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A Look at Futuristic

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People exceptionally talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They energize others with their visions of the future.
CliftonStrengths

This week our guest blogger is Suzanne Hince. Suzanne has been with TeamMates since 2005, serving as the Executive Director for 11 years, and last year, transitioning to become the TeamMates Foundation Director. In addition to being a staff member, Suzanne has also been a mentor with TeamMates for 12 years . Her top five strengths are Strategic, Self-Assurance, Achiever, Futuristic, Ideation. Here’s what Futuristic looks like for Suzanne:



The best way I can describe the Futuristic theme is…daydreamer.  I can get so lost in my own thoughts about the possibilities of how things could be that I lose track of time and place.  I used to be a runner and one of the reasons I loved to run was it gave me the dedicated space and time to think about problems, situations and plans for the future.  It was also my best creative time for generating new ideas. 

Each day I use the futuristic theme to envision how events or situations will go and set the stage accordingly.  I have a one year old at home and often reconfigure his play area to make it different, creative and present new challenges to him developmentally.  I think about this reconfiguration at night and then put it together in the morning. 

I also use the futuristic theme when mentoring.  Before each meeting I think about our time together, what my mentee’s needs are and how we can make our time meaningful together.  One of my mentees happened to share the strength of futuristic so I tried to think of games that she would like to play that would feed that strength.  The game of LIFE was the clear winner – it’s all about choices that paint a picture of your future.  We played that every week for half a year and discussed her future life in detail.  She often talked about envisioning herself walking across the stage at graduation and through a circuitous journey and many years later – it happened!  She never lost the vision and it’s a great testimony to her futuristic strength. 

In addition to futuristic, I also have the themes of self-confidence, ideation, strategic, achiever and I will also mention a sixth - individualization.  The strength of this blend has been the ability to creatively problem solve and see the unique set of circumstances related to each situation.  I love to flyfish and often think of this blend as the beauty of reading a river, understanding the fish’s want and needs and then the miracle of it all working to catch a fish.  It’s also a blend that can help you untie the knots that are a big part of flyfishing! 

The help I need with futuristic is remembering to continually and clearly communicate the vision.  I made the mistake early on in assuming one vision-casting is enough – people really need to hear the vision many times.  The vision casting provides hope and excitement about the future.  I also need to find a good activator or someone with consistency to carry through on the ideas and plans I generate. 

When I was young, I don’t recall anyone specifically identifying futuristic in me but I do think it helped greatly in the mental aspect of sports.  I loved to play sports and futuristic helped me to envision a positive outcome.  It also helped me keep the end goal and vision of what that would be like alive.  This helped with the focus and work ethic needed to achieve the goal.  
-Suzanne

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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