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Administrative & Educational ServicesADSC 1141Integrated Software ApplicationsStrengthsQuest JourneyJanuary 21, 2011Dusty Klesner, Instructordustyklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software ApplicationStrengths Quest JourneyTable of ContentsExecutive Summary & Purpose . 3Classroom Introduction . 3Future Integration . 3Getting the Most Out of Your Clifton StrengthsFinder Report . 4What was your first reaction to the Clifton Strengths Finder results? . 4What new discovery have you made about yourself? . 5What surprised you? . 6What theme did you think you would see at the top, but didn’t? . 7Have you shared you Signature Themes report with anyone?What was the reaction? . 8Team Talent Map . 9After reading my results and understanding my strengths/talents, I feel that I havepermission to be me. Another thing I realized was I had been looking at some of mystrengths as weaknesses. People were always telling me, "stop talking on so much", "youtake everything so seriously", "you worry too much". I now realize that this is who I am and Ineed to look at these talents differently and use them to my benefit.--Julia T., StudentResponsibility, Deliberative, Empathy, Achiever, IntellectionPage 2 of 9Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software ApplicationStrengths Quest JourneyExecutive Summary & PurposeMr. Dusty Klesner, instructor, respectfully submits the following report on behalf of the Spring 2011ADSC 1141 Integrated Software Applications class. This course is considered a capstone class within theAdministrative Specialist and Medical Administrative Specialist programs. The purpose is to simulate anoffice environment where students are able to integrate the knowledge and skills obtained throughout theprogram. Little instruction is given to encourage critical thinking while increasing resource awareness.Classroom IntroductionThe StrengthsQuest tool was introduced to 16 students on January 11, 2011. Mrs. Julie Packer, Peer TutorCoordinator, assumed the role of facilitator. Mrs. Packer provided students with a background summaryof the Gallup Organization, the purpose of StrengthsQuest, and the integration with Anoka TechnicalCollege. Students were given individual access codes provided to Mr. Klesner via Mrs. Pam Zinken andthen directed to the assessment website. Each student was then asked to complete the questionnaire andprint their theme report upon completion.After each student retrieved their printed theme report, Mrs. Packer provided a list of all 34 strengths. Thefollowing assignment was then posted via D2L:StrengthsQuest Assignment ReviewWhat a great way to begin the semester! It was wonderful seeing everyone complete theStrengthsQuest assessment in class today. Now it’s time to apply what you have alreadycompleted. I handed out a “Getting the Most Out of Your Clifton StrengthsFinder Report” list offive questions I need everyone to answer and submit to the StrengthsQuest drop box in D2L. Thisis worth 25 points and graded as a quiz. As long as you answer each questions fully (more than 1sentence answers) then you will receive the points.Submission guidelines:--Must be in a MS Word document.--Each question typed out and numbered.--Answers to each question typed below the question.--Your first and last name must appear at the top of the document.--Include the registration code number you used when taking the assessment.Please also post your top five strengths in the StrengthsQuest discussion post area. In doing so,you will be able to understand your new colleagues better and have a more positive workingrelationship as we venture forward with the Sports Connection. I have entered my own top five asan example.Future IntegrationThe January 18 class began with a StrengthsQuest discussion. Students provided positive feedback onassignment. Mr. Klesner requested students to view the discussion board and form teams based on the topfive strengths. Guidelines were to locate two to five peers with at least three different strengths fromthemselves. Although this course is individual based, instructor relayed the importance of buildingpositive colleague relationships and teams. In doing so, acknowledging and understanding others topstrengths contributes to a positive office environment and thus, a higher level of productivity.Each student is required to interact with each other, similar to that of a professional office setting.Instructor will observe and lead discussion of appropriate behaviors as needed. With each project,students are required to submit a summary of how they relied on their strengths to successfully completethe assignment and how it relates to an administrative role. This requirement will be altered per project asneeded with group discussion held the following class meeting.