Coach With Strengths: Your Guide to Workplace Coaching and Certification
Learn how to earn your Gallup strengths coach certification and discover evidence-based coaching strategies to help people improve performance and reach their full potential.
What Is Coaching in the Workplace?
What Is Coaching in the Workplace?
Coaching in the workplace is a professional development process where a coach partners with individuals or teams to overcome challenges, clarify goals and maximize performance. While traditional training typically delivers the same curriculum to a large group, coaching is highly individualized. It focuses on sustained behavior change to improve productivity, engagement and overall performance.
In practice, a coach at work may:
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help a manager navigate difficult team dynamics
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assist an HR leader in building a learning and development program
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support an individual contributor in identifying barriers to performance goals
Why Organizations Are Prioritizing Coaching
Organizations are increasingly turning to coaching because it aligns with how people actually work today. In the past, companies often relied on one-time training to teach new skills. However, as work becomes faster and more complex, this one-size-fits-all approach is no longer enough to drive sustained performance.
Here are the primary reasons organizations are making workplace coaching a core part of their strategy:
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Work is more complex. Today's jobs require judgment and collaboration, which are skills best developed through one-on-one coaching.
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One-time training isn't enough. Employees need just-in-time support while they are doing their job.
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Careers are no longer standard. Because every employee's path is different, they need development that is tailored to their specific professional goals.
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Learning needs to stick. Lasting behavior change requires more than information transfer. Coaching provides opportunities for reflection and accountability that make new habits last.
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Employees expect professional growth. People want their development to feel relevant to their long-term career, and coaching is one of the most direct ways to show an employee that a company is invested in them.
The Difference Between Mentoring and Coaching in the Workplace
Mentoring and coaching are often used interchangeably, but they serve different purposes.
Mentoring is grounded in a mentor’s specific career experience. A mentor draws on their own background to guide someone with less experience along a similar path. The relationship between mentor and mentee relies on the mentor’s expertise in a particular field or role, and the mentor leads the mentee forward.
Coaching at work, by contrast, focuses on an employee’s development process. Rather than sharing their own experience, a coach helps an employee examine their thinking, clarify their goals and determine their best path forward. Because a coach’s expertise is in the development process rather than the work itself, they do not need to have held the same role as the person they are coaching. A workplace coach can effectively coach people across any role, industry or career stage.
What Is Strengths Coaching, and Why Is It Important?
What Is Strengths Coaching, and Why Is It Important?
Strengths coaching is a specific approach to workplace coaching that focuses on identifying and developing what people naturally do best, rather than fixing their weaknesses. A strengths coach helps individuals, managers and teams understand their unique talents and apply them intentionally to achieve higher performance and improve their quality of life inside and outside of work.
CliftonStrengths®: The Foundation of Effective Strengths Coaching at Work
The CliftonStrengths assessment provides individuals with knowledge about their natural talents (how they naturally think, feel and behave). A Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach completes rigorous training in how to guide others in developing those talents into strengths to thrive at work and in life.
Certified strengths coaches learn to:
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ask the right questions
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interpret results across individuals and teams
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address performance challenges through a strengths lens
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facilitate coaching conversations that produce lasting behavior change and improved performance
The Outcomes of Strengths-Based Development
When coaches help employees focus on their strengths, their engagement, performance and quality of life improve. Gallup research shows that people who use their strengths every day are:
Organizations that invest in strengths-based coaching see measurable results as well, including up to:
A Science-Backed Approach for Exceptional Performance
Explore Gallup's research on how strengths-based development using CliftonStrengths is linked to key organizational performance outcomes.
Who Should Become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, and Why?
Who Should Become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, and Why?
The Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach credential is designed for anyone who develops others through coaching, such as HR professionals, people managers, workplace consultants, learning and development leaders, executive and business coaches, educators, and counselors. Whether you work inside an organization or lead an existing independent coaching practice, this credential gives you a globally recognized qualification and a research-backed framework to do that work more effectively.
