STRENGTHSFINDER®
START WITH TALENT; FINISH WITH STRENGTH
Strength. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Who wouldn’t want a strength?
As you might expect, strength is the desired outcome of strengths development. But exactly what is a strength? What are we striving toward?
When you see a strength in action, you see a person’s ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance in a specific activity.
When you see him or her perform that activity, you think, “She makes it look so easy!” or “He’s a natural!”
How can that be? How can they so consistently perform with such excellence? The answer is simple: It is easy for her. He is a natural.
Each is performing at such a high level simply by building upon how he or she most naturally thinks, feels, and behaves: their greatest talents.
As unique individuals, we each have our own special ways of successfully approaching the people and events in our lives. And our greatest talents are always there for us. We instinctively use them in almost any situation.
An inner drive to compete.
sensitivity to the needs of others,
an inclination to notice patterns, and
the tendency to be outgoing at social gatherings
are good examples of talents.
For some of us, our talents make us great Relators or Arrangers. Others have tremendous talents in Adaptability or Belief. Look closely at your friends, family, and coworkers. You will see exceptional Learners, Activators, and Includers, and amazing talents in Ideation, Responsibility, and Developer.
Within our natural selves, we each hold extraordinary potential.
Of course, the first step toward fulfilling that potential is to discover our greatest talents. That’s where the Clifton StrengthsFinder comes in.
You’ve probably already sensed that this assessment is not just another personality test. That difference is certainly no accident. In fact, the idea behind the assessment is quite contrary to the focus-on-negative approach that has long prevailed in our society.
In the early 1050s, Donald O. Clifton, who would go on to be named the “Father of Strengths Psychology,” noticed a major problem: The field of psychology was based almost entirely on the study of what is wrong with people. He wondered if it would be more important to study what is right with people.
So, over the next five decades, Don and his colleagues at The Gallup Organization took a very close look at the talents of highly successful people, focusing on the positive instead of the negative. Millions of in-0depth interviews were conducted to determine the most natural thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of “the best of the best.”
They quickly discovered that our talents do more than make us unique individuals. When we follow our talents – the ways in which we naturally think, feel, and behave – they also serve as our best opportunities for true excellence.
To help you discover your greatest talents and build toward strengths, Don and his colleagues created the Clifton StrengthsFinder.
During the assessment, you give top-of-mind responses to a wide variety of paired statements. Those instantaneous responses are valuable information. Why? Because they are clues to your talents in 34 areas, or “themes.” Then it presents you with a report of the five areas in which your greatest talents are found. And to help you further discover your talents, it provides full descriptions of those areas, along with “sounds likes,” which are examples of what people with talents similar to yours might say.
Of course, your “top five” are just a starting point as you move from the potential of talent to the excellence of strength in action. Along the way, you can find many opportunities for discovery and development in your relationships with family members, friends, and colleagues.
Copyright ©2000 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved. Clifton StrengthsFinder® and each of the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are trademarks of The Gallup Organization.
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