I took the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment in Q4 ’21 for the first time and found it both interesting and helpful.
If you haven’t heard of this test and how to interpret it, let me share a few quick facts about it.
- You answer a series of questions which takes about 15 minutes.
- There are a total of 34 strengths.
- The 34 strengths map to 4 different domains (1) Strategic Thinking (2) Relationship Building (3) Executing (4) Influence
- The results of the test provide you with your strengths in order of most to least and the point is to focus mostly on the top 5 but also the top 10.
You can see the domains which you spike most it. Another way to look at the strengths are they are the areas that give you the most energy. Where you score lower is where you likely get less energy.
I believe and subscribe to the idea that a huge part of career success / happiness / fulfillment is accomplished by knowing yourself well. In particular what your strengths are and where your energy comes from. Which is why I got a lot of value from this.
My results spiked mostly in the Strategic Thinking and Executing domains. All of my top 5 strengths were from either of these two. I also had strengths in my top 10 under the Relationship Building domain. Influence did not appear until 15 and 16 which I attribute to growing up as the youngest of 2 😉
- Learner –> Strategic Thinking
- Achiever –> Executing
- Strategic –> Strategic Thinking
- Belief –>Executing
- Responsibility –>Executing
- Positivity –> Relationship Building
- Context –> Strategic Thinking
- Arranger –>Executing
- Developer –> Relationship Building
- Individualization –> Relationship Building
I paid ~$50 to get a more detailed report of my results which ranks the strengths in order and gives insight into how to approach top / middle / and bottom strengths.
A few others on my team took the assessment at the same time so it became a great way to learn about others, how they are similar to and complement your strengths, and how to best work together.
A few colleagues had taken the assessment multiple times over a 10+ year stretch which seemed interesting to see how strengths change overtime.