Join me and my guest, Certified Strengths-Based Leadership Coach Chani Kohn, for a conversation about how the Clifton Strengths Finder Assessment isn't just a test, but is a compass for navigating life's transitions with confidence. Chani sheds light on a path of self-discovery, reinforcing the value of embracing and employing our natural talents. Reflect on Chani’s advice and consider how your natural abilities are the key to unlocking your potential.
In this episode, you'll hear stories and tips on why working smarter means leaning into the strengths that define you. This episode isn't about trying to shore up your weaknesses; it's about celebrating your strengths. Tune in as we illustrate the art of thriving in your career and life by amplifying what you naturally excel at, proving that authenticity isn't just a buzzword—it's a strategy.
In the last part of the episode, we focus on moms ready to re-enter the workforce. With Chani's expertise, we talk about how to translate skills honed at home into marketable, transferable assets. As the job landscape shifts towards skill-based hiring, we guide you through articulating your strengths with newfound clarity and confidence.
If you’d like to better understand your unique strengths, you can receive a full Clifton Strengths Finder Report and a 30-minute coaching session with Chani. Valued at $400, Chani is offering a special price of only $250 for listeners of the show. Send her a message on LinkedIn with the words “Next Chapters” to take advantage of this offer.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chanikohn/
Grab a Free Resume Template for Stay at Home Moms.
Interested in my 1:1 Career Comeback Coaching program? Let's chat!
Send me an email ---> christina@hernextchapters.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn ---> www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina
Join me and my guest, Certified Strengths-Based Leadership Coach Chani Kohn, for a conversation about how the Clifton Strengths Finder Assessment isn't just a test, but is a compass for navigating life's transitions with confidence. Chani sheds light on a path of self-discovery, reinforcing the value of embracing and employing our natural talents. Reflect on Chani’s advice and consider how your natural abilities are the key to unlocking your potential.
In this episode, you'll hear stories and tips on why working smarter means leaning into the strengths that define you. This episode isn't about trying to shore up your weaknesses; it's about celebrating your strengths. Tune in as we illustrate the art of thriving in your career and life by amplifying what you naturally excel at, proving that authenticity isn't just a buzzword—it's a strategy.
In the last part of the episode, we focus on moms ready to re-enter the workforce. With Chani's expertise, we talk about how to translate skills honed at home into marketable, transferable assets. As the job landscape shifts towards skill-based hiring, we guide you through articulating your strengths with newfound clarity and confidence.
If you’d like to better understand your unique strengths, you can receive a full Clifton Strengths Finder Report and a 30-minute coaching session with Chani. Valued at $400, Chani is offering a special price of only $250 for listeners of the show. Send her a message on LinkedIn with the words “Next Chapters” to take advantage of this offer.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chanikohn/
Grab a Free Resume Template for Stay at Home Moms.
Interested in my 1:1 Career Comeback Coaching program? Let's chat!
Send me an email ---> christina@hernextchapters.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn ---> www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina
Hi friends, can you believe it's already the end of January? This episode is being released on January 31st, but we recorded it back in December. My guest today, honey Cone, is a Strengths Finder coach. Join us to learn more about the Clifton Strengths Finder Assessment Tool and how identifying and focusing on your strengths can help you build your confidence as you transition to your next chapters. If you're curious to learn what your strengths are, listen in at the end when Honey shares a special offer for listeners of the podcast, and be sure to listen to next week's episode on February 7th, when Honey reviews my top strengths in a coaching session that we recorded to give you an idea of how the assessment combined with coaching can make a big impact. Alright, now on to the episode.
Speaker 1:Hi, and welcome to her next chapter's podcast. I'm your host, christina Cole. I'm a mom of three and soon to be an empty nester. I'm also a certified HR Pro who restarted my career after being a stay-at-home mom for over a decade. I created this podcast to connect with moms who have an empty nest on the horizon and are wanting to redefine their identity outside of motherhood, which might include a job search. On this show, we'll have raw conversations about our ever-changing roles as moms. We hear from women who restarted their careers and share tips for a job search after a career break. So if that's you, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started, all right?