The Goals of Certified Strengths Coaches
People pursue the Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach credential for different reasons, but most share a common goal: They want to be seen as a strengths expert and make a measurable difference in the people and organizations they serve.
The credential is a strong fit for those who want to:
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produce measurable gains in employee engagement and performance
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embed a strengths-based culture across a team or entire organization
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become the "go-to" strengths expert for colleagues or clients
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shift from directing a team to coaching them toward higher performance
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attract new clients by adding a strengths coach certification to their practice
Benefits of Becoming a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach
Your Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach credential connects you to a body of research, a global community and a set of resources that support your growth as a coach.
Benefits of being a certified strengths coach include:
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Research-backed credibility. Insights from 6 decades of Gallup research on human effectiveness and real-world performance provide the foundation for your expertise. Gallup’s data-driven approach to strengths development positions you to coach with confidence.
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A globally recognized credential. Your certification is an official validation of your coaching expertise. As a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, you hold a specialized designation that signals deep expertise in human behavior and development science. Only Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches are listed in Gallup's Certified Coaches Directory, where clients and organizations verify which coaches are certified.
Promote your qualification as a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach. Share your Credly digital badge on social media, in email signatures and on your digital résumé to verify your expertise in a competitive market.
How Do I Become a Certified Strengths Coach?
How Do I Become a Certified Strengths Coach?
Becoming a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach begins with an immersive, applied learning experience that transforms how you see people, performance and potential: the Gallup Global Strengths Coach (GGSC) course. You will come away with a fundamentally different perspective on how individuals and organizations do their best work and the coaching skills to help them get there.
The Gallup Global Strengths Coach Course
The Gallup Global Strengths Coach course is the foundational learning experience for earning your certification. During the course, you will move through a hands-on curriculum built on insights from decades of Gallup research, more than 37 million CliftonStrengths assessments, and 33,000 executive and leadership coaching interventions.
The course is designed to build your coaching capability so that you leave ready to coach individuals, managers and teams.
Learn More: Gallup Global Strengths Coach Course
The 4 Steps to Becoming a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach
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Step 1
Complete the coursework. Attend the Gallup Global Strengths Coach course, available in person (4.5 days) or virtually (4 days).
A combination of Successful Strengths Coaching (2 days) plus Coaching Individuals, Managers and Teams (3 days) also qualifies as completing step 1.
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Step 2
Submit a certification application. Provide details about your professional background and coaching goals.
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Step 3
Pass the certification exam. Complete an exam that tests your proficiency in strengths-based development and coaching science.
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Step 4
Complete coaching sessions. Gain hands-on experience by coaching at least 6 individuals using Gallup’s resources.
“GGSC truly took CliftonStrengths coaching to the next level for me, and I don’t know anyone would be able to coach without this training. The weeklong experience taught me everything from the ins and outs of each strength to how strengths work. With this training, I went from being able to recite strengths facts to clients sharing insights based on individual and team results.”
— Casey Pulsifer, HR Solutions Delivery Manager
How Can I Use Strengths Coaching at Work or in My Coaching Practice?
How Can I Use Strengths Coaching at Work or in My Coaching Practice?
Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches apply their expertise inside organizations, educational institutions and coaching practices to help individuals understand and apply their talents, guide managers in developing their teams, and build cultures where people do their best work every day.
Workplace Coaching
In the workplace, Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches use a structured professional development coaching approach to lead conversations that might otherwise lack direction.
Ways to apply strengths coaching in the workplace:
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Onboard new hires. Conduct one-on-one sessions to help new employees understand their talents and how to apply them from the start.
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Enhance performance. Facilitate group sessions to help teams understand their collective strengths, identify complementary partnerships, boost collaboration, resolve conflict and improve results.
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Empower managers. Coach managers and supervisors on how to develop and position their direct reports effectively.
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Shape culture. Partner with senior leadership to build a strengths-based culture across the entire organization.
