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Ryan Paugh graduated from Penn State in 2006 with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business. After working in corporate communications, freelance writing and reporting, he co-founded 
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New here? Employee Evolution is a blog written by Ryan Healy. Ryan is a Co-Founder of Brazen Careerist, the webs #1 social network for young professionals. Ryan speaks with organizations on best practices for recruiting and retaining Generation Y and how to effectively use social media to reach your target market. To contact Ryan, please visit our contact page.
The hardest part about having an odd strength is that most people won’t recognize the good you can bring to the table. And quite honestly, in some cases, you can’t offer anything. But that doesn’t mean your strength isn’t important.
It’s a difficult challenge to embrace your strong-points when they lie in a very unique place. It sometimes seems like everyone else only sees weakness. But if you want to truly be happy with yourself and what you do, you have to stay true to what you’re good at.
Here are a few ways to make that happen.
Just be yourself, whoever that may be
A good example of this is the artistic mind. Artists need a lot of endurance to deal with people’s lack of understanding. And if they’re good at what they do, they learn to embrace the fact that being different is what makes them so special.
Unfortunately, in corporate America eccentricity is not a strong point. Odd behavior is often frowned upon, and consequently, we adapt to fit the mold.
Though the workforce is beginning to change, “conservative” still wins in most corporate environments. And it’s okay to conform. We all need to pay our bills. What’s important to remember is who we are before and after work.
Be true to yourself in whatever arena you play in. You’ll never get the work you’re good at by acting like anybody else.
Know when to get out of a bad situation
Whether it’s a job, an organization or a circle of friends, never forget who comes first. If you’re in a negative situation that you know won’t change, get out and find something better.
I often talk with people who are utterly unhappy with their jobs. Most of the time, it’s because they’re just not being used to the best of their abilities at work. I don’t know anything professionally that’s more frustrating.
Finding a new job is a full-time commitment. And the transition into a new position can be a huge blow. You may end up lower on the totem pole than you were before and your pay may substantially drop. But if you’re looking for a job that’s best suited to your strengths, you’ll take the leap and hope for the best.
Start networking in new places
Start networking with people who share your personal strength. Contribute insights, build new relationships and get better at what you do. If you do it right, you can’t lose.
For a couple reasons social media is probably the best place to start:
- 1) People with peculiar strengths are hard to seek out locally
- 2) If you’re self-conscious about your strengths, you’re likely to be an introvert
Blogging is the best platform to meet people with similar strengths. For every career niche, there’s a sphere of bloggers out there who are trading their insights with one another. But don’t stop there.
Check out 43things.com, a social network based around people helping people meet their goals. What better way to network with people trying to develop their strengths?
The platform is easy to use. Just sign up, start listing goals and search for people who are striving for similar things. Once you’ve built some relationships, you can share milestones and pump each other while you’re attempting to reach them.
I like the concept of this post, but I’m curious what you’d define as an ‘odd’ strength? Is it any strength the masses object to? One that just doesn’t work in a corporate setting?
(Also since you’ve mentioned strengths in your last 2 posts…I’d be curious what your top 5 were/are)
Example: One of my Strengthsfinder top 5 is Ideation (thanks for the recommendation). I think that’s a great strength to have. Two cheers for thinking outside the box right?
Apparently not. Towards the end of my last long term position and at least 3 since then I’ve been admonished for having ideas or even questioning the thought process behind something. Going from “management material” to fired in 2 seconds flat.
I recently started a new job (albeit a short term contract). Now I find myself being gun shy to anything remotely confrontational. I haven’t said boo about it taking 9 days to get me a cubicle/desk, over a week just to get some pens and (my personal favorite) having to get manager approval for a TRASH CAN. I have been frustrated beyond belief, but terrified to speak up. It’s like I’d sell my soul so long as no one sees me as rebellious or difficult.
Except that’s not me or my strengths. (Learner, Individualization, Strategic & Input were the other 4).
However, at the end of the day I feel I have to keep my mouth shut in order to get that sacred paycheck.
So in my example do I have an ‘odd’ strength? Am I not conforming enough? Or maybe I’m trying to hard to improve my weaknesses?
Amanda:
I think the term “odd strength” is all relative to the person and the environment they find themselves in. So it’s not necessarily something the masses object to, but it’s probably something that conflicts with the nature of your surroundings.
Truth be told, I’m sometimes a bit of a black sheep when it comes to being an entrepreneur. My strengths are very unique and not typical of an average person in my field. It was tough at first because I needed to find my role, but I made it work, partially because I was able to remain focused on what I was good at and harness all that talent into positive outcomes for the business.
Your example is interesting and it sounds like wherever you worked flat out sucks. The idea of improving on strengths shouldn’t involve causing conflict at work. If this is happening you’re likely in the wrong job anyway.
On the other hand, sometimes you just have to keep your mouth shut and be patient. Improving your strengths is not all about being brazen about them (even though you should be very proud of what your good at). I find that the best way to improve my strengths is to be test out the waters, slow and subtle. Management doesn’t like a person who shakes this up. So try not to do that.
Maybe you do have an odd strength for where you work, maybe you don’t. It’s hard to know without being in your shoes. But if you feel like you are being underused or just doing work you don’t like, it’s possible that your just not fit for that position.
First off, I think Amanda is in the wrong role.
Secondly, I was watching some typical primetime law show last night while working out at the gym, and it was about a racial discrimination case. The lawyer on defense said there is a difference between discrimination and discretion. I couldn’t believe it took less than 10 words to summarize his position so well. At the end the lesson was “yay I’m unique and perform well, shouldn’t we all hold hands” like I expected, but the point stuck, and was very simply laid forth.