Speaker 1:Well, welcome everyone to this week's episode of the her next chapter's podcast. I'm your host, christina, and I have a special guest with me today. I'm so excited for you to get to meet her. My guest is Honey Cohn, and Honey and I have met through a mastermind group and we're so excited to be working together and partnering together. And Honey is a strengths finder coach, and I'm going to let her introduce herself, tell us about her background and how it is that she came to be a strengths finder coach. Welcome, honey.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here today and, in full transparency, it's my first podcast ever, so really super excited. So thanks for having me. And yeah, so I'll give a little background about myself.
Speaker 2:First, I spent the bulk of my career, probably about the last 15 plus years, in HR, in various roles within HR, from business partner to focusing on engagement to talent development, and in a whole host of companies, so different industries, from FinTech and retail and education tech to also different size companies, so from your scrappy startup to your midsize to like your mammoth size organization. So what I know some people like to kind of stay consistent. What I love about it is that's really given me so much to see of, like how different companies work and what works well in one doesn't always work well in the other Just being able to experience different types of companies. So that's my professional background. And even more important to me and connection obviously here with your podcast is I'm a mom of two. I have a son who is nine and a half and a daughter who will be turning six very soon. So very fun and keeping me on my toes as I would say Definitely.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for that background and, yeah, you and I share that HR background. I am about 17, 18 years of HR background in multiple different companies and industries, and including FinTech actually. So let's talk about how you, with all of that background, when and how did Strengthfinders come into play and also, what are you doing now in your professional world?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So I got introduced to Strengthfinder back actually in 2010. So one of my first jobs and it was a boss of mine who felt really passionate about Strengthfinder and the company I was at at the time, the as a whole, were very passionate about Gallup and Strengthfinder, so I felt very fortunate. I didn't know what it was at the time and, being newer on the block to you know the career scene, it was really had a lot of aha moments for me to be able to better understand what makes me tick, why do I gravitate towards certain things or another way to just describe myself. But it also really provided my manager and the team with better insights into how to work with me, what are the types of projects that I will just be at like a superstar at, and what comes easily to me. So that was really great and I never experienced that before. So that was really an exciting moment to be able to learn more about myself and it validated also like certain things that, like I didn't neatly felt about me, but I didn't always have the words to describe it or didn't always understand it, so that was really helpful too.
Speaker 2:Then fast forward, I would say a number of years, so about last year, I had the opportunity to become certified as a strengths coach. So from 2010 till you know, 2022, I had always kept strengths within me. I had taken it a number of times throughout, depending on what company or what was happening, but then it's always been something on my mind that's like I really like, feel so passionate about this and feel so. It feels so right that I want, I'd love, to get certified and do more with it and bring it to more people. So that's what brings me to today. I have my own consulting firm, ckc it's Connie Cohn Consulting, and I focus on strengths building and strengths coaching, as well as team facilitation, team building through the lens of strengths, so really being able to help teams work better together from a place of strength. And then for individuals, for one on one, helping people understand what are your strengths and how can you really operate from a place of strength, instead of always trying to fix those weaknesses.
Speaker 1:Right, right. Well, that's exciting. You need to be making that shift. I'm curious, like in your 10, 15 years of professional life, you've probably come across other assessments as well. I know we've. Like you know, the Myers-Briggs is one that comes to mind. What is unique about the strengths finder and how does it compare to the others? Like, why would someone move in this direction versus one of the others?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know it's a great question and I think what makes strengths finder really unique is that it's very unique to the person. So I could take it, you've taken it, and no two reports are really the same, Even if, let's say, you and I have three out of our five. You know, top five strengths might be the same, but the way they'll describe it will be different for each of us, because it's how they connect with the other strengths and how they play off each other and how they look as a whole. So whereas sometimes I have found whether it's disc or Myers-Briggs or PI, there are different combinations with those as well. But if I'm an ENFJ for Myers-Briggs, someone else might be that too. So that's great because you can relate. But what's nice about strengths is they have 34 different strengths. They call them themes and there's so many different possibilities and it's so unique to you that I feel like there.
