StrengthsFinder FAQ on the fundamentals of the tool
We recommend 45 minutes.
There are 177 questions. If you answer with quick instincts, you might be able to finish as fast as 25 minutes. Most people take 30-45 minutes. Be sure to block your calendar for uninterrupted time, as answers will be thrown out and counted as neutral after 20 seconds.
All CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) accounts can be found at the Gallup Access login page.
Be sure to use the password reset function if you can't remember your credentials. The help desk team is also very helpful.
As of early 2024, over 31 Million people have taken the CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) assessment around the world.
As of early 2024, the retail price for a Top 5 standard CliftonStrengths code is $24.99 USD + local tax. The lowest retail price for the premium Full 34 report is $59.99 USD + local tax. You can buy codes here.
In addition, we have a "bundled" price of $45 for Top 5 StrengthsFinder and $85 for Full 34 StrengthsFinder. That's for our company to manage the back end, generate custom reports, and provide each participant with a digital activation course. We usually do this when you book team events, yet you can manage the process either way.
Usually no. Here's a full writeup answering the details about whether it makes sense to retake the CliftonStrengths assessment.
It is possible. There are 177 questions, and they are timed for 20 seconds. If you do not answer, that question will be marked neutral.
If there are too many neutral answers, there's no way to stack rank your natural talents and preferences against each other. In that situation, the tool may not be able to generate results.
Here's what it would say if you still get results but you answered with a lot of neutrals:
A Note of Caution
Because many of your CliftonStrengths responses were neutral, the themes listed are based only on the pairs of descriptors to which you did respond with something other than a neutral response.
Some people do not choose one descriptor from any given pair because they feel that neither - or both - descriptors fit them well. While this is acceptable, it does mean that any feedback you might receive that is based on these results may not be as personalized as it would be if your results were stronger.
Please keep this in mind when you consider how well you feel your top five themes describe you.
---
No Results
In extreme cases, there will be no results because not enough questions were answered in a non-neutral way.
If you tried to loosen a screw with a hammer, you would spend a lot of time getting a messy result.
Using your strengths at work is like choosing the screwdriver versus the hammer - finding your personally-best tools for the job. We can't wait to help you uncover or re-discover your easy-button type tools for getting results.
Strengths are infinitely able to develop. They are high leverage.
Weaknesses are better for mitigating. They usually offer incremental improvement, and they usually drain you to operate out of the weakness zone. There's far more ROI in your strengths zone.
There are 34 talent themes in the CliftonStrengths tool. Yours will be listed in stack rank of intensity.
CliftonStrengths is a tool that tells you about your most powerful areas of potential - your natural talents.
- It's an assessment with 177 questions.
- Your natural talent themes are based on how you can operate in order to achieve success in your unique way. These top talent themes show how you think, feel, or act when you are at your natural best.
- The Top 5 version is a 17 page report that shows you the Top 5 most dominant natural talent themes in you.
- The Full 34 version is a 26 page that shows your stack rank from most intense to least intense. By the time you get to the bottom, these talents are most likely draining for you to call on all day, every day. Although you can become competent in the bottom areas, these Lesser Talents have the potential to de-energize you and weaken your performance.
It's the same thing. The assessment is officially known as CliftonStrengths to honor Donald Clifton, the psychologist who originally created the tool.
We often still say "StrengthsFinder" because it's what our clients know and say. The book StrengthsFinder 2.0 is where many people get their codes, which is still the correct name of the book. It's so popular that it creates an ongoing momentum for that name.
CliftonStrengths is the formal name, while StrengthsFinder is a nickname and book name.
StrengthsFinder FAQ on the nuances of your strengths over time
Your mood does not impact your CliftonStrengths in a negligible way. Nor do your job duties.
That's surprising, right? It's the question in the StrengthsFinder FAQ with the most, "No Way!" reactions from people. Gallup has studied this for decades, and have found results to be incredibly stable over time. In the most recent calculation in late 2023, they reported 73% stability of Top 10 results over decades of time.
We find that people's Top 10 swap order, but the contents of their Top 10 are extremely stable compared with other tools.
Because the results are so stable over decades, Gallup does not make it easy to retake the CliftonStrengths assessment. If you decide that you want to retake, you'll want to take 2 steps:
- Use a new email address when you buy the new code. You will not be able to retake with your existing account.
