Gallup Strengths Coaching
What is Strengths Coaching?
As humans, we are hard-wired to see the deficits—in situations and in ourselves. Over seventy years ago, an educational psychologist at the Gallup corporation named Don Clifton researched the question “What would happen if we studied what was right with people— instead of what was wrong with them?” Over seven decades, he and his team conducted millions of interviews to determine what people naturally thought, felt or act: what he described as their “talents”.
In their research it became clear that when people put time and energy into those talents, they became “Strengths”—described as ”the ability to consistently provide near perfect performance”. As explored in the books Now, Discover your Strengths and Strengthsfinder 2.0, living and leading from a place of Strengths has an amazing impact on employee engagement and quality of life.
Leading from Strengths presents our best opportunity to reach excellence. Rather than focusing on what you don’t do well—and working to improve that, there’s an infinitely better return on investment if you put that same time into what you do best. Clifton and his team developed the Clifton Strengths Assessment, which is an assessment of 177 paired statement that takes around an hour. You choose which of the two statements best describes you, and receive a report that ranks the 34 Strengths in order for you.
As a Strengths Coach, I have deep expertise in how those Strengths show up in the world, how they interact with each other and how they can be leveraged to solve problems and in your life generally. Strengths work, with a team or individual, focuses on Naming your Strengths, Claiming your Strengths where they have shown up in your life personally and professionally and Aiming Your Strengths at challenges you are facing or areas of your life where you want things to change.
When we operate from a place of Strengths, we are in a zone of ease, excellence and enjoyment.
Investing in Strengths Work—whether through individual coaching, or professional development for a group or organization—illuminates a clearer path for you on how to be in that zone more frequently, which is energizing, engaging and gratifying.
So, what does a session look like?
My 45+ hours of training with the Gallup corporation serve you as we dig into your Clifton Strengths assessment report, and explore where you are in flow, what energizes you, what you love doing–and how you can do more of that! You send me your report, I dig in and study it, preparing for our time together so we can work together to aim your Strengths at the challenges in your life. Strengths coaching can look a lot of different ways: it can be one session, expand to a series of sessions to dig deeper, or I can work with a dynamic duo (where you and someone you work closely with so you can understand how your Strengths work together and complement each other. Duo work is great for Principals and APs, Board Chairs and CEOs, or any leaders who spend a lot of time together!)
Professional Development for Teams
What does this look like with teams? Leaders often want to bring Strengths work to their team because the process of participating in this kind of professional development with colleagues is incredibly impactful. While each training is customized to each clients needs, generally everyone who participates in the training takes the Gallup Clifton Strengths Assessment and gets a report with their Top 5. Our team coordinates that process, as well as creating a team grid with an overview of the results before we dive into the Name-Aim-Claim Your Strengths work with individuals and team. We can structure our training to work with your team: whether it’s a half-day workshop during a team retreat or whether the training is divided into several one-hour sessions over a few months so that the team can go back to their jobs in between sessions and apply their work, before coming back together with the facilitator to reflect and ask questions. Each proposal is customized to your team, so if you’re wondering what this could look like, book an intro call to learn more!
“This knowledge is very valuable to any team; Beth is a very engaging presenter who deeply understands this work. Beth’s perspective on Strengths Finder is so unique and helpful.”
— Alex M., Membership Manager, Girl Scouts USA Overseas
Strengths Coaching is powerful for…
Individuals
Leveraging your Strengths means using what comes naturally to you to address any challenge that comes your way. When we operate from our Strengths, we are working with ease, excellence and enjoyment. There is no one right way to solve a problem or one right way to do a job—whether that job is a manager, a teacher or a circus performer! You have a unique combination of Strengths that will help you unlock any challenges and reach your goals. Investing in the individual packages help you to learn more about those Strengths and how to use them as you move through your life. Learning the Strengths, what domains they fall under, and how they interact with each other leads to key insights that are transferable in any situation you face, personally or professionally.
Managers
Leading others to results is challenging, and it’s all too easy to fall into what we’re hard-wired to do as humans: focus on deficits. Strengths Coaching helps us focus on assets: there is always something that is going right. Learning about Strengths—and leveraging a common vocabulary to describe the 34 Clifton Strengths—helps us rewire ourselves and our team. (That person who takes forever to make a decision? They may be Deliberative—and when you are making high stakes decisions, you need them!) My work with managers helps them both understand their own Strengths in how they work with their people, and what Strengths their people bring to the table and how as managers they can help ensure everyone is operating with Strengths—which leads to better results and more engaged employees.
Teams
Strengths are a powerful team development tool: the workshops I do help individuals understand their Strengths better, and also gives the team a common language and framework for working with each other. By understanding the 34 Strengths as well as the four domains they fall under (Influencing, Executing, Strategic Thinking and Relationship Building), teams have a way of working together to consider what is needed to reach their goals. Research shows teams who do the assessment, training and follow-up increase their productivity by 12.5%, an amazing return on investment for a few hours of time! Not only that, but this training is guaranteed to be one where everyone leaves happy—because talking about what you do best with your colleagues is always a gratifying, rewarding and fun way to spend your time.
“Our team has a common language and frameworks to use when discussing our strengths and how we can work together to achieve our organizational outcomes.”
— Abigail T., Deputy Director, Girl Scouts USA Overseas
“I really enjoyed Beth’s facilitation; she varied the ways people engaged with the content, connected people's responses in her active listening and also deepened the conversation with follow up questions. It was very engaging.”
— Abigail T., Deputy Director, Girl Scouts USA Overseas
