How To Identify Your Strengths in the Workplace

Regardless of your job title or industry, there are a variety of workplace strengths that can help you succeed in your role. By reviewing a list of the most sought-after workplace strengths, you can identify which ones are most relevant to your field and begin looking for ways to improve them.

In this article, we provide ten examples of workplace strengths and how to identify and highlight your own strengths.

Related: How To Emphasize Your Personal Strengths During an Interview

What are workplace strengths?

Workplace strengths consist of several soft skills that professionals can apply to any workplace environment, industry or job. Professionals use these strengths to develop healthy workplace relationships with their coworkers and complement more technical aspects of their position.

Related: 7 Ways To Improve Your Leadership Strengths

10 examples of strengths in the workplace

Here are 10 example areas of strengths at work that you can apply to your professional duties:

Dependable

Dependability characterizes someone reliable and loyal. In the workplace, a dependable employee is on time, and their coworkers can always rely on them for help or guidance. Their supervisor knows they can rely on them to exceed their expectations or take on extra workloads.

Flexible

Flexibility describes someone who can quickly adapt to changes. In the workplace, a flexible employee can quickly learn new procedures, and most importantly, take on these new changes in an optimistic manner. They can also serve as role models for their coworkers to stay positive during company changes.

Self-motivated

Self-motivation describes someone who is disciplined without the presence of a supervisor. In the workplace, a self-motivated employee is valuable to employers as they do not need constant supervision or reminders to complete their responsibilities.

Team-oriented

Someone who is team-oriented enjoys working with groups of people. A team-oriented employee is essential to employers because they can act as leaders for the group. A team-oriented employee is also beneficial to the workplace as they are focused on the overall success of their department or project in addition to their individual role and responsibilities.

Success-oriented

A success-oriented individual is focused on the overall objective. They complete their duties with the desired goal in mind. This is an essential strength for an employee to have because it gives a purpose toward their daily responsibilities.

Optimistic

Someone who continuously displays a positive outlook toward events is optimistic. An optimistic employee can help their coworkers remain positive, especially during stressful situations or in the midst of major company changes. This allows them and their team to stay motivated and productive.

Communicative

A communicative individual is skilled at connecting with others over a variety of mediums. In the workplace, they can use written or verbal communication skills to relay information to others and limit misunderstandings. For example, communicative employees might have great email writing skills, which allow them to deliver concise and time-saving statements to the recipients.

Emotionally aware

Emotional awareness is the ability to recognize how others feel through their words and unspoken cues, including body language. An empathetic employee is conscious of those around them, their feelings and potentially their emotional triggers. They can use empathy to reduce conflict with coworkers and promote a supportive environment within their department. This can further encourage work ethic and teamwork.

Trustworthy

Someone who is honest and can be held accountable is trustworthy. Employers value trustworthy employees as they show accountability for their mistakes. Also, trustworthy employees can handle sensitive and confidential company information without concern.

Problem-solver

Problem-solving characterizes someone good at evaluating a situation and providing solutions. An employee who is skilled in problem-solving can help employers analyze specific departmental problems and create new procedures that save the company valuable time and money.

Related: 10 Key Strengths To Develop for Career Advancement

How to identify your workplace strengths

Read through the following steps to learn how you can identify your strong points as an employee:

1. Review your job responsibilities

The first way you can identify your workplace strengths is by taking the time to think about your job responsibilities. Consider your job duties on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and choose at least three strengths related to your work performance.

Example: You work as a marketing assistant. Your responsibilities include attending daily meetings with the marketing team, presenting monthly slideshows in front of managers, monitoring campaign success and coordinating with coworkers on group projects. From this, you identify your top three workplace strengths as communication, teamwork and problem-solving.

2. Consider your weaknesses

The second method you can use to define your strong points is identifying your weaknesses. By highlighting areas for improvement, you can narrow down the qualities that you already possess. Think about particular job duties that take you longer to complete or areas where you are more likely to make mistakes.

Example: You know that you sometimes struggle to stay focused at work, especially when you have to pull data from campaigns to put in spreadsheets. You have also been known to enter information incorrectly on occasion. This helps you realize that you might be lacking in self-motivation and detail orientation. However, by identifying your weaknesses, you can also identify your strengths as teamwork and verbal communication. This is because you enjoy working with your coworkers and giving presentations in front of your peers.

3. Identify your personality type

You can also identify your workplace strengths by learning your personality type. Consider completing an online survey, such as the Myers-Briggs test, to discover more about how your personality type affects your strengths.

Example: You decide to take the Myers-Briggs test to give yourself a better perspective on your strengths and weaknesses. You find out that you are an ESTP (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking and Perceiving). From this, you can identify your workplace strengths as verbal communication, emotional awareness, problem-solving and optimism.

Related: Using Your Myers-Briggs Type To Advance Your Career

4. Make a list of strengths

Making a list of your strengths helps remind you of your employable qualities. You can split your list of strengths into three distinct categories, such as knowledge-based skills (technical skills), personality traits and transferrable skills (interpersonal skills). Think about how your personality and qualifications apply to the workplace, and you can create a comprehensive list from which you can identify your most valuable workplace strengths.

Example: You decide to make a list. You use three categories to separate your skill areas:

Knowledge-based skills

• Microsoft PowerPoint

• Computer software systems

• Inbound/outbound marketing

• Statistics

Personality traits

• Extroverted

• Analytical

• Positive

• Empathetic

Transferrable skills

• Verbal communication

• Problem-solving

• Optimism

• Emotional awareness

Related: Core Values: Overview and Examples

Tips for highlighting strengths in the workplace

Here are some tips for highlighting your strengths on your resume and in the workplace.

Resume

You can use the skills section of your resume to attribute your skills to your qualifications. Highlight your strengths by listing specific job duties you performed during past jobs. For example, if you want to highlight your strength as being organized, you could include job duties like "minimized workplace confusion by creating a digital file system.

Cover letter

Demonstrate your strong points by using particular phrases or skills to describe yourself, such as hardworking, dedicated or enthusiastic. For example, if you wanted to highlight your strength in positivity, include phrases like "I am a hardworking individual who uses optimism to promote a forward-thinking attitude in the workplace.

In-person interview

An in-person interview allows you to highlight your workplace strengths in a face-to-face setting. For example, display your ability to communicate by speaking clearly, making eye contact and responding to the interviewer's body language.

At work

Demonstrating your strengths at work can increase your chances of getting a raise or promotion. Use your emotional awareness to contribute to positive coworker relationships, your flexibility to adapt to new procedures or unexpected changes and your self-motivation to improve your productivity.