CliftonStrengths Test - Free Alternative To Gallup's StrengthsFinder
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What is the CliftonStrengths Assessment (formerly StrengthsFinder Test)?
The CliftonStrengths assessment is an online talent assessment tool, focused on strengths, offered by the Gallup Organization. The CliftonStrengths test is formerly known as the Clifton StrengthsFinder test.
The test is based on the research and findings of world-renowned psychologist Dr. Donald O. Clifton. Throughout the assessment, test takers will be asked a series of approximately 177 questions. The responses to these questions will correspond to different strengths.
Gallup’s cliftonstrengths test asks a wide variety of queries. You may be asked to recall your prior successes, how you interact in the workplace, how others respond to your interactions, and many other topics. These questions tie into how you use strengths throughout your career and beyond.
The CliftonStrengths test assumes that you already have some work experience and are no longer a student. For a student-tailored test, consider taking CliftonStrengths for Students (formerly the StrengthsQuest) ,
The goal of taking the CliftonStrengths is to ultimately understand your strengths and apply a strength-based approach to career growth. The test results will provide you with an in-depth report and results on your abilities.
This is will make strength understanding personalized and simplified for the test taker. Depending on the type of the CliftonStrengths test you take, you can either see insights on only your top 5 strengths or the entire report with 34 themes at Gallup.
Millions across the globe already trust the CliftonStrengths assessment. Some prefer to take the individual assessment at home, but many are required to take the test by their manager.
In either case, acknowledging your strengths has tremendous and long-lasting benefits. Read on to see which specific advantages you acquire from taking this talent assessment.
How Does the CliftonStrengths Test Work?
The CliftonStrengths talent assessment works by asking the test taker a series of strength and career-related questions. Each response is tied to a strength, or in some cases, multiple strengths.
For instance, if you are asked about how you respond to conflict, and you choose a detailed response for effectively separating the two parties, you have strong problem solving and conflict resolution skills.
There are a plethora of different strengths you can have. Each of these strengths is broadly categorized under one of 34 different strength talent themes in the CliftonStrengths test.
Just a few of the strengths that are tested for include adaptability, positivity, empathy, responsibility, strategic thinking, communication, and so on. Notice that all of these qualities are soft skills. CliftonStrengths does not test for your hard or technical skill levels.
At the end of the test, you will be given a report that details how developed each of these strength themes is to you. You will see which strength categories you use most often and most effectively. After this, you can start finding ways to grow upon these existing strengths.
For Whom is the CliftonStrengths Assessment?
Clifton strengths test can benefit a large number of individuals. Already, millions of people across the world, with different backgrounds, jobs, values, and strengths have taken the assessment.
If you are someone who truly wants to use a strength-based approach to growth, or is curious about their own talents, the CliftonStrengths assessment is for you. Those that we’re recently unemployed or searching for a new job should especially consider taking this test.
At a time when your life may be confusing or even worrying, getting reassurance about your strengths is immensely powerful. Not only that, but CliftonStrengths can also help you select a career that best suits your abilities and maximizes your odds of reaching your full potential.
Even managers and stably employed individuals can find value in this strengths assessment. Anyone can use a strength-based approach to help improve productivity, efficiency, and achieve goals.
Managers can more effectively assign tasks if they know their employees strengths. This is why many organizations trust Gallup and their Clifton strengths test.
What are the Benefits of Strengths-Based Development?
Gallup’s clifton strengths test offers many immense benefits to both managers and employees alike. Knowing your strengths is key to using a strength-based approach. Without a solid understanding for your talents, your growth plans and goals may not be reached effectively. You may leave your potential untapped, too.
A strength-based approach can boost your confidence and allow you to stay productive, positive, and more successful in general at work. Taking Gallup’s strengths test can be your first step to strength discovery and the beginning of your implementing the strength-based approach.