Adding Strengths to Your Coaching Practice
CliftonStrengths gives coaches a common language and a framework for understanding what makes each client uniquely effective and how to help them apply that in their work and relationships.
Ways coaches apply strengths expertise in their practice:
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Support strengths initiatives. Partner with organizations or educational institutions as an external strengths expert to embed or expand a strengths-based culture and improve performance among employees.
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Deepen coaching conversations with individuals. Help clients understand their natural patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving, apply their talents to their goals, and find a clearer sense of direction in their work and life.
What Coaching Development and Support Do I Receive From Gallup?
What Coaching Development and Support Do I Receive From Gallup?
Earning your Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach credential is the beginning of your development journey. Gallup provides certified coaches with personalized coaching, self-paced learning, a global community of certified coaches, and additional resources to build your skills and deepen your expertise over time.
Your Post-Course Experience
Completing the Gallup Global Strengths Coach course is the first step toward becoming a certified strengths coach. After completing the course, you’ll experience personalized development designed to deepen your self-awareness, build on what you learned during the course and create momentum toward completing the steps of your certification.
Your post-course experience includes:
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One-on-one coaching. A 60-minute, one-on-one coaching session with a Gallup strengths coach focused on your strengths, coaching goals and desired next steps.
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Learning in Action modules. 12 self-paced Learning in Action modules covering topics such as the CliftonStrengths themes, coaching skills and techniques, coaching managers, coaching teams, and building a strengths-based culture.
Your Global Community of Certified Coaches
As a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, you join a professional community of more than 23,000 certified coaches representing 106 countries and spanning human resources, organizational development, learning and development, education, counseling, and independent coaching.
This community is one of the most enduring benefits of your certification. Through this community, you gain ongoing access to Gallup's latest strengths coaching science, peer perspectives from coaches working across industries and cultures, and recommended best practices to keep your coaching sharp and current.
The centerpiece of the community is the Gallup Coaches Learning Series, an annual series of online learning events with more than 6,000 global coaches participating. It is the largest annual gathering for strengths coaches in the world.
Courses for Deeper Development as a Coach
Two Gallup courses support certified coaches who want to expand their expertise through advanced coach training.
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Advanced CliftonStrengths Coaching
This 2-day course, available in person or virtually, prepares coaches to guide clients toward CliftonStrengths mastery.
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Coaching With AI: Tools, Trust and Transformation
This virtual, instructor-led course helps coaches integrate AI into their coaching practice. The course covers how to use AI to prepare for sessions, facilitate more meaningful conversations and reinforce learning afterward. Participants leave with a personalized action plan and ready-to-use prompts.
For more on Gallup's learning options for strengths coaches, visit Developmental Courses for Strengths Coaches.
Day-to-Day Resources for Strengths Insights
Gallup offers many resources to support your ongoing development and effectiveness as a coach, whether you are just starting out or enhancing an established practice.
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The CliftonStrengths Podcast
Strengths experts explore each of the 34 CliftonStrengths themes and share practical insights for individuals, teams and organizations. Past seasons cover topics including leadership development, wellbeing and powerful partnerships.
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CliftonStrengths Insights Newsletter
This monthly newsletter with more than 166,000 subscribers delivers articles, research, videos and practical advice for applying a strengths-based approach. Subscribers receive first access to new content and invitations to strengths-based learning opportunities.
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Leading With Strengths
This interview series features influential leaders from around the world, revealing how they use their greatest strengths to empower others and achieve their goals. Also available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
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CliftonStrengths Articles, Videos and More
Access guides, client success stories, research reports and videos to help you put your strengths into practice.
Gallup Global Strengths Coach Course Details
Gallup Global Strengths Coach Course Details
The Gallup Global Strengths Coach course is the foundational learning experience for earning your Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach credential. Below are answers to the most common questions about the course, including what you will learn, where and how to register, what is included, and what the course costs.
Program Focus
The Gallup Global Strengths Coach course is a hands-on, immersive experience that covers the full curriculum required for your certification. During this course, you will explore:
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CliftonStrengths and the role of a coach. The principles of strengths-based coaching and how your own talent profile shapes the way you coach others.
