What is Gallup StrengthsFinder?

Put simply, Gallup StrengthsFinder is a strengths-based analysis of you and your team’s natural abilities.

Based on an approach developed by a Psychiatrist in the 1950s, Gallup works against the idea that we need to identify and rectify our weaknesses and instead focusses on discovering people’s strengths so that these can be utilised and encouraged properly while being put to good use in the workplace.

Unlike other ‘personality tests’, Gallup provides individuals with their top 5 strengths (from a wide-ranging list of 34- more on this later) without a glimmer of negativity or a mention of perceived weaknesses.

If you think about it, the idea of working on our weaknesses is pretty counterproductive. Why waste time ‘correcting’ yourself, potentially limiting your output and dividing your focus, when you could instead make use of your natural abilities and concentrate on utilising your full potential in those areas?

That’s what Gallup StrengthsFinder is all about.

What is the Impact of a StrengthFinder Assessment on Individuals?

In a word or two; confidence and empowerment.

Instead of worrying about any perceived weaknesses, the Gallup system allows individuals to focus on the incredible strengths they possess- highlighting 5 that come through loud and clear.

These will often be natural skills that employees ENJOY utilising. What better combo is there for job satisfaction?

Once their assessments are complete, your reports and leaders can take ownership of their roles and see how their skills fit in with the wider picture, providing invaluable clarity about what they bring to the table as well as giving them the confidence to pursue career paths that will suit them and their skillset.

Happy, engaged, satisfied employees lead to low attrition, great company culture and an attractive offer to new recruits.

How Can Gallup Be Used Within Teams?

While the StrengthsFinder assessment is hugely enlightening for individuals, its true business-enhancing potential is revealed when utilised within teams.

Firstly, a team of empowered, informed and confident individuals can only produce great things. Add to that a common language of understanding between individuals and you really are in business.

Colleagues will be able to easily recognise each other’s strengths, motivations and perspectives with a glance at their StrengthsFinder top 5- meaning that leaders can position their reports correctly within projects to produce the best outcome possible.

Knowing and utilising your team’s key strengths will create a seamless, confident and empowered group as they work towards common goals.

What Value Does StrengthsFinder Bring to a Business Overall?

We believe the myriad of positive outcomes you’ll experience in utilising the StrengthsFinder within your organisation will be largely unquantifiable but deeply apparent.

For those who like to see the (very impressive) stats, the findings of a Global Study on ROI for Strengths-Based Development by Brandon Rigoni and Jim Asplund are below:

This study included 49,495 business units with 1.2 million employees across 22 organizations in seven industries and 45 countries. Gallup researchers examined six outcomes: sales, profit, customer engagement, turnover, employee engagement and safety. On average, workgroups that received a strengths intervention improved on all of these measures by a significant amount compared with control groups that received less-intensive interventions or none at all. Ninety percent of the workgroups studied had performance increases at or above the following ranges:

• 10% to 19% increased sales
• 14% to 29% increased profit
• 3% to 7% higher customer engagement
• 6% to 16% lower turnover (low-turnover organizations)
• 26% to 72% lower turnover (high-turnover organizations)
• 9% to 15% increase in engaged employees
• 22% to 59% fewer safety incidents

What’s more, almost seven in 10 employees (67%) who strongly agree that their manager focuses on their strengths or positive characteristics are engaged. When employees strongly disagree with this statement, the percentage of workers who are engaged in their work plummets to 2%.

What makes Gallup StrengthsFinder stand out from the crowd?

Gallup uses 34 potential strengths that are all easily understood and applied to business- they are clearly explained in detail here and expanded upon in the results individuals received as well as by our coaches. By providing a top 5, Gallup results make multi-faceted strengths clear to the individual.

With Gallup, there is a 1 in 275k chance that you will have the same top strengths as someone else, and just a 1 in 33 million chance that you will have the same profile as someone else.

So, this is a very individual profiling tool and adds much more value than alternatives such as Myers Briggs which have been known to provide basic, vague and often confusing results.

How Does It Work?

Here at MadeYou, we employ the only 3 Gallup StrengthsFinder Accredited Coaches in Malta.

We offer many services that utilise the StrengthsFinder assessment and approach including:

Individuals taking part in the StrengthsFinder assessment will be asked to complete an online questionnaire. It will take around 40 mins with 20 seconds to answer each question and must be completed in a distraction and interruption-free environment.

There’s no fooling the highly complex algorithm so participants are asked to answer honestly with whatever response comes to mind first without over-thinking or analysing.

The Bottom Line

The ROI made in using the StrengthsFinder model is clear from the research, broadly apparent in our experience and the experience of anyone you speak to who has come into contact with the assessment in their workplace and includes real, measurable improvements in team performance, individual performance, company attrition, employee engagement and, ultimately, an uplift in profit.

What’s not to like?

Whether you’re discovering your own CliftonStrengths or empowering others to develop theirs, we can help.

For more information on how our team of Gallup CliftonStrengths Accredited Coaches can help, fill in the form below and lets get a conversation going.