*Notation: The following are student responses to assessment follow up questions. Although assessment wasadministered to 16 students, one student chose to discontinue this course.Page 3 of 9Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software ApplicationStrengths Quest JourneyGetting the Most Out of Your Clifton StrengthsFinder ReportWhat was your first reaction to the Clifton Strengths Finder results?1. My first reaction was completely shocked. I didn‟t know whether to believe in my results or not.2. I was not surprised by most of the results; I know that I am Harmonious, Empathetic and aDeveloper.3. I thought that the results were very right on.4. I was surprised that Input was my third strength. Arranger I wasn‟t so surprised because I‟m a pickyorganizer. Time management I find very important. I do try to figure out if there are other ways todo things. I like to do things in a productive way. I thought that discipline would have been on thesequence because I go according to schedule. I feel that I can get things done in a timely manner ifthere is an order. I was rather stumped when I didn‟t see Learner on the sequence. I like to learnconstantly. I guess the way I answered the questions I prefer the outcome. I still like the process oflearning.5. I was confused at first at some of the results. The title of some of the themes had me confused untilI read the actual description. I wonder if the age that you take this test makes a difference in theresults. I would think that at a younger age I would have answered the questions differently. Thatwould be an interesting study to do. Have 20 year olds take it and then have them take it again inanother 15 – 20 years.6. A did not have any idea of what to expect, I never thought about what could be my five topstrengths before. I did not know that we were able to find our strengths by just doing a simple quiz.7. I wasn‟t really sure what to expect when I first heard about taking a StrengthsQuest “test.” Peoplethroughout the campus have been talking about StrengthsQuest and I was curious as to what it was.After taking the report, and reading the descriptions of my “top 5 strengths,” I realized that they arevery accurate.8. It was exactly what I am. I expected a couple of them9. I was surprised that my greatest strength is “achiever”. I do have a drive so I guess that‟s me, but Ididn‟t think I start at ground level each day.10. I thought they were very interesting. All of mine describe me accurately. I was also surprised howthe program can calculate all of the answers to the questions so quickly and come up with theresults.11. I‟m not sure that I agree with the entire top five list. Connectedness is the one that somewhat throwsme off a bit. I don‟t recall really answering much that would have put me into that category.12. My first strength is Strategic, in the descriptive paragraph it starts that strategic people have adistinct way of thinking, that I see patterns where others simply see complexity. As I read, Ireanalyze that it is very true. Even now I can think of things that happened in my day that affirmthis information; While I was working with a group today in class. My second strength is Learnerand this is very evident to me because I love to learn I have always known that. If there is anythingthat is even kind of interesting to me I want to know about.13. It made me smile because as I was answering the questions I thought “I‟m all over the place – it‟llnever read me right.” But it was pretty much dead-on.14. I thought to myself that I must really strive to know a lot because Learner and Intellection were inmy top five. After I read what each strength meant they made sense.15. I honestly was a bit confused by the questioning process. I, at first, thought that two separatequestions were being asked. Sometimes I agreed strongly with both ends of the spectrum. Still, Iwas not at all surprised by the results. Those top five themes do fit my personality.Page 4 of 9Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software ApplicationStrengths Quest JourneyWhat new discovery have you made about yourself?1. These results made me discover that I am not who I see myself as nor was it who I thought I was.2. I discovered that I love to solve problems and enjoy analyzing and identifying what is wrong, andwant to find the solutions.3. I learned that very often I can only see the potential in people.4. I guess I like to read more than I think I do. When it says “craving more to know more,” this is me.I wake up every morning wondering what knew piece of knowledge can I obtain today. I do collecta lot of things for my scrap books. My philosophy to life is Chasing Knowledge. I guess I didn‟tknow that the vocabulary word for this description is Input.5. One that I was confused on was Achiever. I don‟t really see myself that way in this stage of my life.I was more like that when I was younger, but after thinking about it (Intellection), I think that I amstill an achiever but depression has gotten in the way of me achieving the things that I want. Youget beat up enough times, you stop fighting. I hope that by taking the Strengths