Maybe you just completed your assessment, or maybe you took your assessment a while ago and haven’t not looked at it since. If this describes you and you want to learn more about what you can do with your results, this blog is for you.   

First things first, if you don’t already have them, you should pull up and review your reports.  If you don’t have them handy, they are available by logging in to gallup.com.  Read your reports thoroughly, highlighting words or phrases that speak to you.  These are the best introductory materials to learn about your top talent themes.  If you read these reports and go, “that is absolutely me”, you can skip this next step.  For me, when I did this, I identified with 9 of my top 10.  It took some digging to identify with that last one.   

If you're like me, you read the reports and weren’t sure that it fit you, or you wanted to explore it a bit more. You can use resources on gallup.com to learn more.  After you log in, you can navigate to the CliftonStrengths section.  Once here you can review all the resources available to you.  There is everything from modules to videos where you can learn more.  Once I learned more about “Focus” I realized that I can still feel a bit scattered and have “Focus” as a talent.  If you don’t know me, I am an incredibly goal oriented person.  If you set a goal, I will do everything in my power to achieve it.  Apparently, people talented in “Focus” can be focused on the bigger goal, and don’t have to always be able to focus in their day to day.  Who knew?  Not me…until I learned a bit more and figured out why it was on my list.    

Once you feel like you understand and can describe your talent themes, now you can make them your own.  Think about situations when you have used each theme.  Which ones come naturally to you?  Are there any that you see yourself go to over and over again?  This a fun step and a great time for reflection on successful times in your life.   

Now that you have made the connection between the themes, how they impact you, and how you have used them in the past, try thinking about future situations or goals you have coming up in your life and start to intentionally plan on using them to get the best results for yourself.  I know I have a new client engagement coming up and I fully plan to put my “Learner” to good use to quickly get a baseline and understand the department I am going to work with.   

I hope you found this helpful, and if you want a guide through this process, you can seek out a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach to help you. To find out about our Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and our services, please visit www.collaborativeleadershipteam.com or email info@coleadteam.com.