- If you want to be an awesome person, contact Gallup to have your old account removed so that the data stays clean and they see you as one person rather than two.
More rationale:
Gallup has studied this for decades, and have found results to be incredibly stable over time. In the most recent calculation in late 2023, they reported 73% stability of Top 10 results over decades of time.
We find that people's Top 10 swap order, but the contents of their Top 10 are extremely stable compared with other tools.
There are three situations that would be most likely to impact your StrengthsFinder results significantly.
- Life Traumas - Gallup does acknowledge that some people have major life events or traumas that can change their results.
- Age - If you originally took the assessment when you were young, your results are also more likely to be different today. For example, if you took the assessment at age 19 for a university StrengthsFinder program, you would be more likely to have a different lineup as a 40 year old professional.
- Language - Occasionally, we'll see that someone takes their assessment in their native language, and then they switch on another go-round and they take it in their 2nd or 3rd language. This can impact results because your nuance with each language will differ.
(Not) Job Changes & Mood - Surprisingly to many, results don't change because you're in a new role and you've been applying different skills over the past decade. Shockingly to some, a person's mood does not skew results in a statistically significant way. The tool is designed to find out how you think, feel, and act when you're at your natural best. It looks more to how you approach things, not what you are working on. In this way, your career changes do not have a significant impact on the talent themes that show up in your Top 10.
Here's a full page on retaking the CliftonStrengths assessment for more detailed information.
Yes. Gallup employs PhD Behavioral Scientists and Psychologists to refine the tool. Here's a 40-page technical report to share the design.
After four decades of private use with clients, Gallup brought the CliftonStrengths tool to the masses in 1999 via the top selling book StrengthsFinder.
StrengthsFinder FAQ on the Four Leadership Domains (Colors)
- Relationship strengths are blue
- Influencing strengths are yellow-orange
- Strategic Thinking strengths are green (formerly red)
- Executing strengths are purple
Here's a page with more detail on the four leadership domains and what the colors mean.
These are the official HEX codes for CliftonStrengths Colors if you need the colors for a presentation:
- Executing = Purple #7B2481
- Influencing = Yellow/Orange #E97200
- Relationship Building = Blue #0070CD
- Strategic Thinking = Green #00945D
Here's a page with more detail on the four leadership domains and what the colors mean.
- Relationship strengths - if you're dominant here, you're likely awesome in the emotional intelligence department. This leadership domain is all about people skills. On the job, you probably build rapport easily. You help others feel seen, heard, and appreciated. You catch nuances that hold a team together and create a culture of high performance.
- Influencing strengths - If you're dominant here, you're probably outstanding at getting momentum. This domain is all about bringing attention to change. In a work setting, you're likely comfortable with taking charge. You might speak up or give others a voice (or give a project a voice) when it would otherwise be ignored.
- Strategic Thinking strengths - If you're dominant here, you're likely great at decision making. This domain is all about critical thinking. On the job, you can absorb and analyze information well. You probably enjoy "nerding out" on chosen topics. You might like researching, predicting, or processing information in ways your teammates don't.
- Executing strengths - If you're dominant here, you're probably excellent at getting things done. This domain is all about making action happen. In a work setting, you're likely outstanding at turning a vision into tangible, practical steps. You can take a 30,000 foot idea and get the "street level" resources needed to pull it off.
Here's a page with more detail on the four leadership domains and what the colors mean.
Formally, Gallup calls these colors the Four Domains or the Four Leadership Domains in CliftonStrengths. We often call them the Four Demands because they are demands on our personal leadership that we all have on us at work. Knowing your strengths can give you an idea of how to best meet those demands.
In other assessments, their colors line up with personality traits - usually task vs people focus and introversion vs extroversion.
In CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) the colors are mapped to categories that bring you success in certain areas:
- Relationship (blue) - Adaptability, Connectedness, Developer, Empathy, Harmony, Includer, Individualization, Positivity, Relator
- Influencing (yellow-orange) - Activator, Command, Communication, Competition, Maximizer, Self-Assurance, Significance, Woo
- Strategic Thinking (green / formerly-red) - Analytical, Context, Futuristic, Ideation, Input, Intellection, Learner, Strategic
- Executing (purple) - Achiever, Arranger, Belief, Consistency, Deliberative, Discipline, Focus, Responsibility, Restorative