and Wellness ClassI will learn to bring these talents forward and use them to achieve my goals.6. I did not know that I was a Maximizer, but now that I read the mining of it, I found out that itsounds a little like me. Talking about the other four strengths, they sound familiar with mypersonality.7. I haven‟t made a new discovery, per se, however one of my top 5 is “includer” and I do try toinclude everyone because I know what it feels like to be excluded from a group and I never wantpeople to feel like that. I also realized that I am able to tell how a person feels just by talking tothem and imagining myself in their shoes. People have always said I should start an “advice line”because I give such great advice, when really I‟m just speaking from my heart and from pastexperiences.8. I didn‟t realize till now that I was so flexible or organized9. I‟m a WOO-winning others over. I do enjoy meeting and helping others---that‟s why I help in thecomputer lab and admissions. Always helping others.10. I realized how I use each of my strengths in my everyday life. I use them to make decisions, handlesituations, and go about my day. I find it really interesting how much I rely on each of these top 5strengths everyday and never even thought about it before, or even thought of them as strengths. Ididn‟t appreciate the matter in which I do and go about things are my strengths.11. The Connectedness portion was not what I expected. Although really reading through it I guessthere are a few things about the description that may lead me in that direction.12. Well, I learned that I see thing in a simple form when others have a hard time with it. That I reallydo always ask “what if this happened” I always have my mind going with questions andscenarios I just thought that it was a girl thing. I didn‟t think that it was a personality thing. I feelnow that if someone said no Rach you are not good at relating to people. I could say I disagree andhere is why I may be good at arranging things but I don‟t like it. My path in life, I think, has ledme down that way.13. That I‟m considered adaptable. I‟ve been out of work for over 2 years now, so I tend to think aboutmy personal life rather than my professional life. When I was working, I was very adaptable – Ienjoy variety and roll with the punches. However, when it comes to my personal life I like to knowwhat the plan is, how many people are coming, etc. When things change suddenly at the lastminute, I tend to get really worked up.14. I never thought of myself as an Achiever, however, after I read the Achiever outline it made sense. Ilike to stay busy and do things that have a purpose or outcome. Even if it is just to say I triedsomething or attempted to do something new.15. I discovered that my priorities have now changed some. I feel differently about certain aspects ofsociety, what is important, and how I live my life now in comparison to when I was in my twenties.But overall, I learned that I am still drawn to the same things. My core values have not changed. Ido understand certain aspects about myself a little better now after reading the descriptions of mytop five themes. Such as, why I am so driven, dedicated, and always have a need to have my mindengaged in something I enjoy.Page 5 of 9Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software ApplicationStrengths Quest JourneyWhat surprised you?1. To be completely honest, the whole entire test surprised me besides the empathy theme. I just don‟tsee my strengths fitting my personality.2. I was very surprised by the strength restorative problem solver.3. I was surprised that input, and intellection were on my top 5.4. A lot has surprised me. It was the order that these strengths have landed in. I thought that some ofthese would be in slightly different order. Such as Input in place of Achiever. I think that Inputshould be second along behind Arranger. I didn‟t think that Discipline would be at the bottom.Strategic should be my last one. Every so often do I play the “What if” game in my mind.5. I was surprised that Arranger was not on my list. Everyone has always complemented me on myorganizational skills. But maybe they don‟t mean physical organization but more mentalorganization. It is probably high on the list just not in the top five.6. Two of my five strengths surprised me, and make me laugh. The woo and the achiever strengths,they describes me with many little details7. After taking this test, I was surprised to see that empathy is my number one strength. Mainlybecause I never realized that I truly do imagine myself in other people‟s situations, so as to givethem advice and help them out where I can.8. The fact that arranger was one of my strengths. I realize it now, but it took this test to do so9. I am a learner now, I didn‟t think of me as a learner before college. Although I do like to try newthings and try to make life simpler.10. I was surprised when I was looking through the other student‟s top 5 lists to see that a lot