20 CliftonStrengths Assessment

Picture this scenario: Everyone in Sawyer’s group project is competitive and goal-oriented. To complete the group project, they develop a list of ten things that each group member has to do to contribute to stay on task and ask everyone to compete to see who can complete all their tasks first. Sawyer, on the other hand, is not motivated by checking tasks off a to-do list and would rather work at their own pace. By trying to adjust their work preference to check off the items on the list like everyone else, they realize that they are getting behind and can’t seem to find time to work on the project.

However, Sawyer is also an empathetic person. Instead of checking off their list, they decide to think about the project from the group’s perspective by deploying empathy. When they begin to empathize with the group, they understand why the project is important and realizes they don’t want to let their friends down. By finding motivation in empathizing with the group, Saywer can focus on the task at hand and makes it through the list. You can think of this as being people-oriented rather than task-oriented.

This example demonstrates the philosophy that is the premise of the strengths-based approach to learning. CliftonStrengths®  is a self-reflection assessment that determines 5 strengths that are uniquely yours. The basic premise of this approach is that by focusing on what you’re good at, you can maximize your success and perhaps compensate for other areas.

Some people might view Sawyer’s noncompetitive nature as a deficit, but we can actually see this as an advantage. In the group work example, Sawyer focused on the strength of Empathy rather than worrying about the lack of Achiever. Utilizing the strength of a natural talent rather than spending energy elsewhere helps to accomplish the same goal more efficiently. This process is a strengths-based approach.

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Let’s take organizational strategies as another example of using your personal strengths. If you’re someone who likes to plan ahead and organize information, an Arranger, using lists or a planner could be a good way to maximize this strength. However, waiting until the last minute would not be a successful strategy for you. Alternately, if adaptability is one of your strengths, you may find a general timeline to be more useful. Learning how to use your strengths to accomplish tasks and overcome challenges will help you in all areas of life, including helping you to be well-received in an interview, navigating a challenge with roommates, or meeting a tight deadline at work.

Learning about your strengths is a first step in maximizing them to accomplish the goals you’ve outlined for college, completing tasks, and finding lasting intrinsic motivation. Knowing your strengths helps you enact your “why”.

Are you ready to find out YOUR strengths?

Right after taking the assessment, list out your top five strengths. Additionally, reflect upon how accurate you think the strength is.  After you finished the assessment, you received a report that described each of your top five strengths in detail. Read through this report carefully, and write a definition of each strength in your own words and how you see it applying to your life. Consider how you interact with your friends, family, coworkers, professors, etc. so you have a wide range of contexts in this application question.