Discover your top 5: This is the complete list of Gallup’s 34 Clifton Strengths that we use as one tool in our ultimate strengths coaching and strengths-based business development in South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond
From strategic thinking and influencing to relationship building and executing big ideas. This is the list of strengths that every business needs in the optimal mix among its people to grow and thrive.
It’s the complete list of Gallup’s 34 Clifton Strengths. And it’s one of the tools we at LifeXchange use in our ultimate strengths coaching and strengths-based development for businesses in South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
Why? Because businesses today are really struggling with low employee engagement – how passionate and committed people are in their jobs – which leads to low productivity, high staff turnover and loss of profits.
WHY STRENGTHS: EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT STATS
Conservative estimates by analytics and advisory pros Gallup is that globally only 30% of employees are really engaged at work. But new research by labour analysts ADP Research Institue says it’s much lower: only 16% of employee fully engaged at work.
That means less than 2 out of every 10 people in every company are actually giving it their all.
And it’s costly. The US economy loses about $1 trillion dollars to low staff turnover every year. And South Africa businesses lose about R89 billion just on underperforming workers and absenteeism alone – let alone the business costs of incivility, staff turnover and low motivation.
Need help and insights? You can schedule a FREE 15-minute online session with a Strengths expert right now – it’s a safe space, ask any questions, discover how to best use your own strengths to get ahead in work/life, or even take your assessment if you haven’t done so already. Click to schedule your FREE 15-minute session now.
PROOF THAT STRENGTHS BASED DEVELOPMENT ACTUALLY WORKS
In a massive 2016 study, including 49 000 business units with 1.2 million employees across 22 organisations in seven industries across 45 countries worldwide, implementing this strengths approach helped businesses engage up to 65% of their employees, dramatically improve their staff retention and so-doing boost their profits by up to 19%.
And you can do the same. Start by asking yourself what are strengths, and then check out our strengths-based development.
One of the first steps in our strengths-based development is the strengths coaching part, where we help businesses determine their people’s strengths. We use Gallup’s Clifton Strengths, one of (if not the most) thorough research-based strengths discovery tools available.
And this is the complete list of its 34 strengths:
THE FULL LIST OF STRENGTHS
There are 34 strengths in the CliftonStrengths programme – and it all comes from decades of solid research. And they’re subdivided into four to make understanding them a bit easier. Discover the 4 domains of strengths:
DOMAIN 1: STRATEGIC THINKING
When you need big ideas and problems to be solved, these are the skills you want.
People with strengths in Strategic Thinking are what you need to envision and realise your business’s future potential. They are able to absorb and analyse huge quantities of information to make informed decisions about where you should be going.
Strategic thinkers are analytical but also future-focused, keeping your team’s eyes on what could be. When you need big ideas and problems to be solved, these are the skills you want.
Discover the strategic thinking strengths domain.
1 Analytical
It’s all about logic and rigour – analytical people want to understand cause and effect, they gather information and test whether assertions are actually true or not. Discover the analytical strengths theme.
2 Context
This one’s about looking back and learning from the past to better understand the future.
3 Futuristic
People with this skill get excited about visions of what could be. They energise others with imaginations of what could happen.
4 Ideation
These people are fascinated by ideas – new ways of looking at things or simple ways to explain complex concepts.
5 Input
This one’s all about the innate talent for research and archiving information, to recall when it’s needed in the future.
6 Intellection
People who enjoy the process of thinking to solve problems using logic and analysis.
7 Learner
It’s all about learning new things – people who get excited about learning a new skill and improving themselves.
8 Strategic
This skill allows you to look at a given problem and almost immediately see all the patterns and come up with alternative routes toward a goal.
DOMAIN 2: RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
These skills talk of people who have the innate ability to see how other humans fit into the big picture – they’re about understanding the relational connections that bind groups together.
Although we tend to think of the employees in our businesses as a collective – our people, our staff. It’s important to remember that the team is still made up of individuals. And each individual’s drive and performance is what propels the entire team forward in the end.
Relationship Builders know this instinctively. They are the ones who bind together people to turn them into high-performing teams. And they do it, largely, with skills that may have been neglected in the business world of the past – they actually care. Possibly one of the most overlooked skill sets in business today, being authentic and relatable is turning out to be more valuable than intellect in business in the 21st century.
Discover the relationship building strengths domain.
9 Adaptability
People who truly live in the “now” – they’re more present, available and accepting of requests and other’s needs.
10 Connectedness
A strong belief and understanding of the connectedness between all things – people, events, places. This skill sees them all as a valuable whole.
11 Developer
People with this skill see the potential in others and live to help others achieve more. The develop people.