Some of the key benefits you gain from taking the CliftonStrengths test include:
- Being self-aware, allows you to effectively communicate your abilities to interviewers and answer difficult questions such as “what is your greatest strength/weakness?” with relative ease
- Allows you to focus on the tasks you perform best, thus boosting your productivity
- Saving you time, money, and energy since you will be effectively managing your tasks based on your skills
- Becoming more engaged with your work and regaining passion for your career
- Reveals which careers, positions, and even tasks could best fit you, thus maximizing your individual and team performance while increasing profits
Understanding Your CliftonStrengths Results
The CliftonStrengths Assessment is a powerful tool that provides individuals with personalized reports and guides to help them chart their course to accomplish great things. The Signature Themes Report is designed to provide pinpoint accuracy and newfound self-awareness.
This report showcases your top 5 dominant CliftonStrengths themes, which can help you identify the areas where you are most naturally talented. It provides insight into how you naturally think, feel, and behave, giving you the tools to understand what makes you unique.
The CliftonStrengths 34 Report is for those who want to delve deeper into their strengths. This report lists all 34 CliftonStrengths and shows how your unique strengths manifest in different areas of your life.
This report can help you understand how to maximize your strengths and manage potential weaknesses. It can also help you map out a plan for developing your strengths to reach your full potential.
The 34 Gallup’s strengths are as follows:
STRATEGIC THINKING
- Analytical
- Context
- Futuristic
- Ideation
- Input
- Intellection
- Learner
- Strategic
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
- Adaptability
- Connectedness
- Developer
- Empathy
- Harmony
- Includer
- Individualization
- Positivity
- Relator
INFLUENCING
- Activator
- Command
- Communication
- Competition
- Maximizer
- Self-Assurance
- Significance
- Woo
EXECUTING
- Achiever
- Arranger
- Belief
- Consistency
- Deliberative
- Discipline
- Focus
- Responsibility
- Restorative
Having certain themes as your top strengths means you have the potential to excel in different situations, depending on what you need.
For example, those with high Strategist and Influencing talents can be great problem-solvers and leaders; In contrast, those with high Relationship Building, Executing, and Strategic Thinking talents are better suited for managing people or working within teams.
Knowing your strengths and understanding how each works together, you can identify the best path to success in any situation.
If you’re a manager, student, leader, or sales professional, you can access role-specific reports based on your dominant CliftonStrengths themes. These reports provide valuable insights into leveraging your strengths to succeed in your given role.
The reports help you understand how to navigate different situations, such as managing employees or selling to clients, based on your unique strengths.
Applying Your CliftonStrengths in Real Life
Knowing your strengths is essential to achieving success in life. However, identifying them can be difficult, which is why the CliftonStrengths assessment was developed.
Knowing others’ strengths in a relationship can help reduce conflict, increase understanding, and improve communication. By identifying each other’s strengths, couples can work towards utilizing them to benefit the Relationship.
Understanding your strengths and utilizing them can increase confidence. It helps to change the perception of oneself as inadequate, leading to better mental health. By focusing on your strengths, you can also identify areas of improvement and work towards raising your confidence levels even further.
Other areas of your personal life in which CliftonStrengths can be applied include developing a deeper self-awareness, goal setting, leading others, managing stress and emotions, managing difficult conversations, and negotiating win-win outcomes in relationships.
Using the CliftonStrengths assessment is an excellent way to understand yourself and those around you better. By learning your strengths and how to apply them in real-life situations, you’ll achieve greater success both professionally and personally.
CliftonStrengths for Career Planning
Understanding your strengths can help you make decisions about your job and career. Knowing what you are good at can help you decide what kind of job to do. It can also help you improve your position by focusing on your strengths.
For example, let’s say that your top strength is “creativity.” You can use this to decide what kind of job you should pursue that would best fit your strengths. You could consider creative roles such as graphic design, advertising, product development, or various other parts of the creative field.
On the other hand, if your strength is “adaptability,” you could consider jobs requiring a lot of change and flexibility. For example, a customer service representative or an operations manager would be great options to explore.
