The 13 Best CliftonStrengths Articles From 2019

Every year, more than a million people complete the CliftonStrengths assessment. Hundreds of thousands read the bestseller StrengthsFinder 2.0. And thousands of organizations use strengths-based development strategies to improve employee engagement and performance.

2019 was no exception. So, throughout the year, we published content to help those millions of people and thousands of organizations use a strengths-based approach to achieve their goals.

We invite you to read the following articles, which represent the most popular ones from the last year. They'll give you ideas for how to make the most out of CliftonStrengths in 2020 and beyond!

1. How a Focus on People's Strengths Increases Their Work Engagement

"Though strengths-based development can't replace engagement education or manager conversations, a strengths-based education is a powerful catalyst that managers can use to create an engaging environment for their teams."

Read "How a Focus on People's Strengths Increases Their Work Engagement"

2. Why Strengths-Based Workplaces Have the Best Decision-Makers

"When employees strongly agree they get to do what they do best every day, they are four times more likely to be satisfied with the speed of decision-making in their organization. That is, an organization's decision-making process improves when employees understand their natural strengths (and those of their team members)."

Read "Why Strengths-Based Workplaces Have the Best Decision-Makers"

3. What Leaders Can Do Right Now to Optimize Worker Potential

"Next, it involves taking a step back and realizing that it's hard to manage to someone's strengths if you don't know what they are. A critical, basic step for many organizations is to simply determine the unique strengths of everyone who works there."

Read "What Leaders Can Do Right Now to Optimize Worker Potential"

4. What Engaged Employees Do Differently

"Coaches empower workers to take on challenges and use their strengths, which engages workers. Engaged workers don't need or want a boss, but they will seek out their manager's advice, assistance and advocacy to improve their performance. These empowering relationships nurture the behaviors of engagement -- "You help me do this so I can behave like that" -- that enable high performance."

Read "What Engaged Employees Do Differently"

5. 5 Insights That Help You Understand People's Weaknesses

"As Gallup has worked with people over decades to help them discover and develop their strengths, we've also uncovered some insights into the nature of weaknesses.

These insights ... help people understand how to manage their weaknesses and better identify, develop and maximize their strengths."

Read "5 Insights The Help You Understand People's Weaknesses"

6. Using CliftonStrengths to Make Measurable Life Changes

"The reason Gallup says everybody needs a coach is just that: Too many people have identified their talents but have failed to change their awareness, let alone their behavior. And you don't get to increases in productivity if you don't do something differently."

Read "Using CliftonStrengths to Make Measurable Life Changes"

7. 3 Ways to Improve Your Employee and Customer Experience

"Gallup's science proves that when leaders and managers emphasize employees' strengths, not their weaknesses, they position individuals to accomplish great things -- even in the midst of change and disruption."

Read "3 Ways to Improve Your Employee and Customer Experience"

8. The Secret to Coaching Employees When the Clock Is Ticking

"Let's replace [focusing on weaknesses] with [a process] that works: developing individual employees based on their CliftonStrengths."

Read "The Secret to Coaching Employees When the Clock Is Ticking"

9. The No. 1 Strategy for True Inclusion in the Workplace

"To excel, employees must feel valued, respected, accepted and encouraged to fully participate in the organization. They need to feel recognized for their unique backgrounds, experiences, personalities and the things they do exceptionally well -- their strengths."

Read "The No. 1 Strategy for True Inclusion in the Workplace"

10. Soft Skills? How CliftonStrengths Is a Research-Based Tool

"There are hundreds of personality instruments on the market today. Some of these are "fluffy" in nature; they have little science and hard research to back up their claims. In contrast, there is concrete empirical research to make the case that CliftonStrengths, combined with some form of strengths development, can be linked to performance outcomes."

Read "Soft Skills? How CliftonStrengths Is a Research-Based Tool"

11. To Unleash People's Strengths, Help Them Manage Weaknesses

"Weaknesses are not excused -- or worse, ignored -- in strengths-based organizations. Rather, the strengths-based approach to development is to define, understand and address weaknesses in the context of strengths."

Read "To Unleash People's Strengths, Help Them Manage Weaknesses"

12. Drive Performance With Authentic Manager-Employee Relationships

"CliftonStrengths enables managers and employees to "name" their strengths using a common language. It allows them to quickly identify areas of potential excellence and blind spots -- and how natural tendencies contribute to both. In this way, they are radically transparent with each other about areas of potential and possible hurdles, right from the start."

Read "Drive Performance With Authentic Manager-Employee Relationships"

13. How to Encourage Differing Opinions, Not Conformity

"Holding a team session to learn about people's CliftonStrengths will raise awareness of each individual's strengths, tendencies and desires, which is a helpful lever for effective team decision-making."

Read "How to Encourage Differing Opinions, Not Conformity"