Not long ago, I met someone who is a chef that comes to a person’s home and cooks meals for the week to their specifications and leaves. We meet initially and she interviewed me for an hour to find out what my goals are, what I liked, what I didn’t like. She showed up with bags of groceries and went to work without very little conversation. She left 3 hours later and I was blown away.

Although we didn’t talk much while she was here, I did stop through the kitchen as she worked and watched as we made polite conversation. I sampled one of the dishes that was prepared and watched her work. It was delicious and effortless, not just for me but for her as well.

Whenever I cook a meal, it’s something I have to psych myself up and then, while preparing the meal I need to fully concentrate. I read the instructions many times during the process. I constantly doubt if I’m doing something right or putting in the correct amount or doing things in the proper order....

Here are some helpful resources that Gallup has developed to support their CliftonStrengths© (formerly known as the StrengthsFinder ©) assessment. Gallup’s Reports offer a great deal of insight into your themes and can provide assistance when discussing your or your client’s development with each theme. The first two resources can be found after you take the assessment in your personal results page on the Gallup website www.GallupStrengthsCenter.com

Strengths Insight and Action-Planning Guide: This report is approximately 20 pages long. Section I of this report is the same as the Strengths Insight Guide with the addition of two questions for each theme. Section II provides a list of action steps ideas for developing each theme further. This report takes the Insight Guide a little further by offering some stock recommendations for developing each theme. Because of its length, I often forego using this report in workshops; however, many people...

These are the 3 of the main reasons we love the language of the CliftonStrengths 34 themes.

Precision: Many personality assessments place people into one of four categories (e.g. True Colors). Some put us into 16 (e.g. Myers-Briggs). The CliftonStrengths assessment evaluates people along 34 different “themes of talent.” Most people opt for the version that provides them with their Top 5 themes. The overall odds of two people having the same Top 5 themes are 1 in 278.000. The odds of two people having the same Top 5 in the exact same order are 1 in 36,000,000. This provides greater precision in understanding the nuances of how one person differs from another.

Positivity: The 34 themes articulate, primarily, positive traits that a person possesses. CliftonStrengths is inherently positive in how it views people. The very basis for the instrument is to help people see their most positive qualities and Dr. Clifton’s philosophy is to encourage people to strive for being...