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Appreciating and aiming strengths. Coaching strategies that help individuals build self-awareness, appreciate their unique talents and invest in their development.
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CliftonStrengths themes and situational coaching. What makes the 34 CliftonStrengths themes distinct, how they interact and how to apply that understanding in real coaching conversations.
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Coaching managers. How to help managers recognize and apply their own talents while developing and positioning their direct reports effectively.
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Building strengths-based teams and cultures. Strategies for introducing strengths to groups, coaching teams and helping organizations build a strengths-based culture.
The Value of a Complete Professional Coaching Framework
The Gallup Global Strengths Coach course provides everything you need to start coaching with strengths. With pricing at $7,700 for both the in-person and virtual formats, you’ll gain:
Mastery of the 34 CliftonStrengths Themes
Receive in-depth instruction on the science of talent and human performance.
6 StrengthsFinder Codes
Use these to facilitate your first individual or team strengths coaching sessions at no extra cost.
Comprehensive Digital and Physical Resources
- Strengths Coaching Starter Kit: Fundamental guides, coaching techniques and resources for all 34 CliftonStrengths themes.
- Strengths-Based Coaching With Managers and Teams Kit: Tools and strategies for coaching managers and teams toward key performance goals.
- Essential coaching tools: Learning Journal, CliftonStrengths Theme Insight Cards for Coaches, Theme Dynamics Cards, Openings Cards, Theme Similarities and Differences Cards, Paired Up Booklet, and Insights for Coaching Managers to support your sessions from day one.
One-on-One Expert Consultation
Complete a post-course, 60-minute session with a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach to personalize your path forward.
Applied Learning
Gain confidence through observed and practiced coaching conversations with expert feedback.
Personalized Development
Deepen your own self-awareness by exploring and developing your unique strengths.
Continued Learning
Access 12 self-paced Learning in Action modules to sharpen your skills after the course.
Professional Credentials
Eligibility to earn ICF, HRCI and SHRM credit hours, adding industry-standard validation to your Gallup training.
Where to Take Gallup's Strengths Certification Course
The Gallup Global Strengths Coach course is an instructor-led professional coach training program available in multiple formats and global locations so you can choose the option that best fits your schedule and learning preferences. Both in-person and virtual courses cover the full curriculum required for the coursework step of Gallup's certified coach credential and include the same participant materials, coaching tools and post-course coaching support.
Available languages for the course include Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Polish, Spanish and the languages of Gallup's licensed partners.
Gallup Global Strengths Coach Course Options
Client Cohorts Through Gallup
In Person
Participant: Gallup client organizations
Length: 4.5 days
Location: Gallup offices and select locations in Australia, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, the U.S. and the U.K.
Open Enrollment With Gallup
In Person
Participant: Anyone
Length: 4.5 days
Location: Gallup offices and select locations in Australia, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, the U.S. and the U.K.
Virtual
Participant: Anyone
Length: 4 days
Location: Zoom
Open Enrollment With Gallup-Licensed Partners
In Person
Participant: Anyone
Length: 4.5 days
Location: Select locations in Brazil, China, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan and Thailand
Requirements Before and After Taking the Course
Prerequisites Participants will take CliftonStrengths 34 before their first course session. No prior coursework, strengths coaching experience or business coaching certification is required to enroll in the Gallup Global Strengths Coach course. People with a wide variety of education, work experience and backgrounds take the course and develop into exceptional strengths coaches.
Recertification Your Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach certification is valid for 3 years and renews at no additional cost. The process requires just 2 steps: passing a short, 20-question quiz and renewing your coach agreement. Most coaches complete both in 2 hours or less, keeping your credential current, your coaching capability strong and your connection to the global coach community active.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
View upcoming session dates and locations for open enrollment courses available to the general public.
Contact Gallup to discuss whether this course is right for you or explore your options for training Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches at your organization.