Strengths Explorer: Organizer

Scheduling, planning, and organizing your world makes life better. People count on you to get the details right and pull a plan together.

Clifton Strengths Explorer

Students with the Strengths Explorer theme of Organizer like structure. They function best when the world around the is predictable and ordered. They appreciate plans by knowing the what and when of something going on. Gallup writes, “planning makes you comfortable and calm about what you are doing. It is fun to think ahead, organize, and include all that you want to do in your plan so you don’t leave anything out. You like to think about both the big ideas and details.”

The following picture was drawn by a TeamMates mentee about her organizer. She explained that her Organizer functions in many places, including her room, backpack, school work, locker, and even her friendships. For those with Organizer, all areas of life are better with order, including their physical belongings, thoughts in their head, and relationships with others. This mentee, describing the theme perfectly wrote, “with organization comes empowerment.”

35.5% of our mentees who have taken Strengths Explorer have Organizer in their Top 3 strengths. To honor your mentee with high Organizer, consider planning out your mentoring times for the month or even the semester ahead. Think of things your mentee wants to do and create a “mentoring calendar.” They will appreciate knowing what to expect each week going into your mentoring time, along with delighting in the process of planning ahead of time. This will also allow you to maximize your mentoring minutes, because less time is spent thinking of something to do and more time doing it. While doing your craft or playing your game, cater conversation around your student’s theme; ask what they like to organize. If it’s their closet, ask how they organize it- is it by type of clothing or color coding? If it’s their books, is it alphabetical by title or author, or in genres? Although this type of conversation may seem dull or silly to you, your Organizer mentee will appreciate this discussion; they likely have never had an adult in their life ask questions about their process of organizing. Doing so, will open conversation, build trust, and develop your mentee’s strength.

-Tess

If you are interested in guest blogging about one of your Top 5 StrengthsFinder themes this school year, please email Tess at tstarman@teammates.org

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