293: How Teams Use StrengthsFinder Results, with Lisa Cummings

Lisa Cummings is the founder and CEO of Lead Through Strengths, a firm that exists to help people find and use their strengths at work. Lisa and her team serve large teams and organizations to help them leverage the results of the CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) assessment. She is also the host of the popular Lead Through Strengths podcast.

Many organizations utilize the StrengthsFinder assessment, but few leaders go beyond a brief discussion and perhaps asking employees to share their results with peers. In this conversation, Lisa and I discuss how she helps leaders and teams leverage StrengthsFinder results and how to utilize them for ongoing coaching and talent development.

• Understanding another person’s strengths can help you work better with them.
• CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) conversations should not just happen one day a year, they should be discussed and thought about often.
• Ask employees, “How did you use your strengths yesterday?”
• Think of a CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) session as a starting point for an ongoing conversation, not just a one-time event.
• Partner with people who are strong where you’re weak.

• CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) assessment
• Lead Through Strengths podcast
• Lead Through Strengths website resources
• The Ultimate Guide to Using Your Strengths to Get Hired*
• StrengthsFinder 2.0* by Tom Rath
• Soar with Your Strengths* by Donald O. Clifton

• The Value of the StrengthsFinder Assessment, with Steve Dosier (episode 89)
• How to Interpret Your StrengthsFinder and CliftonStrengths Results, with Steve Dosier (episode 90)
• How to Figure Out Your Career, with Scott Anthony Barlow (episode 259)

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