of us haveone or two of the same strengths in our top 5. Seeing that there are so many strengths from the list, Iwas surprised to see a lot of the same strengths on all of our top 5.11. The biggest surprise is Empathy as the number one strength on the list. I am not surprised that it ison the list, just not that high up on the list.12. Arranger surprised me because I never thought of myself that way. I have always just done it. Nowthat I think about it, it makes sense but in life I just manage the situation. While I arrange my lifeand my children‟s life I don‟t think that I enjoy it. It has become a chore. I‟m a manager byprofession. I have run McDonalds restaurants for many years. I think that it has just been drilledinto me. It is hard to say clearly if that is how I am or not.13. As a learner, it seems I‟m more interested the action of learning – not so much the particular subjectI am learning.14. My second strength is Input, which surprised me. I love books and had not realized it was acollection of mine, not only for the physical aspect, but also for the information within them.15. I was surprised how accurate this test was. My number one theme was Learner. After reading thedescription, I was really impressed. It does describe me perfectly. All the themes were so detailed,and they were all very much right on target. However, I did not see some of the strengths I thoughtI would. For example, I feel I am adaptive, but it was not on my list.Page 6 of 9Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software ApplicationStrengths Quest JourneyWhat theme did you think you would see at the top, but didn’t?1. The theme that I thought would show up in my results that never did was the relator because I feellike I can relate to people and their problems a lot.2. Responsibility I thought this was one of my biggest strengths, but it did not come up in the top 5.3. There were none, but I was not surprised to see empathy on the top of my list.4. I thought that I would see Empathy on the top but surprisingly enough it didn‟t even end up on thelist. I do have the ability to put myself in other people‟s shoes and ask myself, how does it feel to bein their situation. I can sense if a person is faking a smile. I can tell when a person is upset but theykeep on smiling.5. Actually the one that at the top is exactly the one that I expected. I have always known thatresponsibility was an important part of my life. It was something that was drilled into my brothersand me at a very young age. I think that they would probably have this as one of their top themesalso. I have learned that this trait can sometimes be a real hindrance.6. After I read the rest of the strengths, I think the input should be at my top five, because I have acraving to know more, and collect all kinds of information of things that interest me. The otherone that should be at my top five strengths is learner, because I always want to learn somethingnew and exciting.7. I was not sure what to expect from this test. After taking it, before looking at my results, I thought“learner” would be at the top. I love to read and grasp as much information from things as ispossible. I love to learn and simply cannot stop learning as I know this world is full of new andamazing things to learn.8. I would have thought communication would be my number one. I have always been a very goodtalker. I communicate very well with my current employer.9. Focus, maximizer or communication.10. I didn‟t have any expectations of what would be my top strength. I honestly didn‟t know what wasgoing to come out on top, but when empathy came out as my number one strength I wasn‟tsurprised at all.11. Definitely discipline. I feel that I am very discipline in my work and the things that are importantto me. I was sure that would be first on the list of top five.12. Analytical, I have always thought of thing over and over in different ways. What if this and what ifthat I consider the problem from many angles and come up with a decision that I think will work.It takes me so long to make a decision because I have to take the time to consider everything. Whenit a really important decision I take a very long time to think it over. Many times I have said tofriends and family. Let me think about it and I will get back to you.13. People pleaser (Harmony).14. I expected to see Adaptability, because I am able to adapt to almost any situation and to adapt tovarious types of people.15. My top theme was Learner. I felt that this was very accurate. I did expect to see Belief. I know howdifficult is to change my mind about something, especially if I feel very strongly about it. I waseven more surprised that Deliberative was not very nearly at the top of the list. I do plan ahead andset goals and always contemplate possible outcomes and what problems I may run into along theway. Deliberative must have been a close 5th for me.Page 7 of 9Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software ApplicationStrengths