Donald O. Clifton was an American psychologist and professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1950-1969. He founded Selection Research, Inc. which acquired The Gallup Organization in 1988 and became chairman of the combined company known popularly for polling but built on scientific research. The American Psychological Association calls him the father of Strengths-Based Psychology and the grandfather of Positive Psychology. He developed the Clifton StrengthsFinder®, Gallup’s online psychological assessment, to identify a person’s natural talents.
Theory and Research
The theory behind the assessment is that each individual has a fixed set of universal personal-character attributes defined as “talent themes,” which, together, define patterns of thinking and behavior that result in an individual’s tendency to develop some skills more easily and to sustain excellence in certain fields.
Through interviews and assessments of 1.7 million people from various fields, Gallup quantified the different traits and identified 34 distinct patterns that they called talent themes to describe the range of human uniqueness observed in their research. Statistically, only 1 in 33 million share your Top 5 signature talents in the same order.
The research confirms the theory and, for people that have taken the assessment and studied the results, it has a profound impact on their lives personally, professionally and spiritually.
The Talent Themes
The 34 Talent Themes in alphabetical order are:
- Achiever – one with a constant drive for accomplishing tasks
- Activator – one who acts to start things in motion
- Adaptability – one who is especially adept at accommodating to changes in direction/plan
- Analytical – one who requires data and/or proof to make sense of their circumstances
- Arranger – one who enjoys orchestrating many tasks and variables to a successful outcome
- Belief – one who strives to find some ultimate meaning behind everything they do
- Command – one who steps up to positions of leadership without fear of confrontation
- Communication – one who uses words to inspire action and education
- Competition – one who thrives on comparison and competition to be successful
- Connectedness – one who seeks to unite others through commonality
- Consistency – one who believes in treating everyone the same to avoid unfair advantage
- Context – one who is able to use the past to make better decisions in the present
- Deliberative – one who proceeds with caution, seeking to always have a plan and know all of the details
- Developer – one who sees the untapped potential in others
- Discipline – one who seeks to make sense of the world by imposition of order
- Empathy – one who is especially in tune with the emotions of others
- Focus – one who requires a clear sense of direction to be successful
- Futuristic – one who has a keen sense of using an eye towards the future to drive today’s success
- Harmony – one who seeks to avoid conflict and achieve success through consensus
- Ideation – one who is adept at seeing underlying concepts that unite disparate ideas
- Includer – one who instinctively works to include everyone
- Individualization – one who draws upon the uniqueness of individuals to create successful teams
- Input – one who is constantly collecting information or objects for future use
- Intellection – one who enjoys thinking and thought-provoking conversation often for its own sake, and also can data compress complex concepts into simplified models
- Learner – one who must constantly be challenged and learning new things to feel successful
- Maximizer – one who seeks to take people and projects from great to excellent
- Positivity – one who has a knack for bring the light-side to any situation
- Relator – one who is most comfortable with fewer, deeper relationships
- Responsibility – one who must follow through on commitments
- Restorative – one who thrives on solving difficult problems
- Self-Assurance – one who stays true to their beliefs, judgments and is confident of his/her ability
- Significance – one who seeks to be seen as significant by others
- Strategic – one who is able to see a clear direction through the complexity of a situation
- Woo – one who is able to easily persuade (short for “Winning Others Over”)
Identify Your Talents
To identify your Top 5 Talents or all 34 Talents in order, take Gallup’s Online Assessment.
Then join our online Learning Your Strengths group led by trained coaches to discover the true impact living your strengths will have on your life. It’s the beginning of a journey to a fulfilling spiritual, personal and professional life.