I like wearing natural earth tone colors. That’s who I am, but at work I still wear button downs and sweaters…in earth tones. Something I see hyped up, specifically in our generation is the whole uniqueness and special thing. Eccentricity might not always be accepted because it isn’t always implemented with the best discretion. By no means am I encouraging “selling out” but there are always ways to retain your individuality within the framework of appropriate discretion for the setting you are in.
I’m not really sure if I buy the whole “odd strength” thing, but probably just because I don’t think the point is entirely clear. I do agree that people should know their strengths and strive to maximize how they use them in their roles at work, but I’m not sure what is odd about any particular strength. Different strengths for different situations…
Also, a quick note on the artistic thing. A true artist shouldn’t have a difficult time convincing the general public of their skill. Lack of understanding shouldn’t be used as an excuse when someone has an opinion that another is a bad artist in their field.
Ryan writes, “But if you want to truly be happy with yourself and what you do, you have to stay true to what you’re good at.”
Good point, I totally agree. It’s important to identify your strengths and work on developing them even more. I think that we need to tweak the message that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. Kids get this from a very young age and I think it sometimes serves to encourage people to basically pursue things that end up being some sort of uphill battle. I do think people can achieve a lot and overcome limitations, but not everyone can do everything.
Nathan:
Thanks for sharing that report you saw. And you’re right, there are always ways to retain your individuality and not shake things up at the same time.
I can explain the “odd strength” thing a little further:
A lot of young people get into their first corporate role and don’t think they’re being utilized to the best of their natural strengths. Most people tend to conform, but I think that’s just cheating yourself. You should do everything you can to put yourself in a situation where what you’re truly good at can be utilized.
I’ve been in this situation before, where what I’m good at doesn’t necessary fit the desirable mold. In these cases, you have to stay true to yourself and find a way to use your strengths to churn out value. Your way of contributing your best probably won’t be obvious and you’ll likely have to figure out what your should be doing on your own. That’s what makes it so odd.
So it’s not that any particular strength is odd. It’s more about the environment you’re in and how it functions.
One way to think about this is that if you are always conforming against your strengths you’ll never find yourself doing the things you really want to be doing. If you find yourself in an environment where you have an “odd strength,” I think it’s just a matter of presenting that strength in a way that your more “normal” colleagues are comfortable with.
Figuring out what your real strengths are is always key to doing great work, and it’s tougher to do consistently great work without knowing what they are.
That’s the whole point of strengths - they’re the things you can apply at a consistently high or near-perfect level of performance, but you can only do that by making a choice to apply them.
Start conforming or diluting your strengths based on what other people expect and you’re just sabotaging what you’re capable of. It could be said that fitting into other people’s boxes rather than having confidence in your strengths is a weakness…
This post is very timely for me as I’ve just left my last company, since it really wasn’t a good fit. (And yes, I was pretty unhappy.) So I’m trying to figure out what to do next.
I’ve realized that my strengths are almost the opposite of the industry I thought I wanted to be in! But the issue is, now that I know what my unique strengths are, how do I fit that into finding a role which uses them - especially one where almost all the roles I can do/ are interested in require things which are a weakness rather than a strength for me?
Advice please!!
Hi Tina:
It’s a little hard to advise since I don’t know your strengths or your interests, but my gut tells me that there’s a way to integrate both. It’s just going to take some time to discover.
As someone who sort of “fell into” entrepreneurship, I wasn’t sure where my strengths were going to lie with the company. It was really frustrating and it took me awhile to get a grip. Eventually (and with a lot of patience) I found a way to bring value. Most days, I love what I’m doing. It’s fun work and I know that I’m the one in our group that should be doing it.
There’s also days that suck…but let’s face it, even if we love what we’re doing, every day can’t be perfect.
Have you ever taken a strength assessment test? Maybe buy StrengthsFinder 2.0. I endorse this book way too much, but it offers so many suggestions that I think anyone in your position can put it to good use. Even if it just confirms what you initially thought.
Ryan:
Thanks for the advice - I’ll check it out.
My staff team took the ‘Now Discover Your Strengths’ assessment a few years ago and it was amazing. I work with 50+ people across the U.S. who I barely get to see throughout the year and mostly communicate via email. Knowing their strength profiles was HUGE in learning how to communicate and work better with them.
Learning my strengths and reading more about them was a huge career step for me. I started learning how to make my strengths work better for me within my job and my boss was open to be tailoring things a bit so I was doing more that my strengths complimented. Granted, I still had things I didn’t like doing (like data entry), but the other areas I enjoyed made that time bearable.
I recommend a StrengthFinder assessment to everyone. I think Colleges should start implementing this more as it could definitely help new grads in job interviews (”My strengths are blah, blah, blah…) How many college kids know those things about themselves?
I’ve decided to check out the 2.0 book/assessment. It’s been 3 years now since I’ve taken it and can use a brush up as I move into something new. Great advice, Ryan, to be yourself and know when to get out of a bad situation. I would much rather be happier in a lower paying job than miserable in a better paying job. =)
i wince when i hear the word “weakness.”
i was reviewing a colleague’s professional development plan and one of the things it included was to “assist others by developing their strengths and lesser strengths.”
ever since then i have tried to be more optimistic when delivering feedback; it puts the other person at ease when they realize you’re not out to get them. and in the long run, you are really going to be respected as a leader of people.