About the CliftonStrengths Program

Understanding Your Natural Talents for High Performance

CliftonStrengths began over 60 years ago when Don Clifton, upon returning from World War II, dedicated his life to doing good for humankind. He started researching human psychology and was shocked to find that all books focused on what was wrong with people - not a single one about what might be right.
 

He asked one simple question: "What would happen if we studied what was right with people instead of what was wrong?"
 

Don spent his life researching and developing ways to maximize human potential - to understand not only who we ARE, but what we can BECOME.
 

Today, more than 27 million people have completed the CliftonStrengths assessment to discover their natural talents - what they do best. More than 90% of Fortune 500 companies use it to develop their workplace culture.
 

The CliftonStrengths assessment identifies 34 unique talents spread across 4 categories: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. Each person's report is unique. The chances of two people having the same talents in the same order is 1 in 33 million. Every person can contribute and achieve in their own unique way once they understand themselves and how to best use their talents.

 

Why Strengths Matter: A Simple Example

Here is a simple example: Write your full name 5 times on a piece of paper, and I am going to measure the time it takes you to complete the task... Simple, right? Now, just before you start, I tell you to use your non-dominant hand to complete this task!
How would you feel?
Will it be an easy task for you to accomplish?
Will it take longer than if you were to use your dominant hand or what comes to you naturally?
Will the results be of the same quality?

Of course not, and this is my point... Many people don't even know what their talents are, and most are dealing with situations without using their natural talents.

If I ask you: what are the different means you can use to help you with this challenge?
You could say: 
Use my dominant hand to do the task, or just support and guide my non-dominant hand with my dominant hand, or ask a colleague who's naturally talented to help me...
or, if there's no other way, and you must do it yourself, you tell me that you need more time to achieve the required result as you are not in an area of strength.

This is the heart of the CliftonStrength program: for every person to understand him/herself, to utilize his/her talents to accomplish tasks, ask for and provide support, and understand his/her colleagues or boss in order to achieve the goals in an efficient way.
And the other way around, to be understood, to be able to clearly say: this is what I'm good at, this is what I need to be able to fulfill the task, this is how I can contribute and this is where I need help.
This is critical amongst teams, especially when you have members that have not worked with each other before.

​

Interested in CliftonStrengths for your team?
Contact me to discuss how this program can help your organization leverage natural talents for exceptional performance.

​

More information can be found on: www.gallup.com

​