Clifton Strengths Coaching Certification Update
A little over a week ago I was thrilled to meet Jim Clifton, Chairman of the Gallup Organization and author of several books, including It’s the Manager: Moving from Boss to Coach (which he co-authored with Gallup researcher Jim Harter). The “graduation ceremony” with Jim topped off a week of learning and establishing new relationship with other aspiring Strengths coaches.
I’m attracted to the foundational curiosity of the a strengths-based approach to development:
🤔 What would happen when we think about what is right with people rather than fixating on what is wrong with them?
The Clifton Strengths methodology gives us a language and a conceptual framework to focus on “what is right with people” in a very granular way. Through an assessment originally developed with Jim’s father Don Clifton, everyone can see their list of innate talents or gifts to which they have easy access and which provide them with energy and excitement when called upon. We also get insight into those areas that are hardest for us to access. For these we can derive work arounds, find support from others, or when needed buckle down and do our best, knowing that will take precious energy and commitment.
Over the course of the week, all of us aspiring Strengths coaches experienced the power of the methodology in action. We all got to see each other’s strengths (the top 5 for everyone was listed right on our name tags) and learned to appreciate how each of us can use our strengths to accomplish our goals.
Thank you to the other aspiring coaches and our cohort leader Linda Moorman for these valuable lessons:
✅ Everyone in a group has a unique combination of strengths
✅ There’s value in knowing your strengths and sharing that knowledge with others on your team
✅ All strengths have value and relative to each other they are value neutral – it is not better to be Analytical than Futuristic (or vice versa)
✅ There is very little point in trying to make your strengths match someone else’s (e.g. your boss) – instead invest your energy into developing the strengths you have
✅ Weaknesses are still real – they can arise from underuse or overuse of certain strengths or from forcing yourself to perform in a way that’s misaligned with your innate talents
Now I am wrapping up the process of becoming a Certified Clifton Strengths Coach by practice coaching with a few volunteers (you know who you are – thank you!) and continuing my learning. I look forward to incorporating Strengths into my coaching practice with clients who are attracted to this approach.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to identify, access and develop your strengths and those on your team, please connect with me or email me at john@aconnectedcoach.com to start a discussion.