my results to Davis, I'm not a big fan of the Strengths thing.  I've found DiSC, for instance, much more useful in managing people.  YMMV

I've not read any of the other two books.  Our book club's favorites so far are "First, Break All the Rules" and "The Effective Executive."  We're reading "Heart of Change" at the moment.

--Rich

 

ashdenver's picture

I read it a while ago but just did the online assessment today.  (I got Input, Competition, Strategic, Relator, Intellection for whatever that's worth.)  I would concur with Jason that it's more of a reference book than a cover-to-cover kind of thing. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
DiSC profile: 7-2-1-5

Josh_R's picture

Thanks for your helpful comments and suggestions! I'm thinking I'll likely vote for Five Dysfunctions, and I might do StrengthsFinder on my own.

JorrianGelink's picture

I've read the book.

It is definitely more of a reference than a "read". I agree with Rich in that DISC is more effective in managing others. There are too many "Strengths" to memorize if you have a larger team.

My Strengths Are: Competition, Input, Maximizer, Strategic, Learner

 

Jorrian Gelink

Management Architect

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jorrian

jaleraas's picture

I thought that The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team was going to be awful; however, the more I read, the more I liked it. It was a very quick read, and I found myself getting sucked in.  In the end, I had a number of colleagues take the test with me and we talked about the scores.  It definitely brought a bit of enlightenment to our group.

I've read Now, Discover Your Strengths, took the test (Ideation, Strategic, Empathy, Futuristic, and Belief), and found that, yes, it's more of a reference than anything else.  However, I do feel that being able to discuss the different talents your coworkers have in a group setting would be very beneficial One of the speakers at a Leadership Institute I helped facilitate used it as part of his program.

And, yes, it's o.k. to be a little Martin-ish.  I'm sure there's a little Martin in all of us. : ^ )