Business Architect Strengths Project by Whynde Kuehn

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As business architects, why do we need to learn more about our unique value?

I recently took the CliftonStrengths assessment to learn about my personal strengths and I found this to be an incredibly insightful activity. It gave me clarity on what my strengths are, how I show up to others, and how I can best leverage what I am good at. I also experienced the power of having a common language to talk about strengths so that I can better collaborate with others. This immediately inspired me to share this information with other business architecture practitioners because I think we can all leverage the insights from this framework to be more effective in our roles and demonstrate the power of business architecture.

I see similarities across business architecture practitioners worldwide and I believe that there are unique ways in which we think, work and contribute that set us apart from others. There is also very little information currently available on the human side of business architects.  So, I believe that it is now essential to explore and articulate what makes business architects able to deliver unique value to our organizations and societies.

Join me on a project to discover and share insights on business architect strengths.

I am launching a research project to discover and share insights on business architect strengths, and I am teaming up with an expert, Pete Cafarchio, who is my personal coach. Pete is certified by the International Coach Federation as well as a Certified Strengths Champion. This effort will entail assessing the CliftonStrengths results from a sample of business architecture practitioners worldwide. We have chosen the CliftonStrengths framework because, of all the popular assessments, it maps best to actual talents used in job performance and not just personality traits.

While we are open to wherever the data and journey will lead us, using the business architect CliftonStrengths results, we will explore questions such as:

What are the top strengths most commonly present in business architects and are any patterns evident?

Considering these top strengths and patterns, how can business architects fully leverage them for maximum impact?

What strengths do we not see in business architects and how can partnering strategies and other measures help us to be more effective?

Our ultimate goal is to contribute unique insights to business architecture practitioners and leaders, hiring managers, industry associations, universities and other interested stakeholders in order to:

• Understand how to most effectively leverage business architect strengths for maximum impact
• Explain and advocate for the unique value, perspective and talents that business architects bring to the table
• Inform competency models for business architects
• Expand global knowledge and give further credence to the discipline

What we will ultimately produce depends on the data itself, but Pete and I are planning to co-author a report(s) that share insights on the questions above, based on the CliftonStrengths perspective combined with the business architecture context and nuances. We will also offer a webinar(s) and potentially other assets as applicable. This important topic will also be featured in an upcoming StraightTalk podcast and article, and potentially other industry publications.

You are invited to participate.

Our goal is to gather a sample of practitioners across varying levels of experience, perspectives, personalities and geographies. I consider you an active, high-caliber representative of the business architecture discipline, so I have hand-selected you to participate. I hope you will join us on this journey to learn more about yourself and contribute to our knowledge as a global business architecture community.

If you would like to participate, this minimally entails completing our 5-minute survey, taking the online CliftonStrengths assessment and e-mailing your assessment results to us. Our survey is free. The CliftonStrengths assessment costs $49.99 USD. We think that you’ll find the opportunity to learn more about yourself will far outweigh the monetary cost. In addition, as a thank you for your participation, we are offering you the following complimentary items:

• A report of our findings
• A webinar featuring Pete Cafarchio and Whynde Kuehn where they share findings and address your Q&A (a recording will be shared afterward)
• A 30-minute discovery call with Pete to see if you would benefit from coaching to get to the next level (thanks, Pete!)

You will remain completely anonymous throughout the study and your personal data will never be shared.

Here’s how you can participate in our study.

There are just a few simple steps:

1. Reply to Whynde’s e-mail you received to acknowledge your participation.
2. Complete the business architect 5-minute survey that will provide us with additional context for analyzing the business architecture strength data (link below).
3. Take the CliftonStrengths 34 assessment (link below).
   Note: if you’ve previously taken the assessment but only received your top five results, please purchase the CliftonStrengths 34 Upgrade.
4. Email your CliftonStrengths report PDF to Whynde. Please complete and submit your assessment no later than 1 December 2019.

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Take Our Survey >

Take CliftonStrengths >

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Here’s a timeline for what you can expect.

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Thank you so much for your consideration of this very important effort – and for all that you do to practice, advance and advocate for the business architecture discipline every day!