Introduction
Every employee possesses several strengths that can contribute towards success at work, regardless of the job title or industry of employment.
One should review the most sought-after workplace strengths, identify which ones apply to their area of work, and start working on ways to improve them.
This write-up will cover ten examples of workplace strengths and how one should identify and highlight their strengths.
What are workplace employee strengths?
Let’s start with what exactly are the workplace employee strengths. Workplace employee strengths comprise several soft skills that professionals can apply to any workplace environment, industry, or job. These skills play an essential role in developing healthy relationships with co-workers at the workplace.
Also Read: What is a Performance Review?
10 examples of strengths in the workplace
Below are 10 examples of areas of strengths at work that employees can apply to their professional duties:
Dependable
Dependability, as the name indicates, characterizes someone reliable and loyal. A dependable employee is always on time, and their coworkers can always rely on them for help or guidance in the workplace. The supervisor knows that they can rely on them for any critical task to be done on time.
Flexible
Flexibility is one of the important qualities of an employee. It describes someone who can quickly adapt to changes. In the workplace, a flexible employee is very much respected as they can quickly learn new procedures, and most importantly, take on these new changes in an optimistic manner. They also serve as role models for their colleagues to stay positive during changes in the company.
Self-motivated
A self-motivated person is defined as someone who is disciplined without the presence of a supervisor. They are motivated enough to complete their tasks without the intervention of anyone. In the workplace, employers value self-motivated employees as they do not need constant supervision or reminders to complete their responsibilities.
Team-oriented
A team-oriented person enjoys working with groups of people. A team-oriented employee act as a leader for the group. A team-oriented employee is also beneficial to the workplace as they are focused on the overall success of their department or project in addition to their role and responsibilities.
Success-oriented
A success-oriented employee is focused on the overall objective. They can complete their duties with the desired goal in mind. This is one of the essential strengths for an employee to have because it gives a purpose to their daily responsibilities and stands them out in a crowd.
Optimistic
Optimism is one of the important qualities in the workplace. An optimistic employee is the one who can help the coworkers remain positive, especially during stressful situations or during major company crises/changes. This helps the team to stay motivated and productive.
Communicative
Communication is one of the important qualities of a successful employee. A communicative individual is skilled at connecting with others over a variety of mediums. In the workplace, written or verbal communication skills help relay clear information to others limiting misunderstandings.
Emotionally aware
As the name is self-explanatory, emotional awareness is the ability to recognize how others feel through their words and body language. This is also one of the strong qualities of an employee, as an empathetic employee is conscious of people in their team, their feelings, and potentially their emotional triggers. They can use empathy to promote a supportive environment and reduce conflicts in the organization. This will further help in encouraging work ethic and teamwork.
Trustworthy
As the name implies, trustworthy is a person who is honest and can be held accountable. Employers value trustworthy employees as they can handle sensitive and confidential company information without concern.
Problem-solver
Problem-solving is the skill that characterizes someone good at evaluating a situation and providing solutions. A skilled employee with problem-solving skills can help employers analyze specific problems and suggest solutions that save the valuable time and money of the company.
How to identify workplace employee strengths
Below mentioned steps would help to learn how one can identify their strong points as an employee:
1. Review your job responsibilities
One of the important ways to identify your workplace strengths is by taking the time for self-analysis and think about your job responsibilities. You should consider your job duties on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis and choose at least three strengths related to your work performance.
Example: You work as a project manager. Your responsibilities include scheduling daily standup meetings with the engineering team, taking note of daily tasks, unblocking the team in case they are stuck somewhere, monitoring delivery aspects. From this, you should be able to identify your top three workplace strengths as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.
2. Consider your weaknesses
It is important to identify your strengths, but equally important is to identify your weakness also. With this, you will be able to highlight areas for improvement, which narrow down the qualities you already possess. Think about the job duties that take you longer to complete or areas that are likely to make mistakes.
Example: You know that you sometimes struggle to stay focused at work, especially when working on spreadsheets. At times inaccurate information is updated. This helps to realize that you might be lacking in self-motivation or detail-orientation. The simple logic is that, by identifying your weaknesses, you can identify your strengths as teamwork and in communication. It is possible because you enjoy the most working with your coworkers and giving presentations in front of your peers.
3. Identify your personality type
You can also identify your strengths by learning your personality type. You can consider completing an online survey to discover more about how your personality type affects your strengths.
4. Make a list of strengths
Making a list of your strengths is a good option as it helps to remind you of your employable qualities. The list of strengths can be divided into three categories: knowledge-based skills (technical skills), personality traits, and transferrable skills (interpersonal skills). You should analyze how your personality and qualifications apply to the workplace, and thereafter you can create a comprehensive list that will help you identify your most valuable workplace strengths.
Example: Suppose you decided to make a list. You use different categories to separate your skill areas:
Knowledge-based skills
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Excel
- Computer software systems
- Microsoft Project
- Analytics
Personality traits
- Communicative
- Analytical
- Positive
- Empathetic
Transferrable skills
- Verbal communication
- Problem-solving
- Optimism
- Emotional awareness
Tips for highlighting strengths in the workplace
Below are a few tips that will help you highlight your strengths on your resume and in the workplace.
Resume
You should use the skills section of your resume to add your skills to your qualifications. You should highlight your strengths by listing specific and responsibilities you contributed to in your past projects. For example, suppose you want to highlight your strength in an organization. In that case, you could include job duties like you played product owner for a particular project unblocking the team by clarifying requirements.
Cover letter
You should highlight/demonstrate your strong points by using particular phrases or skills to describe yourself, such as hardworking, dedicated, sincere tech enthusiast. For example, suppose you wanted to highlight your strength in positivity, you can include phrases like “I am a hardworking individual who uses optimism to promote a forward-thinking attitude in the organization.”
In-person interview
An in-person interview helps you to highlight your workplace strengths in a face-to-face setting. For example, you can display your communication skill by making eye contact and responding to the interviewer’s body language.
At work
Demonstration of your strengths at work could increase your chances of getting a hike in salary or promotion. You should make use of your emotional awareness to contribute to positive coworker relationships. Your flexibility to adapt to unexpected changes and your self-motivation to improve your productivity will help to make you stand out in the crowd.
