Strengths

Scores | Charts | Descriptions

Analytical®

People especially talented in the Analytical theme search for reasons and causes. They have the ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation.

Score Distribution

Shows scores for this strength across all staff.

Users with Analytical strength

Theme Description

Your Analytical theme challenges other people: "Prove it. Show me why what you are claiming is true." In the face of this kind of questioning some will find that their brilliant theories wither and die. For you, this is precisely the point. You do not necessarily want to destroy other people's ideas, but you do insist that their theories be sound. You see yourself as objective and dispassionate. You like data because they are value free. They have no agenda. Armed with these data, you search for patterns and connections. You want to understand how certain patterns affect one another. How do they combine? What is their outcome? Does this outcome fit with the theory being offered or the situation being confronted? These are your questions. You peel the layers back until, gradually, the root cause or causes are revealed. Others see you as logical and rigorous. Over time they will come to you in order to expose someone's "wishful thinking" or "clumsy thinking" to your refining mind. It is hoped that your analysis is never delivered too harshly. Otherwise, others may avoid you when that "wishful thinking" is their own.

Action Items

• Choose work in which you are paid to analyze data, find patterns, or organize ideas. For example, you might excel at research (e.g., marketing, financial, medical), database management, editing, or risk management.
• Whatever your role, identify credible sources upon which you can rely. You are at your best when you have well-researched sources of information and numbers to support your logic. For example, determine the most helpful books, Web sites, or publications that can serve as references.
• Develop your Analytical skills by getting to know and share ideas with the outstanding analysts who specialize in your area.
• Take an academic course that will expand your Analytical strength. Specifically, study people whose logic you admire.
• Volunteer your Analytical talent. You can be particularly helpful to those who are struggling to organize large quantities of data or to bring structure to their ideas.
• Partner with someone with a strong Activator theme. This person's impatience will move you quickly through the analytical phase into the action phase.
• Listen to people with the Strategic, Belief, or Empathy themes. Their insights and intuitions are difficult to measure, but are often accurate and valuable nonetheless.

How to Manage a Person Especially Talented in the Analytical Theme

• Whenever this person is involved with an important decision, take time to think through the issues with her. She will want to know all the factors affecting the decision.
• If you are explaining a decision that has already been made, always remember to lay out the logic of the decision very clearly. To you it may feel as though you are overexplaining things, but for her this level of detail is essential if she is to commit to the decision.
• Every time you have the opportunity, recognize and praise her reasoning ability. She is proud of her disciplined mind.
• When defending a decision or a principle, show this person the supporting numbers. She instinctively gives more credibility to information that displays numbers.
• Remember that she has a need for exact, well-researched numbers. Never try to pass shoddy data to her as credible evidence.
• A highlight in her life is to discover patterns in data. Always give her the opportunity to explain the pattern in detail to you. This will be motivational for her and will help to solidify your relationship.
• You will not always agree with her, but always take her point of view seriously. She has probably thought through her points very carefully.
• Because the accuracy of the work is so important to her, getting a task done correctly may be more important to her than meeting a deadline. Therefore, as the deadline draws near, keep checking in with her to ensure that she has the necessary time to do it right.