Speaker 2:I've had people before who take it and they said I read this and it was so scary. I said to my husband how did they know? How did they get into my brain? How did they really know this? I don't understand. So it's. It really helps people understand more about themselves. It makes them feel unique. It's not, it's not generic, Not to say that others are, but I think there's such a unique quality with StrengthsFinder and the focus is on how do you really elevate your strengths and how do you, how do you operate from a place of strengths? And here they are and how they're unique to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean 34 elements versus four, you know, or like the Myers-Briggs I'm familiar with, has 16, and that's useful. And it seems like 34 is much more in depth and I love that. It comes from a position of strength like what am I good at and how do I maximize what I'm good at? And then you mentioned briefly that there is like your top five. So does that mean that, like number 10 on my list, that it isn't really a strength, or like how does that all come together?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the way that Gallup looks at it is in two ways. There's your top five, which are your most dominant. They're the ones that, like you, really really see shine, probably on, if not a daily basis, but like every other day. You're going to see those come out, your top 10, there's a big focus also on your top 10, because you'll see your top 10 strengths will also very regularly come out and be very dominant within your life. So those, they definitely look at those as the top 10.
Speaker 2:I would say that when, like in coaching, we'll focus a lot on the top 10. But then, if we want to get very granular, if there's a specific issue someone wants to talk through, a lot of times I'll zero in on let's look at your top five, because a lot of times those come in a lot. You know, I was even coaching someone last night and there were even things that this client was saying where I was like, oh, I hear I can hear you saying you know that's your number four and like, let's talk about it because as someone is getting introduced to strength, it's helping them understand a new language and as my job as the coach is helping spot some of those strengths for them and help them understand, because they're just speaking and it's or telling, sharing a story, and it's what comes natural to them. But I'm able to help them understand. Well, yes, it is because it's your strength and here's the strength that you're using so a lot of times that the 10, the top 10 are very like dominant throughout, I would say for some, but the top five are usually always consistently there, not to say someone doesn't use 11 to 34.
Speaker 2:And a lot of times the question is like oh, 34, that's what I'm weak in, that's what I need to fix, and it's really having a shift, a mindset shift of it's not a weakness, it's just not where you operate from that place of strength, from a natural state. So let's say, like I've had someone before that you know they were starting a new business and we were just having a conversation about strengths and she's actually a fellow strengths coached and she was saying how, like, I don't have in my top 10 any, any influencing skills Because the way that strengths arrange it, there's four different domains that all of 34 strengths break up into and one of those domains is an influencing domain. And so how am I going to build sales? How am I going to build a business if I can't influence?
Speaker 2:Well, she leads with relationship building that domain and she realized that that's how she's going to build her business is through the strong relationships that she has. She's able to influence that way. So I always try to encourage people to look at it as it's not a weakness. If you have something in 34, you just may get to that area through a different strength.
Speaker 1:Right, that makes sense, makes a lot of sense. So can you share with us, show the audience? You and I have already talked about this, but an exercise that you do when you're in person with groups that kind of like really drives home the meaning of what a strength is, and I think it's a wonderful example. If you wouldn't mind sharing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, and it's a fun one because I love seeing everyone's faces, and I'll explain in a moment. So when I'm facilitating a group session, a lot of times I would say folks you might get one or two in the crowd that have heard about strengths. Usually more rarely they have not taken it before. When I'm in a corporate setting, there's more likelihood that someone has heard of it in a nonprofit or in an education setting. A lot of times they haven't. So I like to introduce strengths in a little bit of a fun way, but in a way that people can grasp the concept.
Speaker 2:So I have everyone, just for a beginning icebreaker, take up. I say take your pen, take a piece of paper, and we're going to do a quick exercise just to warm up and I put on the screen. It's the same sentence written three times. I think it's something like I use my strengths daily or something of the sort, and I say, okay, we're going to be going for speed and accuracy. So I have everyone, like, hold their pen up in the air and I have my timer ready and right before I'm about to press go, I say okay and now switch hands and there's like an audible groan from the crowd of like oh. So then they switch hands and I say remember, we're going for speed and accuracy. So they do the exercise and you know, you hear the groans, you hear the oh my gosh, I can't, I can't write this, and it's three sentences. Then we stop and I say, okay, now switch back to your dominant hand and we do the same exercise.