12 Empathy
This skill talks to an innate ability to sense others’ feeling by being able to “imagine/see things from their perspective”.
13 Harmony
People with this skill always look for the middle ground, the consensus and agreement. They turn conflicts into resolutions.
14 Includer
This skill talks to people who are very aware of others – especially when they see someone is left out, they want to help include them.
15 Individualization
It’s all about being intrigued by the qualities of different people – and finding ways to fit them together to make better teams.
16 Positivity
People with this skill have contagious enthusiasm because they radiate positivity and people want to be around them.
17 Relator
This skill talks to an innate desire to work hard with a tight-knit group of people you know and trust.
DOMAIN 3: INFLUENCING
These strengths are what allows people to sell big ideas, influence others to buy into concepts and commit. Purpose, energy, passion – your influencers have the power to motivate and inspire people to change. Think about the tech CEO introducing the latest world-changing product, or the person who’s TED Talk drives everyone to start looking for a better tomorrow. That’s your influencer.
People with influencing skills are driven by a purpose or a cause, so if you give them one they will fearlessly storm into the unknown and go and rally others to your cause. They have the power to persuade and drive action.
Discover the influencing strengths domain.
18 Activator
This one’s about people who thrive on action – they just want to get going already.
19 Command
Natural leaders, people with this skill have presence, they can take control of a situation and happily makes decisions.
20 Communication
People who find it very easy to express themselves verbally – great conversationalists, presenters and writers.
21 Competition
People with this skill constantly compare their performance with others’ – and that’s what drives them forward to achieve even more.
22 Maximizer
This skill talks to an ability and drive to take things and people who are performing well, and then make them superb – it’s that final perfectionist’s touch.
23 Self-Assurance
People with the self-assurance talent believe in their own ability to make the right decisions and run their lives.
24 Significance
This skill talks to a natural desire and drive to stand out, to be recognised and be exceptional.
25 Woo
People with skill thrive on meeting new people and winning them over to their cause – WOO stands for Winning Others Over.
DOMAIN 4: EXECUTING
These strengths are all about executing: putting ideas into action. They’re hard-working skills when it comes to getting the job done. Focus, speed, precision and dedication – your executers relish in putting in the hard work right now, so they can move on to the next task quickly.
People with executing skills are task-focused, driven and able to work tirelessly toward a goal or target. They’re dependable and truly enjoy ticking things off the list, but also – very importantly – able to inspire and drive everyone else’s performance too.
Discover the executing strengths domain.
26 Achiever
People with this skill love to work very hard and with a lot of stamina – they want to complete tasks and achieve goals.
27 Arranger
This skill talks of an innate ability to organise resources to get the job done in the most effective way.
28 Belief
People with this skill have a set of core values that are unshakable, allowing them to responsibility and ethics in everything around them.
29 Consistency
It’s all about fairness – treating everyone the same, following procedures, rules and routines.
30 Deliberative
This skill talks to being meticulous about the choices you make – analysing and understanding all the risks before making any decisions.
31 Discipline
People with this skill instinctively seek out or create structure in their world – they need order and predictability to thrive.
32 Focus
It’s all about taking direction and then staying on track no matter what – if you have a clear destination, nothing keeps you from your goal.
33 Responsibility
This skill talks to the need to follow through on commitments – people with this skill take psychological ownership of any promises they make and want to fulfil them.
34 Restorative
People with this skill are energised by problems because they absolutely live to figure out a better way and solve them.
We recently helped a company discover their management structure’s strengths. See the feedback of our strengths workshop at Goede Hoop Citrus.
HOW OUR STRENGTHS-BASED DEVELOPMENT WORKS
We at LifeXchange specialise in doing the full-service strengths package – which you don’t get everywhere. Most people and coaches only really help business discover their people’s strengths, and then you don’t really know where to go from there.
But to get the full benefits of the strengths system, you need to Name (know your team’s strengths), Claim (be able to recognise it in yourself and others) and then Aim them (make business decisions based on the information).
And that means a little more than just strengths coaching. It involves in-depth organisational restructure to really max your people and get to the better profits. But that’s exactly what we do. See our full-service strengths-based development.
Got a #Strengths question? Ask us about strengths here.
Plus: Discover science-based organisational development with the No 1 future-first change management company.
Also learn to build a team with a mix of complementary skills.
One of the most important people-based investments you’ll ever make: Discover What company culture really means.
Also discover the true value of and science behind workplace trust.
Find out how your brain works at work and how to use it in business with neuromanagement.
Sustainability, positive company culture and real growth. Discover the power of a mentoring programme in your company: What is mentoring
And discover our awesome new companion to our neuroscience-for-business workshops, the Growth Journal.
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