Activities and Exercises

For a list of activities and exercises relevant to how you interact with students please choose a resource category from the drop down menu below. Please note that some of the activities may provide instructions/faciltiation notes that refer to use in the classroom or some other specific setting (i.e. career). Many of these activities have been categorized more broadly because they can be easily adapted to fit other settings. Please also note that many of these activities will require you to authenticate using your x.500 while some are available to the general public.

Three specific resources are highlighted below that are especially helpful in 1:1 sessions with students.

If you have strengths activities that you have developed and you are willing to share, please email them, with facilitation notes included, to strengths@umn.edu.

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Please select a category to view the available resources

Leadership

  • A Fresh Perspective
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    This activity helps students affirm their Signature Themes by relating the themes to past difficulties. This process will help students begin to develop a model of how they can consciously apply their talents to achieve success.

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  • At First Glance
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    This activity helps students analyze the content presented in their Signature Theme Report. One of the qualities that separates StrengthsFinder from other personality-type indicators is its accessible and value-added language.

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  • This activity can be used as an icebreaker, or it can be used anywhere in the curriculum to facilitate discussion about talent and strengths. The purpose of this activity is to get students to think about what they do well and how people use their strengths in order to be successful.

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  • Barrier Labels
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    In this activity, students are asked to consider if they discount talents and the potential strengths of others.

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  • Being of Service
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    This activity helps students become intentional about their relationships. As the StrengthsQuest text suggests, the word commit implies intentional and lasting action.

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  • Best of the Best
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    This activity allows students to talk about individuals they identify as successful and to see that those qualities that make them successful are ones they themselves already possess. Success comes from strength, and strength comes from talent.

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  • Circle of Strengths
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    This activity aims to recognize evidence of and discuss the role of their themes of talent in their personal behavior.

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  • Complementary Partners
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    This activity explores the purposes behind creating partnerships and aims to help one understand how their Top 5 Talent Themes complement other Talent Themes.

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  • Degrees of Talent/ Owning My Strengths
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    This activity asks students to recognize the personal difficulties associated with affirming their own themes of talent.

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  • Envisioning Excellence
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    This activity asks students to define excellence in their academic lives.

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  • Exploring My Signature Themes
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    This activity is designed to help students gain a greater understanding of their individual talents, providing a basis as students continue their StrengthsQuest. Students are asked to define each of their Signature Themes using their own words and phrases, and then share these definitions in small groups.

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  • Five Clues to Talent
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    In this activity, students are asked to consider five questions designed to unearth revealing clues about talent and evaluate their general academic goals in light of their talents and strengths, as well as other personal qualities and external considerations.

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  • Four Domains of Leadership worksheet
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    This worksheet describes each of the Four Domains of Leadership and provides space to see where one's Top 5 Talent Themes fall according to the Domains.

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  • Is There A Shadow Side to a Strengths-Based Perspective?
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    This activity asks students to consider the implications to the application of talents in a negative way.

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  • Job Analysis
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    This exercise asks students to relate talent themes to specific occupations. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

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  • Join the Club
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    This activity assists students in evaluating academic and cocurricular opportunities in light of their talents and strengths. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

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  • Moving Beyond Barrier Labels
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    This activity is designed to help students think about how they can maximize the positive nature of talents by managing the barrier labels that people often place upon talents.

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  • Name Tags/ Name Tents
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    Ask students to create name tags or name tents to use throughout your sessions. On the name tags or tents, ask students to print their names and their five Signature Themes. Great for workshops or class sessions.

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  • One Key Question
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    Describe the concept of person-environment fit/calling as it pertains to career planning and strengths. This activity is a great tool for advisors or career counselors.

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  • Recognizing the Talents of Others
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    This exercise assists students in building relationships with others and being mindful of their talents and strengths, and the talents and strengths of others.

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  • Reflections on the Movies
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    Films powerfully communicate points about poignant moments in life. This activity asks students to view and evaluate movies with a discerning eye and discover the stories of talents and strengths that are evident through film.

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  • Reporting Signature Themes
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    Share signature themes and invite responses to help validate and affirm top talent themes.

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  • Secret of My Success
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    This activity asks students to identify examples of how their themes of talent have contributed to past success.