Speaker 2:When I did with one group, it took 30 seconds in the dominant hand and it took a minute and a half in the non dominant hand. So that that was just a really great way for people to understand the true power of strings of like wow. So when I operate from my dominant hand, things that come naturally to me, I can just do it at like the drop of a hat. I could do it so quickly. But like, when I'm trying to do things that don't come naturally to me and that I'm not as great at in my non-dominant hand, I have to work so much harder. Like, think of the 30 seconds to the minute and a half and multiply that when you think of, in a work setting, of how many times if you're trying to do something that doesn't come natural to you, like how many more hours of work and like binging your head. That is for you.
Speaker 1:Right, absolutely. I love that example. It just brings home the, your dominant, like you mentioned earlier, the strengths that are at the top of your list, your top five, those are your dominant ones. So it kind of comes right back to the dominant hand, like it's what you use naturally, without even thinking and that's what the zone you want to be in as much as you can.
Speaker 1:And I'm also like the person who is new in entrepreneurship is like, oh, I'm not, I don't have dominance in, in influencing. It's like, well, that's okay, your strengths are up here in relationship building, which is what's going to be your superpower. So don't worry about trying to become an influencer. Use what you already have and build on that strength and and direct it in the, you know, in the direction you need to go. That's wonderful. Well, what are some examples, especially for you know people that are listening who like never heard of this before. You know, we all think of strengths as like I mean I'm, you know, I'm kind, I'm, I'm a good communicator. Can you give us kind of a rundown of what some examples are of strengths, whether it's your own or, you know, like a plot, some of mine from from a few years ago, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, I can share. I'm happy you both, I can share some of mine and I'm happy to talk through some of yours. So within my top five, like my number one is called Arranger, and an Arranger is like it sounds you like to arrange things, but the the purpose of it is that it's you look at the world in more of like a puzzle piece of how are all the pieces fitting together. So, for example, I know for myself I have really strong project management skills. That's how it's translated over into my work environment where I'm always looking at, like what are the pieces that impact the other and how how do I connect those dots? As well as like the million you know to-do lists and the post-its and like it makes total sense of why I still have like a written to-do list and get complete satisfaction of checking it off and crossing it off my list because that's the like Arranger. And then also I have in my top five Achiever. So Achiever is someone who you always have like this fire burning in you to do and this desire of like. It's not complete and Achiever is sometimes tend to be someone who has a lot of stamina to get a project done or to get worked on, because it's just like that fire burning in you. So I it's interesting when you, when you see your strengths working together, like the theme pairings going together, you see the strength of it. So, like that is always I love looking at that with people too of where you can see some of your themes, when they, when they pair up together, is really strong. And like even when you're and it doesn't even only have to be in a work environment, like even personally I use this with parenting, like I see it for myself, of like when I, or even in my marriage, like I see, of like I'll say, oh, like you know, do you mind getting those snacks from downstairs? My husband might say, ok, yeah, I'll go get them. In my mind, I'm like, can you go now? I'll go in a few minutes, like, and that might be very typical of a lot of people, but what's fueling me is like that Achiever, like no, no, I want to, I want to do it now. Like I want to get it, I want to do it now.
Speaker 2:And what's been helpful, even as a parent and you know, no two children are the same. No two way of parenting is the same and it's really helped me even tailor my style with each of my kids. I'm like, ok, which strength do I need to dial up a little bit? Which one do I dial down? And another one of my strengths is individualization, which is I look at each person as a unique individual and want to help them develop in their own unique way and help bring out their best potential.
