Strength #5: Arranger

You are a conductor. When faced with a complex situation involving many factors, you enjoy managing all of the variables, aligning and realigning them until you are sure you have arranged them in the most productive configuration possible. In your mind there is nothing special about what you are doing. You are simply trying to figure out the best way to get things done. But others, lacking this theme, will be in awe of your ability. “How can you keep so many things in your head at once?” they will ask. “How can you stay so flexible, so willing to shelve well-laid plans in favor of some brand-new configuration that has just occurred to you?” But you cannot imagine behaving in any other way. You are a shining example of effective flexibility, whether you are changing travel schedules at the last minute because a better fare has popped up or mulling over just the right combination of people and resources to accomplish a new project. From the mundane to the complex, you are always looking for the perfect configuration. Of course, you are at your best in dynamic situations. Confronted with the unexpected, some complain that plans devised with such care cannot be changed, while others take refuge in the existing rules or procedures. You don’t do either. Instead, you jump into the confusion, devising new options, hunting for new paths of least resistance, and figuring out new partnerships – because, after all, there might just be a better way.

There is a reason why the Strengths Finder listed this one as my fifth strength... because it's not my strongest strength and therefore I don't feel like this one applies as accurately to me. Although, I do agree with it and here's why: I really find a lot of satisfaction in discovering more efficient ways of doing things, or more organized ways of doing things. Right now at work, our Compensation department - with whom I work very closely on a daily basis - is taking an aggressive approach to going paperless on as many things as possible .... and I looooooove it!! I'm all over that. When I contribute ideas as to how we can best help with that conversion someone else will contribute another idea that will either oppose or add-to my idea and then I'll have some other idea pop in my head and I'll abandon my original idea within seconds. Tackling a problem with many variables is exhilarating!