By learning about yourself and understanding how your strengths can be applied in the workplace, you will be better equipped for success and more confident in your career choices. CliftonStrengths can provide the clarity you need to make positive career decisions.
CliftonStrengths for Team Building
The success of any team depends on teamwork and the ability of team members to collaborate effectively. However, not all members have the same skills and expertise. Using CliftonStrengths, couples can learn what each member is good at and leverage each other’s strengths to create a more productive and positive work environment.
The first step in the CliftonStrengths process is identifying your five dominant strengths. These strengths can be classified into one of four domains: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. Once identified, each team member should share their dominant strengths. This helps to understand better each other’s capabilities and how they can be used to achieve team goals.
Once each team member’s strength is identified, team roles can be assigned based on their strengths. For example, if one team member’s strengths fall in the executing domain, they can be set to complete tasks related to organization and execution. Similarly, if a team member’s strengths fall in the strategic thinking domain, they can be assigned to look at the big picture and provide innovative ideas.
Understanding each other’s strengths also improves communication within the team. Members can use their strengths to communicate in a way that is most effective for them. For example, an influencer may prefer face-to-face interaction, while a strategist may communicate through written reports or presentations. With CliftonStrengths, team members learn how to communicate in a way that resonates with each other best.
Conflicts are inevitable in any team. However, with CliftonStrengths, teams can use each other’s strengths to resolve disputes. By focusing on individual strengths, team members can approach conflicts in a way that brings out their best qualities and achieves the best possible outcome.
Finally, CliftonStrengths can be used to create a positive and supportive work environment. When team members feel valued for their strengths, they are more motivated to work towards attaining team goals. This positive and supportive environment leads to better outcomes and a sense of accomplishment for the entire team.
How Much Does the CliftonStrengths Assessment Report Cost?
There are two main versions of the CliftonStrengths assessment. In one version of the test, you get an end report which features five of your top strengths. This test features the same number of questions as the version detailed below, but it does not include your full strength list.
The 5 strengths version of CliftonStrengths will cost $19.99. They will also be listed in order of most developed strength to least developed and least used strength.
The other version of CliftonStrengths offers results with a full perspective on your talents. For an extra $39.99 upgrade (approximately $50 total), you get full access to your strengths ranking on all 34 of Gallup’s strength categories. These options include the purchase of the Discover Your Strengths book.
How Long Does It Take To Finish Gallup's CliftonStrengths Online Talent Assessment?
Some segments of the CliftonStrengths assessment may be timed, depending on the version of the test you purchase. In general, most people will finish the assessment in 30 to 45 minutes. However, others describe CliftonStrengths as an hour-long assessment.
This depends on how meticulously you answer the questions and whether you overthink your responses. You are allowed to pause the test, but it is recommended you complete it in one sitting.
As you grow older and gain new experience, your strengths will likely change with you. Your old CliftonStrengths results may not longer be accurate or relevant.
Therefore, you should consistently retest to get the most out of the strength development process. Having up-to-date information on your strengths will make your strengths-based approach more effective and easier to implement.
You do not have to retake the test after certain specific periods of time. However, anytime a major change occurs in your life, consider seeing if your strengths change. New experiences from having kids may help you gain authority, empathy, and other crucial skills.
Getting a promotion may lead to strengthened leadership skills, abilities and better communication. In general, it is good to know how your strengths change over time. Your CliftonStrengths results only stay accurate for as long as no major strength changes occur in your life.
How Accurate is Gallup's Strengths Test?
The CliftonStrengths test, sometimes referred to as StrengthsFinder, is quite an accurate test. It is based on decades of research done by legendary psychologist Dr. Donald O. Clifton and his team. The test is always improving based on new data and feedback from managers, test takers, psychologists, and other individuals.
Over 25 million people have trusted CliftonStrengths with their strength assessment services. Through such large numbers of data, Gallup has been able to improve and add precision to the test. The organization still has strengths researchers working on their behalf to this day.
