Benefits of a Gallup StrengthsFinder Workshop For Your Team
CliftonStrengths, formerly known as StrengthsFinder®, is a data-backed assessment rooted in more than 50 years of research that identifies your top "themes of talent." These themes are the things that you naturally are good at. Your talents, or "Strengths" as I like to call them, are the qualities that set you apart from everybody else. From my experience, the best part about working with teams is helping them identify their natural Strengths so everybody can work better together. As a certified Gallup CliftonStrengths coach that has worked with more 60 teams since 2012, I know the benefits of applying StrengthsFinder/CliftonStrengths to a team environment is truly transformational. This guide will help you:
Understand what CliftonStrengths/StrengthsFinder® is and its benefits
The value of using CliftonStrengths/StrengthsFinder® in a team setting
The benefits of a CliftonStrengths/StrengthsFinder® remote, virtual, or online workshop
The benefits of an in-person CliftonStrengths/StrengthsFinder® workshop for your offsite
What to look for in a CliftonStrengths/StrengthsFinder® trainer, coach, or facilitator
The difference between CliftonStrengths/StrengthsFinder® coaching and consulting
What is Gallup’s CliftonStrengths?
CliftonStrengths is an online tool and psychometric test that helps people discover their unique talents and natural strengths. It's based on the work of Dr. Donald O. Clifton, who developed this tool to help people better understand themselves and others.
The premise behind CliftonStrengths is that we all have specific and natural talents that allow us to do things better than other people—and when those talents are properly developed, they are called "Strengths." If you know what your natural Strengths are, you can proactively use them to accomplish more in your personal and professional life, and generally, be more satisfied and engaged.
Donald Clifton's theory is that people are innately born with certain talents—invisible characteristics that make them uniquely qualified to perform certain tasks. He believed that helping people build self-awareness and identifying these characteristics would help people find satisfaction in their work and achieve more success in life.
The CliftonStrengths assessment measures 34 different characteristics or "themes" that are grouped into four categories:
Strategic Thinking
Executing
Relationship Building
Influencing
How do I take the CliftonStrengths assessment?
In order to determine your CliftonStrengths, you must take a short online CliftonStrengths assessment that takes approximately 30 minutes. You cannot have someone else take it for you! You will achieve the most accurate results if you take the assessment in one sitting, without overthinking the answers. Select the answer that comes most naturally to you. After completing the assessment, you will receive an email with your report and results in about 10 minutes. The reports will include information about how you can use your Strengths at work, at home, and in other areas of life.
If you complete the Full 34 CliftonStrengths assessment (which we recommend!), you will receive the CliftonStrengths Full 34 Report report in your Gallup Dashboard. Review this report to learn your StrengthsFinder themes and what makes you unique.
Hot tip: You cannot edit your CliftonStrengths assessment after completing the test. We recommend you take your first assessment using your personal email, rather than your work email. This ensures you will always have lifelong access to your first set of results. I've seen too many people lose their first-time results and wish they had saved them.
The history of CliftonStrengths
CliftonStrengths and its research is based on the work of Dr. Donald O. Clifton, who started his research in 1935 and spent most of his life studying what made people successful.
He was just interested in finding out what made some employees better at their jobs than others, and how they could use their Strengths to achieve success in their careers and personal lives. His work led him to eventually develop StrengthsFinder.
StrengthsFinder rebranded to CliftonStrengths and is now owned by the Gallup Organization one of the world's largest HR consulting firms. The assessment has been used by more than 30 million people worldwide.
The benefits of CliftonStrengths
This assessment has been used by more than 30 million people around the world in more than 100 countries since it was first published. For those individuals who take this assessment to heart and actively use it, they experience amazing results in their careers, relationships, and lives, as a whole!
People use CliftonStrengths for a variety of reasons:
To find the right career or job fit and plan a career path that makes sense and is motivating
To help influence the types of educational programs they should focus on
To improve relationships with co-workers, managers, romantic partners, spouses, friends, and family members,
To develop greater self-awareness
To learn how to manage stress levels more effectively
For students, to identify potential career paths after graduation
This qualitative list is not exhaustive and the list goes on! Now let's get to the quantitative aspect.
The research behind CliftonStrengths states that companies that proactively and intentionally use CliftonStrengths in the workplace can experience, on average:
10.3 - 19.3% increase in sales
4.4 - 29.4% increase in profit
7.8 - 12.5% increase in productivity
9 - 15% increase in team engagement
When individuals proactively use CliftonStrengths, they are:
6x as likely to be engaged as work if they are given the opportunity to use their Strengths
3x as likely to report having an excellent quality of life
CliftonStrengths is the only personality assessment on the market that is supported by technical research. There are three scientifically-backed research studies that currently exist to support its use:
2015 Meta Analysis
Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 Technical Report
The Effect of CliftonStrengths 34 Feedback on Employee Engagement
Team building
Interactive CliftonStrengths workshops are a great way to build a team’s trust, collaboration, and rapport. When people understand each other’s natural talents, and what makes them effective as individuals, they can use that understanding to build upon their strengths and strategically compensate for their weaknesses. This can make your entire team stronger in all ways!
Hosting a Strengths workshop at your company helps people understand the importance of their strengths, which makes them more likely to use those strengths at work in their job, and also in the future. For example, if someone knows they’re extremely good at starting things (the Activator strength) and they know that this is important for success in their job — then they will probably continue using this talent and doing it in the future. But if someone doesn't realize how valuable their ability is ("I never knew how important my ability to organize things was!"), then there's no guarantee that person will attempt to use it when opportunities arise later on down the line!