Quest JourneyHave you shared you Signature Themes report with anyone?What was the reaction?1. I took my themes report home and shared it with all of my family and close friends. My parentsseemed to be shocked because they said they would never have picked any of those as my topstrengths. My brother and boyfriend however, believed that these themes fit me except for thepositivity one. All in all, I believe that no test can tell you your strengths and who you are.2. Yes, they were not surprised because they know me very well and see things in me that I do not seein myself.3. I told my friend, and she said that sounds a lot like me.4. Yes, I shared mine with my parents. There reaction was Oh, yes that is so you. One thing that didsurprise them was the Arranger. I wasn‟t always flexible. They would tell me that if there was aglitch in the schedule, I would get upset. These days I don‟t get so bent out of shape.5. I told my mother about taking the test and what my results where and she wasn‟t surprised at all atthe results. I also shared them with Jean Juelich and Elena Favela who are my instructors for theStrengths and Wellness class. Elena said that she too has Responsibility has her number one and shesaid that it sometimes drives her crazy.6. Yes, I shared with my husband. He agreed with almost every single one, but not with the Focusstrength, he said it does not sound like me at all. He also asked me if there was any strength callBossy so we can put it at the very top of my list.7. I shared my results with my mother and this is her reaction for each of my five strengths:Empathy: that I am very intuitive. Problem determining whether they are my feelings or if I ampicking up on someone else‟s feelings. Developer: that I see the potential, where others see an“underdog.” Patience is the key. Includer: I want all to be included and no one left out as I knowhow hurtful it is to be left out. Context: I need time in new situations to see the plans.Adaptability: that I need to work on this. I can stay productive even when I need to adapt to achange in plans.8. I did show it to my boyfriend. He said that four out of the five were definitely me. He did not thinkthat arranger was me. I am very flexible and am willing to work pretty much around anything, buthe says that I am not very good at managing many different variables.9. Yes I have shared my report. I have them as my “signature” on all emails and others ask what theymean. I explain it and they usually want to do the assessment themselves.10. I told my mom and my boyfriend about it. They both thought it was pretty interesting and are goingto take it themselves. I‟m especially interested to see what my boyfriend‟s strengths will be. Mymom said that they all described me extremely accurately.11. Yes, my 18 year old son. He asked if I thought there was any truth to the list, he didn‟t agree withthe Discipline category. He thinks I‟m a drill sergeant.12. I chose to share the report with my hubby and his first reaction was I don‟t want to do this becauseyou will get mad at me and take it the wrong way. When we talk about arranging life and family Ijust don‟t enjoy it. It‟s a chore. He also felt that Strategic was not who I am, but I disagree with that.I think that I am very much a strategic person. He did state that, I think about things but don‟talways do anything about what I thinking; I don‟t know if that makes a strategic person or not. Idon‟t know that he fully understood what a Strategic person is. But this assignment opened the doorfor a bigger conversation in our marriage. So that was a blessing in disguises.13. My husband responded, “Do you think it sounds like you?” Apparently he didn‟t think it was asdead-on as I did. A fellow student said it seems accurate. My mom just chuckled.14. Yes. I told Lana my top strength was Learner, and she said that made a lot of sense. I also showedthe results to my fiancé, who responded by saying they seem like me very closely. He especiallystated that „everyday starts at zero‟ from the Achiever description described me very well.15. I did share my Signature Themes with people and they thought it was very interesting. They wereinterested in finding out what their top five themes might be. Also, they thought they understoodme a little better after reading the descriptions. I told them that I understand myself a little betternow too.Page 8 of 9Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software ApplicationStrengths Quest JourneyTeam Talent MapStats:15 Team Members Empathy is most common Possess 27 out of 34 strengths21 in Executing 4 in Influencing 28 in Relationship Building 21 in Strategic ThinkingPage 9 of 9Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu
ADSC 1141 Integrated Software Application Strengths Quest Journey Page 4 of 9 Dusty Klesner, Instructor, dklesner@anokatech.edu Getting the Most Out of Your Clifton StrengthsFinder Report What was your first reaction to the Clifton Strengths Finder results? 1.
