CliftonStrength Test

Name: CliftonStrength

Category: Self-Knowledge, Reflection

Number of Hours: 1 Hour

Date: February 10, 2021

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The CliftonStrength workshop discussed the importance of identifying your talents and how to develop those talents into strengths. People who take the test feel more confidence in themselves, more likely to engage at work or school, and have a better quality of life. By taking the CliftonStrength, I raised my own self-awareness, redefined what my talents are and how those talents can make my life more enjoyable, and made me feel more confident about my actions. This workshop focused on what talents I possess and how they help me describe myself, how I can use my talents for success, and what to do next with my talents.

Everyone has different preferences, talents, and things where they are drawn. This workshop started by asking how likely we are to participate in an event from 0-5 (five being most likely to participate). Some situations described were talking to a large group of people, going to an event where you do not know anyone, asking to participate in a competition, working on a complex project, and having to find a new location. Often times we do not recognize that other people do not have the same talents as us. Effective leaders know how to translate talents into strengths by investing time into their talents. Leaders also can spot different talents in people and make a productive and collaborative team that consists of a variety of talents. I answered all of them with either a three or a four. These types of self-reflections helped me understand what I'm more likely to participate in while learning about other people's preferences.

The CliftonStrength test establishes that talents are the basis for consistently achieving success. Individuals can reach far more when they spend time on their own talents when compared to spending the same amount of time remediating on their weaknesses. Furthermore, the test observed that high productivity and satisfaction correlate to talents. Most of the time, people don't realize they have a talent since the talent feels good and natural to use over and over again. Dr. Clifton said:

"What will happen when we think about what is right with people rather than fixating on what is wrong with them?”

People who work on strength building rather than fixating on weaknesses spend more time working on their areas of strength, have learned to delegate or partner with someone to tackle areas of non-strengths, use their talents to overcome obstacles, and invest new ways of capitalizing on their talents. Thus, the purpose of this test was to identify signature themes of talents that serve as a starting point that can be applied to achieve success.

The CliftonStrength divides talents into 34 themes and places the themes into four categories: executing, influencing, relationship building, strategic thinking. The strengths that I was identified were discipline (executive), developer (relationships), harmony (relationships), learner (strategic), and input (strategic). What surprised me when I first looked at these talents is that none of them were part of the influencing category. However, the ones I appreciate and could be beneficial for when working with others is harmony and input. I believe that harmony is a great strength to have in order to discuss topics in a calm manner, and input to have information gathered to be able to participate in a variety of conversations. Overall, this workshop broadened my horizons about how everyone comes with a set of different strengths than me that could be complimentary and beneficial to mine. I also gained a better understanding of how to be more appreciative of my skills and be more confident about presenting those skills.