Speaker 2:So, as a parent, like that's really helpful of even I see, like, the way that my son, for example, needs to work might be different than what my daughter will have come next year entering first grade. And I learned that my individualization strength with my arranger has really helped him, because I know he has to chunk things out and we have to do it over a few days. So, like for myself, I that's my arranger coming in of, ok, how do we break this up in the right way? Oh, he has a spelling test on this many words, or you know how can we do a few words a day? How do we, you know, make sure that we do it in the right way? That's for him. So it's my individualization and my arranger coming in together. Well, I'm happy to dig into, like looking. I know you sent me your top five. Is there any any of the top five you have? Is there any one of those strengths you're a little more curious to learn about?
Speaker 1:So my top five. This is done in May of 2018. So it's been a number of years. I'll just read them off. I don't know that I haven't any. Let me just read them off. We have maximizer, adaptability, developer, harmony, connectedness, and, you know, and I can see all of those just by the words themselves, without having all the description. Tell me more about the maximizer, though, because that could just by the word itself. That can kind of mean a lot of different things. So I'm curious in this context, and it's like I said, it's been several years since I did my own assessment, so I'm a little out of touch with all of the definitions are Well for sure.
Speaker 2:And maximizer. I, as a fellow maximizer, I've had it in my top 10. It's actually moved different places throughout different times. I've taken it, which I can get back to like some of the reasoning behind why. But maximizer is where someone really likes to go from good to great. It's where you can look at something and you might be someone who is like very detail oriented and you're going to look at something and say, oh, like, if we just can make this thing or this brighter, like it would land so much better. And it might be in a good place to begin with. Where someone else is like oh, we worked hours on it, like just let it go, but you're like, no, but it will just be that much better. So, and that could be with any facet like it's really striving for excellence in all that you do. Does that resonate? Does that sound? Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:As you're talking like, oh, this example, you know like I'll have to say some examples, even like doing our Christmas card, like you know, like the letter, or something like, oh, rereading we, oh, let me tweak that little thing and oh, that could be a little bit bigger. Or doing a presentation, you know, for our benefits enrollment. You know there was a slide deck that I inherited at the new company I went to and I went well, that's okay, but we can make it so much better. You know, it's yes, it's hard and it's hard to. I actually have a note that I put on my wall that says done is better than perfect. Just to help me, like, let go, Because I just want to keep refining and making it better and and so, yeah, it definitely can relate to that and it's kind of perfectionist tendencies too, or it can be. Do I need to to learn to like it's good, good, good is good. It doesn't have to be For sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm so glad you said that, like it's such a good call out on the, like a watch out area for the maximizer. There's also, like the, the concept, also within strains, there is a concept of overusing a strength and also just being more aware of what are some blind spots with the strain. So for maximizer, a blind spot would be of of airing too much on the side of perfectionism, because maximizer is where you're really wanting to take it to excellence. And what I find with maximizers is it's helpful in the beginning of define what excellence looks like for you, because otherwise you're constantly chasing and chasing and chasing after something that it's like but that may not have to be.
Speaker 2:And as someone who at one point when I had maximizer and achiever in my top five they would play really nicely together at times or but there were times where it was opposed where I would like keep looking over something and find something else and let me fix it this way, let me fix it that way and I'll keep going and keep going where sometimes good is good enough.
Speaker 2:So and I noticed that, like as I've progressed in my career, of being able to be okay with that more because recognizing well, if I'm going to continue to go all in on my maximizer and or achiever. That's going to take me away from other things where, like, my time might be more useful, not to say like that, how I land. You know, finish something is not good, it's still good but it's what needed to be for that project. So that awareness is also helpful. It just I find, at least with with streams, what's helpful, especially with a team, is it gives that like new language and a permission to call people out in a respectful way of like, oh, I see your achiever coming out or oh, that maximizer are like or don't be like too much of a maximizer on this. So I found that teams, even aside from how they, you know, might staff to projects differently, it just provides like a sense of community and that that sense of culture and like that new language to really help people operate from a place of strength together and feel more unified.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love that idea of the team. You know, understanding each other's strengths and knowing that there's a kind of a dual, a double-edged sword. That's what I'm trying to say. Like you know, there's it's a strength, but too much of a strength can turn turn against you if you're not careful. And I'm curious too, because I mentioned that my assessment that last time I did this was in 2018. So we are talking and it was in May, so five and a half years ago. But did I do mouth right Four and a half years ago? Anyway, years ago, and you had said that maximizer was one of your top five, but now it's dropped. So it's sounding like there's a shift, like over time, as we change and grow and evolve as people, that our strengths also grow and evolve. So can you speak to that a little bit?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you nailed it like spot on and that's exactly what it is. But, as you know, you evolve. Your strengths do evolve as well within different you know life happenings. When I first, when I mentioned, like the first assessment I took in 2010, like, a lot of times you'll still see a number from your top five, still within your top 10, but the placement of them might move. So, for example, my maximizer used to be in my top five and it's now I think it might be my number nine.
