How to Apply Your StrengthsFinder Results at Work

Discovering your top 5 CliftonStrengths is just the beginning. The real value comes from applying these insights in your professional life. Here's how to leverage your StrengthsFinder results to enhance your performance, job satisfaction, and career growth.

1. Align Your Role With Your Strengths

The most effective professionals shape their roles around their natural talents. Examine how you can adjust your responsibilities to better utilize your top strengths:

If you have Executing strengths like Achiever or Discipline:

  • Volunteer for projects with clear deadlines and measurable outcomes
  • Create systems and processes to improve team efficiency
  • Take ownership of getting important tasks across the finish line

If you have Influencing strengths like Communication or Woo:

  • Seek opportunities to present ideas to clients or leadership
  • Become the "connector" who builds relationships across departments
  • Lead meetings or training sessions where your enthusiasm shines

If you have Relationship Building strengths like Empathy or Harmony:

  • Offer to mentor new team members
  • Facilitate conflict resolution when tensions arise
  • Build bridges between different personality types on your team

If you have Strategic Thinking strengths like Analytical or Ideation:

  • Position yourself as the go-to person for solving complex problems
  • Create white papers or proposals for innovative approaches
  • Analyze data trends that others might overlook

2. Communicate Your Strengths to Your Manager

Help your supervisor understand how to best utilize your talents:

  • Schedule a strengths discussion during your next 1:1 meeting
  • Explain specifically how each strength manifests in your work
  • Provide examples of projects where you've successfully applied these strengths
  • Suggest ways your manager could assign work that plays to your strengths

Example: "One of my top strengths is Input - I naturally collect information that could be useful. I'd love to take responsibility for keeping our team updated on industry trends and best practices."

3. Build Complementary Teams

Understanding your colleagues' strengths creates powerful synergies:

  • Identify which strengths your team is missing and how you can compensate
  • Partner with colleagues whose strengths complement yours
  • When forming project teams, consider strength diversity as well as skills
Your Strength Complementary Partner Strength Potential Collaboration
Ideation (big picture thinking) Discipline (execution focus) You brainstorm innovations, they create implementation plans
Empathy (people focus) Analytical (data focus) You understand customer needs, they analyze usage patterns
Strategic (future-oriented) Context (past-oriented) You plan what's next, they ensure alignment with what worked before

4. Manage Your Weaknesses Without Fixating on Them

The strengths philosophy isn't about ignoring weaknesses, but managing them wisely:

  • For crucial tasks that don't play to your strengths, find workarounds:
    • Partner with colleagues who have complementary strengths
    • Develop just enough skill to be competent, not expert
    • Create systems that compensate (e.g., reminders if you lack Discipline)
  • Be honest about which weaknesses truly need attention versus those you can delegate
  • Focus 80% of development energy on strengthening your strengths further

5. Use Your Strengths to Overcome Challenges

Your natural talents can help you navigate workplace difficulties:

Challenge: Difficult coworker relationship

Positivity strength solution: Focus on common ground and shared goals rather than conflicts.

Individualization strength solution: Understand what motivates this person and adapt your approach accordingly.

Challenge: Organizational change

Adaptability strength solution: Model flexibility and help others adjust.

Strategic strength solution: Help colleagues see the long-term benefits behind short-term disruptions.

Challenge: Heavy workload

Focus strength solution: Prioritize ruthlessly and eliminate distractions.

Arranger strength solution: Reorganize tasks and resources for maximum efficiency.

6. Guide Your Career Development With Strengths

Let your strengths inform major career decisions:

  • When considering promotions or new roles, evaluate how well they'll utilize your top strengths
  • Seek projects and assignments that let your strengths shine
  • Identify mentors who exemplify strength-based success
  • Choose professional development opportunities that enhance your natural talents

Career path example: Someone with high Learner and Input strengths might thrive in research roles, while someone with high Woo and Communication might excel in sales or public relations.

7. Create a Strengths-Based Work Environment

Even if you're not a manager, you can foster strengths awareness:

  • Start meetings by having people share how they'll apply their strengths to the agenda items
  • Recognize colleagues when you see them using their strengths effectively
  • Suggest strength-themed team building activities
  • When giving feedback, frame it through a strengths lens ("Your Ideation strength really helped us see new possibilities...")

8. Track Your Strength-Based Progress

Consciously applying your strengths gets easier with practice:

  • Keep a "strengths journal" noting when you successfully applied each strength
  • Set quarterly goals for how you'll develop each strength further
  • Notice patterns in when you feel most engaged at work - what strengths were you using?
  • Periodically retake the assessment to see how your strengths evolve

Final Thoughts

Applying your StrengthsFinder results at work transforms abstract concepts into concrete competitive advantages. Remember that strengths develop over time - the more you use them intentionally, the more powerful they become. Start with one small application today, and build from there.

Want to discover or revisit your strengths? Take our free StrengthsFinder assessment to identify your top talent themes.