By: Cody [Achiever|Futuristic|Includer|Adaptability|Restorative]
So you have Includer as one of your strengths from the CliftonStrengths for Students, and you may be thinking what is it?
First off, it’s not a real word ha-ha, but its root word “include” is a real word and is the essence of what this strength is. Includer means you always want to include everyone in the things you do, and you do not want to leave anyone out. You are an accepting person and you cast very few, if any, judgments on people. Being an Includer shows you are a compassionate person and do not want anyone to be left out.
How do you apply this Includer strength to your career path?
You can use Includer in your career path whenever you work in groups. Group work in the workplace is very common and is used to accomplish many different tasks. The benefit you have as an Includer is that you like to include everyone in the group and get them involved. This can be very beneficial for you, especially when you are working on particularly hard tasks. Inviting more people into your group gives you the advantage of having more points of view and a diverse set of skills. The more people you have, the more creative ideas you may come up with that may have never crossed your mind if it was just you working on the project. Your project will then become even better than it was before by using these creative ideas. You can also split the workload up more by having more people in your group, which makes it so that one person doesn’t end up doing most of the work and getting burned-out. So being an Includer can help you increase your efficiency and effectiveness of group projects that you have to do throughout your career.
I have had a personal experience using my Includer strength and inviting someone into a group project. It was during this past semester in my Healthcare Information Technology class. The group project was to design and implement a simple electronic health record. In my group, there were four Healthcare Management Majors so we knew exactly what needed to be in the electronic health record and how to implement it, but we had no idea how to design it. Then one day I noticed someone who was without a group and so I asked him if they wanted to join our group. He agreed and it turns out he was a Management Information Technology major and knew exactly how to design the electronic health record but had no idea how to do the other stuff. So it worked out perfectly that he knew how to do what we didn’t know and vice-versa. By using my Includer strength and inviting this person into our group, we created a better project than any of us could have created, separately.
This is just one example of how the Includer strength can help you along your career path, trust me, there are many more. If you want to discuss more ways you can use your Includer strength, come to Career & Internship Services (SCC 22) and make an appointment with a Career Counselor, they would be more than happy to help you!
Peer Into Your Career 
Includer was one of my top five strengths, and I am glad to know that I am good at including anyone in any situation. I am not quick to judge people and would rather make sure no one feels left out. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions of how to put your “includer” strength to use, other than in a group project?