Speaker 2:So not to say that it's still not something ingrained in me, but there have been different life experiences that, as you then take the assessment again, the importance that you put on certain things may just not be as important to you, whereas other things that weren't important to you are. So when I first took that assessment in 2010, I was newly married, no kids. It was one of my like first, one of my first corporate jobs. So you know the level of responsibility in my life and the like. Where I was in my life was really and I wasn't a people manager yet like individual contributor, whereas then when I took it last probably in either in 2021 or 2022, I had that many more professional years of experience under my belt. You know my two kids and you know that we had moved to a house, into a neighborhood, into having community, and so there's just been so many things. And then obviously, when you know your kids, you have you're juggling so much more and being a working mom is it's hard but it has, you know, it's obviously has a lot of benefits to it that you know I wouldn't, I wouldn't change anything but it's, it was really insightful and I actually really appreciated that my strengths did move along with my life because I felt then I felt validated, like I felt that it was, it was seeing me, I felt seen, I felt heard.
Speaker 2:That like, yes, like that makes so much more sense. Like, for example, I now have in my top five relator and empathy. So, relator, some of the really thrives on building relationships and really relates with people and that makes total sense, obviously, being a mom, being more progressed in my career, being in a community and volunteering within the community and my kids school, my network has expanded a lot more. And empathy you know you're someone who really like takes on what people are feeling, you really understand what they're feeling. So to me that makes total sense that like that is higher for me now as a mom and as I've also become a people manager.
Speaker 2:So you're you know it's different experiences that really shape that. It's based on your answers. I'm sure if I answered exactly the same way that I did in 2010, I would get probably the same exact report Like it wouldn't make sense to answer that way because my life is not the same. So that's what I really love about strengths because it's your, your life really shapes and influences. You know what your strengths are now, whereas if I tried to use all my strengths from 2010 now would I be successful still? But can I be that much better and stronger using the ones and dialing up the ones that really relate to me 100%?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd be really curious for myself from 2018 to like now, as we're days away from 2024, how much change there might be in my own profile and strengths.
Speaker 2:And especially as like a new entrepreneur also and you know so when you think about from the last time you took it to now, there's been so much like that has changed that I'd be really curious to see, like how that influences it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, maybe I'll go ahead and like retake the test and do the whole thing and maybe we can revisit and kind of do the comparison and do a deep dive on my strengths today. That would be really fun to do I love that All right.
Speaker 1:well, let's see. So, as far as listeners, you know, we're talking to moms that might be in transition, whether their kiddos are like in full-time school for the first time, or maybe their kids are getting ready to go off to college and they might be looking at a couple of things. One is returning to work, if they've been a stay-at-home mom for a long time, or just even their own identity shift as we, as our kids get older and more and more independent, our roles as moms change and we're never always going to be mom right, we're never going to stop being mom, but it changes as the kids develop and get older in different stages. And you know, I know for myself, I've invested my life as a mom and, you know, invested my identity as a mom.
