New add-in for MindManager helps individuals, organizations to build on their strengths
Jul 16th, 2009 | By Chuck Frey | Category: Software
StrengthsMapper is a new add-in for MindManager that helps companies seeking an edge in today’s turbulent business environment to build stronger teams. Based upon the principles of Strengths Based Management, this innovative program helps individuals and teams to visually map out a plan for personal and professional growth and development. According to the principles of Strengths Based Management, people’s capabilities cluster into four basic domains of strengths: strategic thinking, striving, relationship building and the ability to influence others (Here is a link to the news release announcing this new add-in).
StrengthsMapper comes in two versions: StrengthsMapper Basic is designed to help individuals to improve their analysis and decision-making capabilities. It provides a vivid graphic depiction of personal strength characteristics in a way that is superior to an ordinary text document. It provides a visual representation of their five top strengths identified in the results of the online questionnaire found at on the Strengths Finder web site. These results are easily transferred into StrengthsMapper. StrengthsMapper Basic also provides an Action Plan wizard that individuals can use to develop and hone their strengths. The user can develop a personalized action plan that can easily be updated as action items are mastered and stretch goals are set.
The other version, StrenthsMapper Pro, enables managers to create a pool of Personal Strengths Maps for their direct reports, develop a profile of the duties and responsibilities for a particular project, and then match team members with these duties, based upon their talents and skills. The beauty of the mind map format is that it enables managers to quickly see if there are key strengths missing or over represented when forming a team. They can change out team members or modify specific assignments based on the best individual strengths of team members.
A free 21-day trial of StrengthsMapper can be downloaded at www.strengthsmapper.com. StrengthsMapper Basic is available for US$37, while StrengthsMapper Pro retails for US$137 – a bargain, considering the productivity gains that can be reaped by pairing the right people with the right assignments!
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I have had a look at this and it is certainly very pretty. However it would seem that the assessment is based on the persons self view and is therefore only valid if the person does not have a distroted view of them selves. The sad fact is that few people really understand themselves. For this reason the only reliable profiles call for not only a self view but the views of four or five observers as well. The only one I know which does this is the Belbin Team-role system.
The beauty of StrengthsMapper is that it does not rely on a person’s “self view” which, I agree, would most likely be somewhat distorted. The personal strengths used in StrengthsMapper are obtained through the online questionnaire found at http://www.strengthsfinder.com. This of course requires the user to have a personal copy of StrengthsFinder 2.0 in order to obtain the unique access code for taking the profile questionnaire. The questionnaire is quite sophisticated and is based on more than 40 years of detailed research. Most people find that the results fit them well–but even more important, most people say that the profiles their colleagues well! It’s a very revealing look into your strengths and talents and provides an objective assessment and a credible foundation for the processes that StrengthsMapper is designed to facilitate. Working to strengths, team analysis and team building are much more effective when StrengthsMapper is used to it’s fullest and the information is based on the online questionnaire and not someone’s self evaluation.
Craig: You are absolutely correct. My experience was that my wife, my consulting firm partners; and my children found that the on-line test from Strengthsfinder 2.0 did identify my top 5 strengths very accurately. They were amused at the insights it provided in how I approach life and situations; and, why I react as I do.
Taking those 5 Top strengths and initiating a meaningful dialogue with people close to you is the essence of StrengthsMapper. As Tom Rath’s book points out, skills are most helpful if people know about them and they are put to useful purpose every day. That is why we created StrengthsMapper.
StrengthsMapper basic lets the users discover their strengths; create vivid graphic posters of those strengths to share with others; and, create a portable, very effective Personal Action Plan to develop and enhance those strengths even further. The Pro version does that for teams.