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  • Setting Your Academic Course
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    This activity asks students to evaluate their general academic goals in light of their talents and strengths, as well as other personal qualities and external considerations.

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  • Signature Themes Grid
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    In this activity the participant will describe their top five talent themes in their own words, provide an example of how they've used each of their strengths, and how they plan to use them in the future. It's a great exercise to help people understand their strengths.

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  • Strengths + Engagement=Finding Your Major
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    This workbook helps students connect strengths to engagement opportunities and then to majors. The exercise could be used in classes, advising appointments, career counseling appointments, or students could do the series of activities on their own.

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  • Strengths BINGO!
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    Use BINGO to learn your Strengths!

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  • Strengths Insight Cards
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    All 34 themes with descriptions for validation and affirmation of Strengths.

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  • Strengths Memory Game
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    A fun game to learn more about Strengths.

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  • Strengths Self-Reflection and Implementation Guide
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    This document is a coaching tool designed to help you discover, discuss, journal, and develop your greatest talents. It helps you reflect on those things that are important to you, as well as turn thoughts into actions.

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  • Strengths Taboo Cards
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    A fun game to learn more about Strengths.

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  • Strengths Tree
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    This activity  helps people understand the type of role they play on a team, as well as how their strengths and the strengths of others come out when working on a task. It offers a way to demonstrate and reflect upon the leadership domains.

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  • StrengthsFinder Reflection
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    This activity helps students analyze the content presented in their Signature Theme Report.
    Talent, Theme, and Strength. This activity helps students understand and develop a common language in which they can discuss natural talents and the development and application of strength.

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  • Talent, Knowledge, or Skill?
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    In this activity, students learn that there are three things that contribute to the development of a strength.

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  • Talent, Theme, and Strength
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    This activity helps students understand and develop a common language in which they can discuss natural talents and the development and application of strength.

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  • Team Talent Map Template Version 1
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    Map out your talent themes and the talent themes of those around you! A great conversation piece in work environments.

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  • Team Talent Map Template Version 2
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    An easy-to-use Excel template for a Strengths Team Talent Map. The template automatically displays the frequency of each talent theme. Created by Organizational Effectiveness (OE) at the U of M. 

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  • The Challenge of Affirming My Strengths
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    This activity not only helps students affirm their Signature Themes, but also asks them to examine some of the challenges we all face when attempting to affirm our natural selves.

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  • The Talent Connection
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    This activity is designed to help students gain a greater understanding of their individual talents.

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  • Theme Crossword Puzzle
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    A crossword puzzle using talent themes!

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  • Theme Dynamics - Themes Working Together
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    This activity helps students describe how their talent themes work together.

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  • Theme Jumble III
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    Unscrabble letters to create words related to Strengths.

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  • Theme Jumble IV
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    Unscrabble letters to create words related to Strengths.

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  • Theme Jumble V
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    Unscrabble letters to create words related to Strengths.

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  • Theme Matching I
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    Match each of the Signature Themes with the word or phrase that best describes it.

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  • Theme Matching II
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    Match each of the Signature Themes with the word or phrase that best describes it.

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  • Treasure Hunt / Scavenger Hunt
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    This activity is designed to get people up and moving around to learn more about each other. Each person should identify one of his or her top five Clifton StrengthsFinder themes to share during this activity. He or she should be prepared to talk about “one benefit of this theme.”

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  • Values Clarification
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    This exercise provides a basis to have a discussion regarding how values inform all behavior, including our careers. Students will most certainly have different values and in differing order. This particular exercise asks students to evaluate values through the lens of their themes. However, students will also bring values to this discussion from their past experience, including culture and upbringing.

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  • Verify Your Signature Themes, Revisited
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    This activity helps students affirm their talent themes by asking them to discuss themes of talent with significant others.

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  • Verifying My Signature Themes
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    This activity helps students examine how their Signature Themes are manifested in their daily activities and how their Signature Themes are seen through the eyes of others.

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  • What I Bring
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    This exercise helps individuals understand their strengths in terms of what they bring to a team and what they need from their team to be successful.

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  • Writing Challenge
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    This activity is a hands-on approach to visualize the difference between using your Strengths and focusing on your weaknesses.

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