Speaker 1:And this is a time for me, as my kids are getting older, to kind of like reconnect with myself and reclaim my identity outside of the family home and outside of motherhood. And I'm curious in those two facets and they might be one and the same if I'm looking for a job for the first time in a while, or maybe I've been working, but it's a different phase of life how can strength finders I'm saying it the wrong way Strengths, strengths, finder right. Okay, get the plural in the right place. How can this be helpful as a tool for a woman in those in either life stage of returning to work or just kind of rediscovering herself outside of the motherhood role?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's a great question. I think the main thing that I think it really provides and would make sense for both of those groups is it really builds confidence. I think that it really gives someone the confidence to say you know what, I am good at something, you know what, like, I do have strengths, and not to say that, like when you're a mom or you're thinking of career transition, you know you still have strengths, but it's sometimes really hard to see. So being able to have that validation, have the right language to be able to tell your story with, really builds that confidence and that voice and it just validates you. So I think that you know, as someone who could be going on a job search for the first time in 10, 15 years, like that's really scary, that's a really vulnerable time and a lot has changed since they were in the workforce and you could be doubting yourself. You could be thinking, oh, who's ever going to consider me? But the funny thing is that I would hire a mom in a second because they could multitask the heck out of anything and conflict resolution there's just. It goes on and on and on. But sometimes you just need the right words and the right strength to find that. So what I love about it is it gives someone the right roadmap for that confidence and it gives someone the right roadmap for success.
Speaker 2:And even if you're in transition, you know working with a client, they're really stuck on. What are those? What could my strengths be? I've been in a job for 20 years now and I don't know what that could be. So it's rediscovering yourself, even a little bit too.
Speaker 2:If you're in a transition and or thinking about transitioning, sometimes it's you feel stuck and you're really having a hard time of like well, this is the only things I'm good at, because I've done that for the last 10 years or I've done that for the last 20 years.
Speaker 2:But what's really great about strengths is it really uncovers different areas that you may not have thought about before or you may not have described yourself in that way. That then, when you are going to look for that job, not only does it give you the right, a different and unique language to you to use, whether on a resume or an interview, but it also helps make your job search a lot more purposeful, because you know here's what I'm really good at and these are the things that I'm going to be looking for and as much as when you're interviewing, like they're interviewing you but you're also interviewing them. So it gives you like some different tools in your toolkit to be able to articulate yourself well and ask really pointed questions to know how will this, will this work towards my strengths or against my strengths?
Speaker 1:Right and you absolutely hit the nail on the head about confidence. I think that's the biggest challenge for Stato moms coming back to work in particular, and really anyone in a job search but it's particularly, you know, I was at home for 13 years before when I came back and it took a while of to build up that confidence again, and I do think a tool like this would have been very helpful to to point out like here are your strengths and to be working with a coach like you to like talk about you know that example that you use with your son and homework that you're able to use your. Forgive me, I forget the right strengths.
Speaker 1:My range or my individualization, yeah, yes, and so that is very applicable to the workforce right To what an employer would need and want and value. And if you know that about yourself, you're going to be able to show up that way in networking and at an interview and even have it reflected in your, your branding documents, your resume and all of it all comes full circle. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think also it's even you had mentioned it's also around creating that, that new identity, having that identity shift, and I think that strengths can really help someone to better, to make that shift in a more successful way. I'm just building that confidence, but it's helping them really to understand what. What is this new identity? It doesn't mean you've lost everything from from the previous one, but it's like what are you, what are the learnings or what have you had that you can then take from there and and shift over it. It helps especially I would think correct me if I'm wrong like with you know, stay at home, mom, who's been there and for you know, 14, 15 years, and now re exploring the workforce. They they might say, oh, but like I don't even have it. You're going to ask me for an example of like of what, how does this come to light? It's like I don't even know what I would say.
Speaker 2:So what I think that's great with strengths is like it can help you to think through, of like yeah, maybe the example when you were running a book club or you were running something, a volunteering at the library or at the kids school, or you organize something for the PTA moms, or like yes, it's not a corporate example, but it still hits on the skills they're looking for and and I will say to, nowadays there really has been this shift within the workplace of focusing on skills and on upskilling their workers, because that it's things are changing so rapidly of what a company needs that it's more in better, it's more in their interest to upskill their workers than to have to go out and find someone new for this or that. So the more I say that that the more skills that someone can share that they have is the more beneficial for the company, and I think strengths really helps that, because if you're a stay-at-home mom trying to figure out what are those skills that I have, here's a language that helps you identify that. Here's a. You get a nice report of here's your strengths and it dives into them and it gives you that confidence. But it also helps you zero in on half Like I never saw thought of myself as this specific thing as being a skill, but now it is and a lot of jobs and companies are focusing more on skills.
