Black Diamond Explores CliftonStrengths
Our CliftonStrengths
Earlier this year, we had a special Tuesday team meeting at Black Diamond where we had our Clifton Strengths explained to us. CliftonStrengths is a personality assessment tool that identifies natural talents and strengths by ranking them across 34 talent themes. The session was hosted by Sarah Rotruck Glenn, Director for the Center for Career Development at WVU’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics. Sarah is a certified CliftonStrengths coach. She explained our individual test results, how the results combined as an overview of our strengths as a workplace, and offered tips for how to further harness the themes that we excel in.
Our strengths influence our day-to-day life, our work and communication styles with team members, and can guide us in ways to improve on what we are already best at. The CliftonStrengths assessment also identifies blindspots to look out for while harnessing our strongest themes and identifies weaknesses. The assessment considers the bottom themes from the 34 to be weaknesses that we can learn from. Both as a group and individually, we found the assessment incredibly worthwhile. We loved how the assessment helped us learn about ourselves and our team members and wanted to share a little bit about our individual themes. We’ll be profiling the BDR team and how our Clifton Strengths play out in our life and how we’re using the assessment and coaching advice we received to harness them.
You can learn more about CliftonStrengths and take the assessment at https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx.
Learn how WVU uses the assessment and schedule an individual or workplace coaching session at https://purpose.wvu.edu/explore-your-strengths.
Mark’s top strengths were formed throughout his life. They’re indicative of how he was raised and make him uniquely suited to be Black Diamond’s broker. “My top 5 themes reflect my upbringing and roles and backgrounds as a Broker, CRE business owner, lawyer, former student-athlete, and family man,” he notes. Mark’s strengths of Competition and Discipline have served him well throughout his life, using routine and structure to succeed as a student-athlete and lawyer and a love of competition as motivation. The Deliberative strength is important as a business owner and broker. Both roles rely on analysis and critical thinking to make informed decisions. As a Relator, his top strength, he prioritizes family and fosters a culture of teamwork and collaboration at Black Diamond.
As Black Diamond’s Social Media Coordinator and Office Manager, Rachael Miller uses her top strengths in both roles. Her Ideation and Intellection strengths make her a natural content creator. She can find connections between seemingly disparate topics, tailor messaging to reach specific audiences, and translate complex information to be accessible and interesting. Rachael uses her strengths of Developer, Maximizer, and Relator in team settings. She notices and encourages potential and improvement in others and recognizes situations where she can learn from those around her. She notes, “I found my results to be pretty accurate. I’ve always been creative and full of ideas – sometimes too many. Luckily, I get to collaborate with team members who complement my Ideation strength and help find realistic ways to turn ideas into action.”
For Black Diamond Associate Aaron Poling, the results of his CliftonStrengths assessment confirmed what he already knew to be his strengths: “I am a natural relationship builder! I love meeting new people and helping connect people together.” His ability to make instant connections with new people (part of his Woo strength) and easily present information (Communication) make him perfectly suited for sales. Aaron’s other top strengths of Positivity and Individualization combine to make him an ideal team member and motivator. He uses his Communication and Positivity to get others excited about ideas, while his Individualization strength leads him to always find the best in people. Aaron plans to continue harnessing his strengths, adding that his biggest takeaway from the CliftonStrengths session was to continue “placing myself in social settings where I can meet new people and build deep connections”.
Drew is Black Diamond’s newest Associate. He has hit the ground running, using his top strengths of Woo, Communication, and Relator to network and form relationships in commercial real estate. His openness, hard work, and communication skills are an asset to our firm and to his clients, and his enthusiasm to learn new things has made him a quick study in a new industry. True to form as a Relator, he enjoys working with others to solve a problem or achieve a goal and fits right in with Black Diamond’s team atmosphere.
Drew will be incorporating what he learned from his CliftonStrengths assessment, adding, “Confirming what you think are your strengths adds to your confidence and exposing and learning from your weaknesses helps your overall growth. Self-analysis is an underrated tool.”
Andrea’s top strengths of Woo, Includer, and Communication make her an ideal ambassador for Black Diamond, a role often required for her as Graphic Designer and Office Manager for our Martinsburg and Hagerstown offices. Always ready to help onboard a new team member, her strengths of Positivity and Empathy shine through in these instances. She not only conveys messages and teaches new things in a fun and positive way but considers how others may best receive information. Andrea’s mix of communication and people skills combine to make her a perfect fit for her Black Diamond role. In her own words, “Whether I’m greeting clients at the front desk, supporting our team, or collaborating on creative projects, I thrive on making people feel welcome and seen”.
As Black Diamond’s Marketing Coordinator, Janelle’s position requires a high level of organization, strategic thinking, and interpersonal skills. Her excellence in these areas align with her Top 5 Clifton Strengths of Maximizer, Strategic, Achiever, Consistency, and Relator. Achievers thrive on being busy and productive. Maximizers seek to transform something strong into something superb. This Maximizer effect is evidenced in the way Janelle uses her design skill and industry experience to elevate Black Diamond’s marketing materials. Notes Janelle of her CliftonStrengths, “I was impressed by how accurate the results were. I’ve always been a believer that it’s not right until it’s perfect, and that aligns with my number one strength, Maximizer.”
Kate is one of our newest Black Diamond team members. She joined last month and works out of our Morgantown office as Executive Assistant to David Lorenze and Client Services Coordinator. Kate’s top five Clifton Strengths were Arranger, Achiever, Learner, Responsibility, and Individualization. Of the CliftonStrengths assessment she says, “Learning my Clifton Strengths helped me understand why I thrive on creating order out of chaos. I love being the person who can pull all the moving parts together and make them work—not just efficiently, but meaningfully.” Kate has been an incredible addition to our team and uses her strengths as an “Arranger” to help us all be more productive.
