Strengths for Faculty & Staff
Understand your strengths. Develop others. Build stronger teams.
CliftonStrengths gives faculty and staff a research-based framework for understanding the natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that influence how we approach our work.
At LSU, strengths can support both your own professional development and the way you engage students, colleagues, teams, and departments.
Understanding strengths can help you identify how you naturally lead, communicate, solve problems, develop relationships, and accomplish goals. Just as importantly, a common strengths language can help us recognize and develop the talents of the people around us.
LSU faculty and staff who are not participating in one of the LSU Strengths workshops have the option to purchase an assessment code ad hoc:
Already completed the assessment? Sign in to Gallup Access to view your CliftonStrengths results and resources:
More Than an Assessment
CliftonStrengths is designed to be the beginning of development, not the end of it. Rather than placing individuals into a personality “type,” the CliftonStrengths assessment identifiespatterns of talent across 34 research-validated themes. Those talents represent naturally recurring ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that can be intentionally developed and applied.
Gallup’s research on human talent and performance spans decades, and CliftonStrengthshas been studied across educational and workplace settings.
At LSU, we use CliftonStrengths as a developmental framework, a shared language that can help people better understand themselves, recognize what others contribute, and create environments where more people have opportunities to do what they do best.
Strengths in Higher Education
Research suggests that strengths-based development can influence more than self-awareness. Studies reviewed by Gallup have connected strengths-based approaches in higher education with outcomes including student engagement, persistence, belonging, self-efficacy, academic performance, and retention.
For example, one study included in Gallup’s review found that first-year students who reported having a strengths-based advising conversation were:
1.53x more likley to return for their second year and 1.9× more likely to graduate within four years
than comparison students
For LSU faculty and staff, this is an important distinction: CliftonStrengths is not simply an activity students complete during Welcome Week. Its greatest potential comes when students encounter a consistent strengths-based approach through conversations, courses, advising, supervision, mentoring, leadership experiences, and other parts of university life.
Research and Case Studies
Faculty & Staff Resources
Strengths Champions
- Helps build a strengths-based LSU.
- Designed for LSU faculty and staff, the LSU CliftonStrengths Champions Training is an interactive, full-day experience that builds a deeper understanding of CliftonStrengthsand equips participants to bring a strengths-based approach into their everyday work.
- Champions explore their own strengths, learn about strengths trends among LSU students, and practice facilitating strengths-based conversations that can support students, strengthen teams, and help build a shared strengths culture across LSU.
- Participants leave with practical strategies and resources for incorporating strengths into their individual roles and areas of influence.
- Fall workshop dates will be announced soon
Strengths 1001
- Designed specifically for faculty, Strengths 1001 is an interactive introduction to CliftonStrengths and its application to the faculty experience.
- Participants will explore their own strengths, learn what strengths data tells us about LSU students, and discover practical ways to incorporate strengths into teaching, mentoring, advising, and everyday interactions with students, helping students better understand and leverage what they naturally do best.
Strengths for Impact
- Designed for university leaders, Strengths for Impact provides a high-level introduction to CliftonStrengths and LSU’s growing strengths-based initiative.
- Participants will explore their own strengths, learn what our strengths data reveals about LSU students, faculty, and staff, and consider how a shared strengths language can support engagement, collaboration, and student success across the university.
Start with Strengths
- An introductory CliftonStrengths experience designed to help participants understand what CliftonStrengths is, explore their Top 5 themes, and begin identifying how their strengths show up in their everyday lives.
- This session provides a foundation for continued strengths development and application.
Unlocking Your Strengths
- Go beyond your Top 5 and discover what your CliftonStrengths say about you.
- In this interactive workshop, you’ll explore how your strengths show up in the way you think, connect, and get things done - and learn how to intentionally use them to be successful at LSU.
Strengths in Action
- You know your strengths - now put them to work! This interactive workshop will help you apply your CliftonStrengths to real-life situations, including academics, relationships, leadership, teamwork, and future goals.
- Leave with practical strategies for using what you naturally do best to navigate your LSU experience with confidence.
Applying Strengths to Academics
- Explore how your CliftonStrengths can support your academic success.
- Participants will identify ways to apply their strengths to studying, time management, goal setting, problem-solving, and navigating challenges.
Strengths in Leadership
- Explore how your CliftonStrengths influence the way you lead and impact others.
- Participants will identify their natural leadership contributions and consider how to intentionally use their strengths in leadership roles and experiences.
Team Dynamics/Group Strengths
- Discover how individual strengths come together to shape a team.
- Participants will explore the strengths represented within their group, better understand how others work, and identify ways to strengthen communication, collaboration, and team effectiveness.
- Faculty and staff can request an individual coaching conversation with one of LSU’s Strengths Coaches.
- A coaching session gives you dedicated time to explore your CliftonStrengths, reflect on how your talents influence your work, and identify strategies for applying them more intentionally.
- Coaching conversations can focus on areas such as:
-
- leadership
- communication
- collaboration
- professional development
- team dynamics
- navigating challenges
- career goals
- understanding how your Top 5 work together
Gallup Access App
Gallup Access gives you continued access to your CliftonStrengths results and a wide range of personalized insights, tools, and development resources online and through the Gallup Access mobile app.
Return to your Top 5 and personalized reports as you continue learning how your talents show up at work.
Use Gallup's articles, videos, and learning resources to deepen your understanding of individual themes and strengths-based development.
Share strengths with colleagues and other connections to better understand the talents each person brings to a partnership or team.
Gallup Access uses AI-powered tools to help you better understand and apply your CliftonStrengths. These features translate your results into personalized insights, reflection prompts, and practical suggestions for using your strengths in real situations—whether you are working on a project, leading a team, or navigating a new challenge.
Strengths in Action
Building a strengths-based culture does not always require another program or meeting. Small, visible uses of strengths can create opportunities for conversation, connection, and development. Consider incorporating your CliftonStrengths into the places where you already introduce yourself and interact with others.
Add your Top 5 to your LSU email signature and invite colleagues and students to share theirs.
Copy + Paste:
CliftonStrengths®: Theme 1 | Theme 2 | Theme 3 | Theme 4 | Theme 5
Replace the themes above with your own Top 5.
Consider adding your Top 5 alongside your faculty information or including a brief statement explaining how CliftonStrengths may be used in your course.
Example:
My CliftonStrengths: Theme 1 | Theme 2 | Theme 3 | Theme 4 | Theme 5
I use CliftonStrengths as one tool for understanding how individuals naturally think, connect, and approach their work. Throughout the semester, you may be invited to reflect on how your own strengths influence your learning, collaboration, and academic goals.
Include your Top 5 on an introductory slide when presenting to students or colleagues. Additionally, you can consider sharing one quick example of how a strength shows up in your work:
"One of my Top 5 is Individualization. For me, that means I naturally notice what is unique about each person and prefer adapting my approach instead of treating everyone exactly the same.”