Speaker 2:So if you're someone who can come to the table and say, here I have a lot of these skills, I may not have that title or a previous experience at a company, but I come with all of these skills. That's really, really marketable to companies.
Speaker 1:Definitely and as you're talking, I just want to clarify skills, because I think of skills as being more tactical, like I had the skill of Excel, of like in using this spreadsheet and doing formulas. Or I have the skill of trying to think of something else you know negotiating a benefits contract but I think what you're talking about in the context of skills is something different. It's more your aptitude, maybe, or it's back to the strengths.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it actually could even be both Of like, when I think about, like your example, like negotiating a benefits contract, like someone may not have that exact experience of negotiating the contract, but the skill might be negotiating and that could show up through their different strengths and they might be someone who has, let's say, the other two of the other domains are strategic thinking and influencing.
Speaker 2:So you might have someone who has they might lead with strategic thinking or they might lead with influencing and you're going to find some more of those like negotiation type skills would fall into those buckets or strengths that have those types of negotiation skills or that would help someone. So I think it could be both Cause I think like, for example, of even someone like me, like in a ranger, like I was saying, oh, project management is something that comes easily to me. So, like I like, no doubt, and like I love setting up, like an Excel spreadsheet and this and that, and like I may not be your greatest at Excel, but my skill is I'm able to take the information from a high level of what someone is telling me they want and I can then take that and figure out what are all the pieces that need to happen to go from point A to point Z, and what are the risks or dependencies within that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. Makes sense. Well, honey, this has all been great. Thank you so much for taking the time today to share with us about the strengths finder, and I've learned so much from you already and I'm curious, if you kind of, in closing, do you have any advice for the saddle mom who is embarking on a job search and how the strengths can help her? The strength finder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think my advice would be don't doubt yourself Like you have it in you. You have strengths and don't forget that. So sometimes we all need a little bit of extra support or some direction in better understanding what those are. But everyone innately does have strengths. So I would say, don't forget that, and this is a tool that could just really help to bring that out of what's already there and build your confidence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, perfect, honey. Thank you so much for being here today and all of the wonderful gold nuggets that we learned throughout the session, and I know that you and I've talked about a special offer that you have for our listeners, and can you share what that is?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, first, thank you so much for having me. It's been so awesome being here today. I'm really excited to be able to have, special for your listeners, a coaching offer that is normally valued at $400, but I'm offering it just for your listeners at $250. And what's included is a strength assessment the full 34 assessments. You'll get to see all your strengths, one through 34, and it's a comprehensive report. But also in that is a 30 minute one-on-one coaching session with me, where we will debrief on your strengths and get to focus on what's on your mind how can we really ramp up your strengths and where to zero in and for you to just really better understand what your strengths are. So the way to take advantage of this offer is to find me on LinkedIn, and it's Connie Kohn. It's C-H-A-N-I is my first name and last name, kohn, is K-O-H-N and to mention the code next factors. So then I know you were a listener of this amazing podcast and we can then go from there.
Speaker 1:All right, thanks, connie. So just to clarify everyone, we would go into LinkedIn, find Connie Kohn and send her a direct message with next chapters and let her know that you want to take her up on this amazing offer. All right, well, thank you so much and for your, you know congratulations for you completing your first podcast as a guest. You're amazing.
Speaker 2:It's exciting.
Speaker 1:I feel like I've gotten the bug now of like this is fun, it is fun, it is fun, and especially when we've got great guests like you, it makes it really fun. Well, thank you, connie. Have a great rest of your day and we will talk soon. Sounds good, thanks.
Speaker 2:Christina.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening today. I hope this episode hit home for you and if it didn't, well, go easy on me I'm still figuring this all out and if you haven't already, be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn and say hello so I can personally thank you for listening. Until next time, remember, your story is uniquely your own, and your next chapters are ready to begin.