How CliftonStrengths Hot-Wires Development
Don Clifton was the creator of strengths-based psychology, an approach that considers what works for each person by seeing people for who they are as individuals. He worked with Gallup (a global research company) to bring StrengthsFinder, an assessment and development framework now called CliftonStrengths, to the world.
Gallup have put their immense global resources behind CliftonStrengths, continuing its development into areas such as StrengthsFinder 2.0 and Strengths Based Leadership. Almost 30 million people around the world have CliftonStrengths profiles and the number is growing quickly.
It’s about what you’re good at
CliftonStrengths’ fundamental point is that people excel by maximising their strengths. It does not ignore peoples’ weaknesses. But it does ask whether a particular skill or capability is important to the person’s job and workplace situation rather than automatically assuming a weakness is a limiting factor in a person’s performance or potential.
If something is a weakness, fixing it is important. But fixing a weakness is about avoiding failure rather than achieving excellence.
High achievers aren’t usually allrounders
A closer look at peak performers shows that they are rarely all-rounders, good at everything. In fact, they typically excel in specific areas. A well-regarded project-manager may be excellent at analysis and resource planning but not so great at communication. Or vice versa. An influential, well-liked CEO may be a people-oriented visionary but not a detailed planner.
People are typically left to divine what they are good at over time and through the lenses of informal feedback and structured performance reviews. Both of which tend to come from the deficit paradigm of focusing on weaknesses. This process of a person learning what they’re great at takes time and, because of the almost automatic focus on weaknesses, is typically not an efficient or uplifting way to release or develop talent.
CliftonStrengths hot-wires the process of identifying and building on a person’s strengths
The strengthsfinder test is administered online and takes about 45 minutes and provides clear identification of a person’s Top 5 strengths or a full list of their top 34 strengths. The person owns the report and typically then shares it with their manager and HR manager to see how their work and role may be able to make best use of their Strengths. Over time, the person’s and organisation’s awareness of their strengths may see the selection of offering of future roles that suit their strengths.
The benefits of strengths-based development for employees and their employers are linked. Both benefit from increased performance and engagement. And in times when organisations want more of their people and people want more from their work lives, a strengths-based approach is right for the times.