CliftonStrengths for Students is an effective tool to help in learning about yourself and what areas you excel in.

How can you incorporate your talents into your role as a student leader?

The following are reflection questions to help you think about your talents as a leader:

• In what leadership positions have you excelled in the past?
• What helped you to succeed in those positions?
• What leadership domains are your talent themes in?
• What are ways you could use your talents to energize other group members?
• What aspect of your leadership role is most exciting to you?

Developing your leadership qualities as a student can be a mighty stepping-stone for professional and career success. Gallup categorizes its 34 talent themes into four domains of leadership: Executing, Relationship Building, Strategic Thinking, and Influencing. Identifying your domains of leadership that you excel in can help you to be a self-aware and intentional leader. By talking about talents with other students and also helping them identify their own leadership domains, you can create a Strengths-based group. As a student leader, you can learn to leverage your talents to optimize and maximize your team’s potential, whether in classes or organizations.

Activities

• Picture of Excellence is an activity to facilitate identifying qualities of other leaders as well as identifying what times you have done your best.
• Talents and Performance provides a worksheet to assist in using your talents to accomplish a challenge or goal you are facing in your leadership role.
• Leadership Domains shows how each talent theme is categorized so you can identify what your top leadership domains are.

Resources

• Finding Your Leadership Strengths by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie: Research supports that effective leaders are those who have a high level of self-awareness. This article will help you grasp this concept and emphasize the importance of knowing your strengths.
• The Strengths of Leadership: “Leaders who really understand their strengths find their way of leading” says Tom Rath. Check out an exclusive GMJ Q&A with Tom Rath and Barry Conchie to learn more about strengths based leadership.
• What Makes a Great Leadership Team? by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie: This article provides you with an overview of the four domains of leadership and how they relate to one’s talents.