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A Strength-Based Family

The Strengths Idea

Strengths-based Leadership is nothing new. PhD Donald Clifton began researching this subject over 60 years ago. Since many others have built upon his findings. Most recently with the completion of his book StrengthsFinder 2.0 in 2001, Dr. Clifton was joined by both Tom Rath and Gallup to start what some might call a movement.

Today StrengthsFinder 2.0 is known as CliftonStrengths by Gallup. This movement has inspired over 22 million people to take the assessment and discover their individual strengths.

Based on these results, The Strengths Idea inspires users to focus on their strongest talents to achieve their goals.

“What will happen when we think about what is right with people rather than fixating on what is wrong with them?”
Donald Clifton

A Strengths-Based Partnership

Most of us know CliftonStrengths as a business tool. But what if we used it to improve our partnerships? In my book Lean On, I have written in great lengths about this subject. By discovering our own strengths and sharing them with our partners, we can become stronger as a team.

The Power of 2

Power of 2 is one of several books based on Gallup’s evidence that people flourish best when using their inherent talents. The book is organized into eight main chapters, each detailing one of the elements of partnership identified by the authors’ research. The eight elements are complementary strengths, a common mission, fairness, trust, acceptance, forgiveness, communicating and unselfishness. In their studies, the authors found that people generally overestimate their abilities where they are weak and underestimate them when they are strong.

“So admit it you stink at some things. You have blind spots, weaknesses and areas in which others seem to perform effortlessly while you struggle just to be average. You are also overly modest about your strengths. What seems to be no big deal to you is difficult for others. Your strengths are stronger and your weaknesses weaker than you realize. You need help. You are also precisely the help someone else needs.”
Power of 2

This incompleteness of the individual, they argue, is one of the primary reasons for partnerships and I would have to agree. By knowing my and my wife’s strengths, we have been better able to navigate through our ups, downs and the difficult challenges we’ve encountered in our relationship.

 

When you and your partner are adaptable and supportive, you can better help each other achieve success. Want to learn these skills?

TAKE THE FREE ASSESSMENT

 

Strengths-Based Parenting

Every child is unique. We must discover and nurture their individual strengths so that they may grow into confident, capable adults. As all parents know, this sounds easier said than done. Ask 10 parents one question on raising children and you’ll likely receive 20 different answers. I like the term “educated guessing.” Everything we do for our children is exactly that, an educated guess. We hope, based on what we’ve learned from books and experience, that we are doing what is right. Still, we are only guessing if this is what will be right in the long run.

For us, the idea of strengths-based parenting was inspiring. Besides the book, Strengths-Based Parenting from Gallup, we utilized The StrengthsExplorer that is designed especially for kids 10 -14. Admittedly, we did assess our children at a much younger age, realizing that the results will change as they grew older.

The StrengthsExplorer is a much smaller version of the CliftonStrengths assessment. With only 80 questions, this non-timed assessment is designed to deliver your child’s top three dominant talents. As we’ve learned from CliftonStrengths, these talents will evolve and develop into more permanent talents over time.

One of the best ways to help kids succeed — not just in school, but throughout their lives — is to help them develop their unique talents into strengths. Clifton StrengthsExplorer provides a powerful experience for children to accept, affirm and grow better through their strengths.
Strengths-Explorer.com

Bringing It All Together

Knowing your individual strengths is powerful, but using this information to strengthen your family can be life-changing. By helping your partner and children become the best versions of themselves, you also empower your family to be the best version of itself.

Beyond these assessments, there are other resources available to help you and your family discover their utmost potential. Visit us at Globularity to learn how we utilize strengths-based coaching in combination with many other ideas and tools to help you get to the next level in your journey.

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