There are also benefits from improved communication between co-workers through team strengths exercises during a strengths workshop. A team that communicates well has a much better chance of succeeding than one that doesn't. Training sessions assist teams in understanding each other better, which makes it easier for them to work together and reach their goals.
There are many other reasons why StrengthsFinder workshops are essential for improving team dynamics and creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable bringing their whole selves to work. Here are just a few more:
Create a culture of appreciation and authenticity
An appreciation culture is created when the team values each person for who they are and makes efforts to share this publicly, either verbally or through the written word. It’s a place where people feel comfortable being themselves, and it leads to employees being more engaged in their work. The power of authenticity is that it builds trust, improves communication, and makes people feel understood and accepted.
When you create an appreciation culture as a team leader, your team will be better aligned towards achieving its goals because everyone feels appreciated for what they bring to the table. This kind of alignment also helps you achieve results and solve problems along the way because everyone knows what they need to do their job well.
Better understand team dynamics
A StrengthsFinder workshop provides a great opportunity to get to know your team members on a deeper level. By sharing the results of their StrengthsFinder profiles with each other and discussing how these strengths can be applied in the workplace, they will learn more about the people they work with every day. This increased understanding will help the team build trust, improve communication, boost collaboration and productivity—and ultimately improve overall performance.
Why? Because when we understand others better and we're able to use our knowledge for good, we can help others grow as individuals by showing them how their strengths align with what's important at work. We're also able to support our coworkers' development by providing constructive feedback using the language of Strengths and Blind Spots instead of just saying "good job" or "you need improvement."
More effective meetings
Meetings can be a waste of time, but they're also an important part of any organization. They're where you get things done and make decisions that affect the direction of your business.
So, it's important to have meetings that are collaborative and effective. This is where CliftonStrengths comes in. With the right people at the meeting, they will make sure you're including everyone who needs to be there (Includer), giving them each time to speak their minds (Consistency), and that everyone has a chance to contribute their opinion before making a decision together (Harmony).
If you've just hired someone new on your team, learning their CliftonStrengths is a great way to learn their natural communication and meeting style.
StrengthsFinders for Startups
StrengthsFinders can help startup organizations and their leadership teams by providing them with a common language for talking about self-awareness and the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates. This makes team members better able to work together as they learn how their colleagues operate in difficult and constantly changing situations (something that happens a lot at startups!)
StrengthsFinder training workshops can help teams by providing them with a common language for talking about self-awareness and the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates, helping them better understand each other. The goal is to achieve greater understanding between teammates so they can collaborate more effectively at work.
The power of remote StrengthsFinders workshops or webinars
Remote workshops provide a unique opportunity to bring your team together and teach a new framework, even if they're not all in the same place. You can still make sure that everyone is heard, which is very important for building trust and creating a sense of community. In fact, since everybody is on a level playing field on the screen, it can actually be much more effective. As you learn about each other's strengths and what makes each person special, you'll start to see how it benefits the team as a whole.
If you've never done a remote workshop before but are interested in trying one out, here are some tips:
Be sure to schedule enough time for everyone's questions.
Don’t just lecture - make it interactive! If there's too much presentation or lecture time during the workshop, people will start to be disengaged.
Set up a clear agenda and run of schedule ahead of time so everyone knows what topics will be covered during this session.
Try assigning prework, to ensure the virtual meeting does not run on for a long time (people have short attention spans!)
To learn more about the power of remote StrengthsFinders workshops, check out our testimonials.
The power of in-person workshops
On the flip side, the power of in-person StrengthsFinder workshops offers a different benefit. The facilitation of a live training session is different. Morale is built in a different way and team building can actually become deeper.
In addition to having printed materials available, including everybody’s unique StrengthsFinder assessment reports, different worksheets, handouts, and activities can be run in-person to make sure everybody maximizes their learning. For instance, our “Strengths Partnerships” exercise is run completely differently virtual versus in person.
What to look for in a StrengthsFinder workshop trainer
When you’re looking for a StrengthsFinder workshop trainer, look for someone who has first-hand experience working within a team and knows how dynamics can get. Look for someone who has the same type of experience as your function. If you work at a startup, look for a coach and facilitator who has worked in startup environments. Most importantly, make sure there is a cultural “fit” and ensure that you agree on the curriculum ahead of time so that your team can get the most out of this program.
If you are conducting a remote webinar or remote workshop, look for a trainer with experience teaching virtual teams or remote teams.
Strengths workshops can help teams by providing them with a common language for talking about self-awareness and the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates.
Strengths workshops can help teams by providing them with a common language for talking about self-awareness and the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates.
A talent is something you’re naturally good at doing because you enjoy it, or because you’ve developed the ability to easily do it over time.
Teams can use this information to guide their work together more effectively — as individuals learn how their unique talents can contribute to team success
Conclusion
As we’ve discussed, there are many benefits to StrengthsFinder team-building workshops and there are many ways to conduct a workshop (remote or onsite). In addition to improved communication, better understanding of your teammates, more effective meetings, greater productivity, and more, there is no downside to teaching people what their individual strengths are. If you are interested in exploring a custom workshop for your team, contact us today and speak to our Gallup-certified Strengths coach, Alice Ko.