Unlocking Expertise: Leveraging Your CliftonStrengths© Themes

At Positive Leadership, we talk about how individuals can leverage their unique strengths to thrive. Today, we’re examining a crucial question: What does it mean to be an expert, and how does expertise relate to our strengths?

Here’s a powerful definition of an expert I’ve come across: An expert is someone who has sufficient knowledge and experience in a field to be able to recognize patterns from noise. It’s the ability to sort through possibilities of a topic or domain to find the most important things to focus on. This allows an expert to make meaningful decisions and take appropriate actions.

Understanding Expertise

This definition of expertise applies across various domains. Consider a wine expert, for instance. They have sufficient knowledge and experience to recognize the flavors in the wine and reliably evaluate its quality. Their expertise encompasses knowledge of grape types, various winemaking processes, and a host of other factors. The result is an ability to distinguish between superior and inferior wines with remarkable accuracy.

We often rely on experts to help us sort out patterns from noise. Here’s one example. In a single play of American football, there are 22 players on the field, each executing moves within the span of a few seconds. That’s a lot of noise. I’m reminded of John Madden, the legendary commentator, drawing X’s and O’s on the television monitor to highlight the salient patterns of a play that led to success or failure. His expertise helped viewers understand the complexity of the game in a digestible way.

We all develop expertise in our work and hobbies, often without realizing it. This becomes clear when we try to explain our job or passion to someone unfamiliar with it. We tend to give simplified explanations, knowing that the depth of our knowledge would take too long to fully convey. What seems obvious and commonplace to us represents years of accumulated knowledge and experience.

The CliftonStrengths© Connection

Now let’s think about the relationship between expertise, which we’ve just defined, and the 34 themes of CliftonStrengths©. Gallup, the organization behind CliftonStrengths©, provides a formula for building a strength:

Talent + Skill + Knowledge = Strength

Talents, according to Gallup, are naturally occurring patterns of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that can be productively applied. Think of them as mental patterns that have become so automated that they’re like reflexes. These talents often operate below our level of conscious awareness.

To truly excel, we need to pair these natural talents with expertise — the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to our goals.

A Real-World Example

Let’s consider Emily, a marketing professional. Emily’s top CliftonStrengths© themes are Woo, Communication, Activator, Positivity, and Empathy.

Emily has been growing her expertise in digital marketing by:

1. Learning to use customer relationship management (CRM) software.
2. Mastering email marketing tools and integration techniques.
3. Studying market trends and potential business opportunities.
4. Gaining in-depth knowledge about her company’s products and services.

As she develops these skills and knowledge, she’s also applying her natural talents:

• Her Woo theme helps her initiate relationships and make great first impressions with potential clients.
• Her Communication theme allows her to craft impactful marketing messages across various platforms.
• Her Activator theme pushes her to take action on new marketing ideas and learn from the results.
• Her Positivity theme provides upbeat energy to maintain enthusiasm in her campaigns.
• Her Empathy theme helps her anticipate and address the needs of her target audience.

By combining her growing digital marketing expertise with her natural talents, Emily is developing a formidable strength in business marketing. This strength enables her to create effective marketing strategies, build strong client relationships, and drive business growth through targeted campaigns and client engagement.

Applying This to Your Life

Now, how can you apply this concept to your own goals? Here’s a step-by-step approach:

1. Identify a personal goal you want to achieve (e.g., fitness, home remodeling, improving a relationship).
2. Reflect on your Top 5 CliftonStrengths© themes with your goal in mind.
3. Consider how your themes of talent could be used to reach your goal.
4. Determine the skills and knowledge you would need to learn to reach your goal effectively.
5. Start developing the necessary expertise.

For example, if your goal is weight loss, you might need to develop expertise in healthy cooking, understanding food labels, tracking calories, and fitness basics. Don’t worry if you don’t currently have all the knowledge and skills — focus on what you need to learn and do effectively.

As you grow in both your natural talents and your expertise, you’ll find that your strengths are like dust bunnies — they attract more opportunities, skills, and experiences, continuously expanding your capabilities.

At Positive Leadership, we believe that when you combine expertise with your unique talents, you unlock the full potential to thrive. This isn’t just about professional success — it’s about creating a life where your strengths continuously attract new opportunities for growth. We’re here to guide you on that journey, helping you build expertise that propels you forward, both in your work and in your personal life.