CliftonStrengths is trusted by a staggering 90% of Fortune 500 companies, too, further adding to their positive reputation. The use of this strength assessment has been shown to increase profits, sales, and engagement while significantly decreasing attrition by 72% (1). Clearly, the data and endorsements prove CliftonStrengths is trustworthy and has the capability to be accurate.
Nonetheless, anyone can be dishonest on the test. Many of the questions are subjective and rely on how well you agree on certain statements about yourself. Your self-perception may not be very accurate, which leaves room for error in the results. However, the test is still a useful tool for both employees and employees alike.
What is the Difference Between the CliftonStrengths and StrengthsFinder Tests?
Gallup’s StrengthsFinder assessment is now called the CliftonStrengths Online Talent Assessment, is virtually the same as the assessment included in book StrengthsFinder 2.0. The latter is a book which was written by Tom Rath, a popular psychology author and employee engagement expert, with experts from his renowned grandfather, Donald O. Clifton.
There have been multiple different reiterations of the test since its inception. These versions only have slight differences from one another, though. Gallup’s renaming the assessment from StrengthsFinder to CliftonStrengths is more honorary than content based. It simply connects Gallup closer to the legacy of the renowned psychologist, Clifton, and paying homage to the work he did at Gallup.
CliftonStrengths for Students
CliftonStrengths for Students (formerly known as the StrengthsQuest) uses Gallup’s strengths assessment specially tailored to students to help them develop and grow. You can take the free alternative test here.
StrengthsFinder 2.0 - Book About Strengths
There are a plethora of different strength-related novels and how-to guides available on the web. Nonetheless, one of the most commonly bought and well-researched of such resources is the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book.
The StrengthsFinder book is the updated version of the Clifton Strengths program, developed by Don Clifton. The book is written by Tom Rath. It seeks to assist individuals in understanding their strengths and top qualities.
When someone understands and embraces their strengths, they can more effectively plan out their careers. This book allows the reader to feel more confident in their skills and begin following a journey of self-growth.
Gallup’s unique program focuses on the strength-based approach; instead of having readers focus on fixing weaknesses, they learn to embrace their strengths.
This book is based on decades of research by world-renowned psychologist Donald O. Clifton, as well as data collected by Gallup to help readers further understand how strengths are discovered and how they can harness them.
Access Codes
The StrengthsFinder 2.0 also includes access codes to the CliftonStrengths assessment, which you can find inside the back packet. There will be the silver foil which you will need to scratch off with your nail or a coin to get your access codes.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How often should I take the CliftonStrengths test?
It is generally recommended to take the CliftonStrengths test once every two years to gain a complete and accurate understanding of your strengths. Taking the test more frequently than this can lead to inaccurate results due to overlap in skill sets.
While there may be some changes in your strengths profile over time, taking the assessment too often can make it difficult to measure progress accurately.
Also, suppose you are using your results for career development or leadership. In that case, a two-year interval will allow you enough time to work on strengthening any areas of weakness and work to maximize your strengths.
What are the Rarest Clifton Strengths?
According to CliftonStrengths’ post on Twitter, the 5 least common strengths are: command, self-assurance, significance, discipline and context.
What are the Most Common Top 5 Clifton Strengths?
According to CliftonStrengths’ post on Twitter, top 5 most common CliftonStrengths are achiever, responsibility, learner, relator and strategic.
Disclaimer: HIGH5 does not intend to replicate or to substitute the Gallup CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) test as both tests follow different methodologies, yet bring value in similar ways. Both tests help test takers be more aware of their own personalities. HIGH5 does not dispute or diminish the value of the CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) test and encourages test takers to go through both assessments. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach us at hello(at)high5test.com
StrengthsFinder and the StrengthsFinder logo are trademarks of Gallup Corporation. All other trademarks not owned by HIGH5 Test that appear on this Web site are the property of their respective owners, who may or may not be affiliated with HIGH5 Test.