Focus on Strengths
Another Post on Assessments I use in Coaching
As I mentioned in my recent post on assessments, I have multiple assessments I use when coaching teams and individuals. The CliftonStrengths 34 Assessment from Gallup is the one with the longest history, and the one I’ve been using the longest.
I first took what was then called the Strengths Finder in the year 2002. It was formative in both my own appraisal of myself and the team I was working with used it heavily in our organizational management, attempting to get people in seats where they’d succeed the most. We lacked the skills to use it as effectively as we might have, and we only used the Top 5 report, which is the bottom rung of the current products.
In 2020 during the hiring process for a leadership position, I was asked to take the CliftonStrengths assessment again. My top 5 came back differently than before, though there was an overlap of 2 of the 5 strengths. Because I had built a good amount of my self-definition around those top 5 strengths I paid for the upgrade to the full 34 strengths to see what happened to the other three from my previous results.
All three were still in my top 10, so they hadn’t fallen out of existence, but it caused me to be a little more curious about the report and the assessment and how it might have changed over the almost 2 decades since I took it the first time. After a few months of looking at the whole 34 in context, I decided that I wanted to take the course to become certified to coach using the assessment.
The final assessment ranks your naturally occurring, God-given talents from 1-34 with the top being the strongest natural inclination to the weakest. The top 5 aren’t the only talents that you probably lean into easily nor are they the only ones that you can develop into strengths that you use every day. But at the bottom of the list, those last talent groups are things that you won’t ever be super at. Knowing what they are helps to let you know what kind of people you need on your team to round it out: people whose talents complement yours.
Two things that I love about the CliftonStrengths assessment and why I use it:
It’s heavily researched and backed with reams of data. The original creator, Don Clifton, was a psychologist who wanted to measure what is right with people rather than what’s wrong. Often people need to be reminded that they’re not broken in the ways they might think they are.
The mathematical permutations are in the millions. Each unique image bearer has things that make you special. Ways that you succeed that are vastly different than anyone else. There’s a lot to drill down into with those talents, from ones that have gotten in your way when you used them at improper times, to those that you can develop into super-strengths.
The CliftonStrength assessment helps you see things that you’re naturally good at, and those are your best path to your success. In days gone by we’d look at strengths and weaknesses for direct reports and encourage them to work on the weaknesses. The ROI is greater in improving at things that you’re already good at vs. something where you have no talent. The best you can do for yourself and for those around you is to get even better at your own strengths.
Gallup’s list price for the full 34 report is $59.95 but I include it in all of my individual and team packages because it’s so valuable in our conversations as we work together for a client’s long-term success. If you haven’t ever taken it, reach out and we can talk about how to get you started in leveraging your strengths for personalized success.
(you can read the previous post, on the 6 Types of Working Genius assessment here.)