Growth Questions for the 34 Strengths

It’s a journey to grow your talents into strengths. Just because you find your talents doesn’t mean they’re that useful yet. You must develop them into strengths. This doesn’t happen automatically; it takes focus and effort.

For example, one of my talents is "being responsible"—I naturally take ownership of what has been entrusted to me, and I can be counted upon to deliver. Sounds great…but it comes with shortfalls:

• I can be really quick to say yes
• I can become anxious over all these commitments
• I can hold things too tightly and not delegate
• I can fear letting people down

And pretty soon “being responsible” doesn’t seem so good anymore, I’m this ball of stress laying in bed at night obsessing over what I forgot to do.

That’s unless I work on growing my “responsibility” into more of a strength. As a talent, it can fall short. As a strength, it can soar.

One of the practices I’ve started doing is asking a good, hard question when I use my talent. It acts as a filter, a magnifying glass, a check and balance, and/or a coach (and if I’m honest, a therapist on more neurotic days).

If I’m serious about asking the question and reflecting on it, it does me good.

Sometimes this practice causes me to move forward, sometimes stop, sometimes adjust, it depends on the situation. But what it always does is deepen my self-awareness, help me to grow in using my talent, and produce a more successful outcome.

I love these little growth questions for my top five talent themes:

• Responsibility®: Is this really mine to own?
• Connectedness®: Am I reading connection into something that’s not there?
• Belief®: Am I holding any values too tightly?
• Positivity®: Am I being realistic and down-to-earth?
• Individualization®: Am I merging too much into them?

Maybe asking growth questions for your talents is something you’d like to do, too.

By "34 strengths," I'm referring to the 34 CliftonStrengths® of talent. Being aware of your talents, growing them into strengths, and aiming them toward your goals is a key to success in life and work.

Begin with these starter questions, then come up with your own. There’s space for you to do that on the worksheet.

And the best part? These little questions won't charge you by the hour.

^{CliftonStrengths®, and each of the 34 CliftonStrengths theme names are trademarks of Gallup, Inc.}