Drive Student Development and Success with the CliftonStrengths Student Assessment
By providing students with the benefits of the CliftonStrengths Strengths for Students Assessment and Report, institutions and parents alike can send them down the path of student success before they start looking for their first job! There is an adage that the best time to start a task was yesterday, but the second-best time is today. Giving students the ability to recognize what makes them unique and how their strengths shape their approach to work, decision-making, and relationships will position them to thrive in the workplaces of tomorrow!
With the success of CliftonStrengths worldwide, it’s no surprise that the approaches we’ve brought to the corporate workplace are equally applicable to the development of student well-being and success. Major institutions like Purdue, Virginia Tech, and West Texas A&M have implemented programs that extensively leverage the Strengths for Students Assessment and Report. With a specialized coach, you can bring the program’s successes to your institution or directly to a student that needs it.
“It’s not a secret that students entering college face innumerable challenges and obstacles. In addition to making the climb easier, students with the tools we provide can choose their path more carefully.”
How Institutions of Higher Learning are Using Strengths-Based Coaching for Student Success
Strengths-based coaching uses CliftonStrengths, a system that measures natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. It categorizes them into 34 CliftonStrengths themes to understand how people think, what motivates them, and their natural talents. Educators’ approaches to applying CliftonStrengths in their curriculum and student life are as varied as the institutions themselves. And while what works for one institution may not work for another, I have found a number of practices that are core to the success of many of these programs:
Commitment to Opportunity
At many institutions, all incoming undergraduate students are given the opportunity to take the CliftonStrengths assessment. This widespread access levels the playing field and lets students start their educational careers knowing where their strengths and natural skills lie. With this in hand, students can confidently tackle the challenges ahead.
Encouraging Reflection
While knowing their strengths is invaluable, knowing their weaknesses can be equally important. Recognizing that specific tasks might be more challenging than others can help students identify and allocate their time more effectively. And, while the weaknesses may begin as roadblocks, students can leverage strengths-based coaching to develop strategies that work through and even beyond those challenges!
Integration Into Campus Culture
By integrating the core principles of CliftonStrengths into student affairs, particularly at the outset of their educational careers, institutions of higher learning can craft a culture of strength that allows for the greatest possible student success. Focusing on what makes each student unique will enable educators and professional staff to customize the programming and resources each student receives.
Follow Through
While establishing a solid relationship with students to their strengths early in their education is essential, continuing that commitment is also crucial. Setup with no follow-through is a failure in disguise. A student (and everyone else, really!) requires consistency for success. Drawing a continuous through-line using CliftonStrengths can cement the program’s core principles much more efficiently than if done only once or in only one facet of student life. To be most effective, the student that enters an institution should have the same understanding of their strengths as the student that graduates four years later. Often that student may have changed dramatically over the course of their education, and each student needs to understand what direction that change has taken them.
How Parents Can Use Strengths-Based Coaching for Their Children
Providing your child with strengths-based coaching can be the leg up your child may need to succeed. With enough dedication and talent, most children will succeed. How that success manifests and in what direction is often more trial and error than necessary. With the CliftonStrengths Strengths for Students Assessment and Report, students will have the tools and knowledge required to steer their success intentionally and meaningfully. Here are some of the ways your student will be able to accomplish everything you know they’re capable of:
Knowledge of Self
I know that in youth, one of the main concerns for every student is discovering who they are. Using proven assessment and coaching strategies, students who receive the Strengths for Students Assessment and Report are more in touch with what makes them unique and talented. Knowing where their strengths and weaknesses stand gives them what they need to recognize opportunities and achieve their goals.
It’s not a secret that students entering college face innumerable challenges and obstacles. Many of these will be academic challenges, and as we will talk about later, those can undoubtedly benefit from coaching. But I wanted to touch on how CliftonStrengths can benefit students in a more personal way. Students who have a certified coach in their corner will be able to tackle the moral challenges ahead of them. While students ultimately define themselves, the sense of self CliftonStrengths brings will help them make their choices with their goals and values in mind.
Personal Accountability
Getting up and going to class can be hard sometimes. Finishing homework can sometimes feel like a pointless task. But, with the Strengths for Students Assessment and Report paired with our certified coaching, your student will see these tasks as steps on their climb to the top. Each obstacle, however small or seemingly insignificant, is an opportunity to use their strengths and rise to the occasion. They can make the most of every opportunity by knowing where their firm handholds (and slippery spots!) are.
Direction of Growth
In addition to making the climb easier, students with the tools we provide can choose their path more carefully. Knowing the best route to your destination can be just as valuable as having the skill to get there. The ability to choose the path that complements their strengths and use more caution in the areas where they have more trouble can make their path to graduation much more manageable. Students with CliftonStrengths skills in hand may be able to turn what would otherwise have been an obstacle into a surprise opportunity.
Skills For Life
What are you hoping to get from giving your child these skills? I think I know the answer because it’s the answer I get from every parent I work with. You want to do everything you can to help ensure a good life for your child. Of course, you also want to give your child the skills to thrive and succeed in school. But ultimately, school is temporary, and the wide world of opportunity awaits your student after the cap and gown are folded and packed away. CliftonStrengths have already helped thousands of people in the corporate world become better at what they do. Entering the workforce with these skills will give your child an outstanding advantage as they start their lives.
Whether you’re at a university, searching for a way to help increase student success, or a parent looking to give your child a leg up, the solution is the same. The CliftonStrengths Strengths for Students Assessment and Report paired with coaching from our new specialized coach for Children and Students, Brady Janes.
If you would like to give your students the skills to succeed in school and beyond, get started with these steps:
- Schedule A Call. Set up a complimentary 15-minute call. We’ll discuss how to help your campus or child leverage the CliftonStrengths Strengths for Students Assessment and Report.
- Get A Plan. We will help you craft a customized pathway to success for your student(s).
- Carry It Forward. Help your student(s) take the skills you’ve given them, and apply them to their life after graduation.
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