People strong in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.

You can tell a person strong in Belief by these attributes (source: Dr. Hulme, APU):

• Enduring core values
• Deeply held ideas about life, purpose, and how things should be
• Energized by activities that are mission- congruent
• Dependable, consistent
• Highly ethical

More about Belief

• Needs on a team: To see value
• As a Leader: Provide a purpose
• In Conflict: Keep things on track
• Partner with: someone with a strong Futuristic theme. This person can energize you by painting a vivid picture of the direction in which your values will lead.
• In academics: – loves to see the value in a course – this student has strong values/beliefs that guide their choices, so their course selection needs to be congruent with their values or passions – may prefer profs with strong beliefs that are the same as theirs – may enjoy ethics courses, philosophy, religion, but also may be a handful for the prof – encourage them to take courses from profs with strong opinions and beliefs, regardless of whether or not they agree with those beliefs 

Where does Belief Theme rank in the population?

22	26	17	26

Out of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, it’s statistically:

• most likely to appear with  Responsibility
• least likely to be found with Command or Significance
  

The genius of your Belief talent starts with the fact that you have some very deeply-held beliefs about what is true, what is unchanging, and what can be, and always will be, dependable. These beliefs go very deep. They provide personal power to stand strong no matter what. This is central to your character. But the genius of your Belief strength is what results from those beliefs. From your beliefs, you generate meaning, purpose and direction for your life and all you do. This meaning, purpose and direction translate into a tremendous amount of power, drive and motivation within you. So long as you revolve your life around your deepest values and beliefs, you will experience motivation, drive, and determination to make monumental impacts in the lives of individuals as well as groups and organizations.

You at your

• Best (Balcony):
  • passionate, steadfast, knows where they stand, altruistic, family-oriented, ethical, responsible
• Worse (Basement):
  • stubborn, set in his or her ways, elitist, unaccepting of other ideas, opinionated, goody-two-shoes

Belief may be one of your signature themes if…

• You possess enduring core values that you adamantly live by.
• You are extremely family-oriented, altruistic, spiritual, or ethical.
• You fall back on these high ethics and core values during times of temptation or distraction.
• You find meaning in holding this consistent set of priorities.
• Your friends call you “dependable” and easy to trust.
• You thrive upon relationships and meaningful work that meshes with your values.
  • Source: Let’s Talk Personality

A more detailed explanation from Gallup:

If you possess a strong Belief theme, you have certain core values that are enduring. These values vary from one person to another, but ordinarily your Belief theme causes you to be family-oriented, altruistic, even spiritual, and to value responsibility and high ethics — both in yourself and others. These core values affect your behavior in many ways. They give your life meaning and satisfaction; in your view, success is more than money and prestige. They provide you with direction, guiding you through the temptations and distractions of life toward a consistent set of priorities. This consistency is the foundation for all your relationships. Your friends call you dependable. “I know where you stand,” they say. Your Belief makes you easy to trust. It also demands that you find work that meshes with your values. Your work must be meaningful; it must matter to you. And guided by your Belief theme it will matter only if it gives you a chance to live out your values.

Action Items for This Theme

• Clarify your values by thinking about one of your best days ever. How did your values play into the satisfaction that you received from your best day? How can you organize your life to repeat that day as often as possible?
• Don’t be afraid to give voice to your values. This will help others know whom you are and how to relate to you.
• Actively seek roles that fit your values. In particular, think about joining organizations that define their purpose by the contribution they make to society.
• Express your values outside of the workplace by volunteering for a hospital board or a school board, or by running for an elected office.
• Actively cultivate friends who share your basic values. Consider your best friend. Does this person share your value system?

Be ready to:

• Partner with someone with a strong Futuristic theme. This person can energize you by painting a vivid picture of the direction in which your values will lead.
• Accept that other people might have values different from your own. Having strong Belief does not equate with being judgmental.
  • The Clifton StrengthsFinder and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are protected by copyright of Gallup Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.

For the more visually inclined:

• Season 1: Learning to Love all 34
  • Master Monday: Belief
• Season 2: Pairing and Expanding your Strengths 
  • Companion Guide PDF
  • Productively aiming Belief
• Season 3: Holding Core Values that Endure
  • Companion guide PDF
  • Strengths-Based Leadership Belief
• Season 4: Understanding and Investing in your strengths
• Season 5: Belief/arranger
  • Highlights of Belief
• Season 6: Developing Teams and Managers Belief/Consistency
  • Highlights belief

• Conviction: The power and peril of passionate Belief
• The Belief Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life
• The Biology of Belief

Go deeper

• Using your strengths in school and college with great ideas on building relationships, study techniques, class selection, and extra curricular activities.
• Read Why Partners need complimentary strengths.
• Select a Career with strengths in mind

• Theme addicts is a series created by UnleashStrengths to highlight the massive impact the StrengthsFinder assessment through interviews and discussions.
• Lead through your strengths features many interesting guests and Career Q and A about leverage your strengths at work.
• Maximize Your Strengths features interviews and discussion on developing your strengths. She really drills into each of the themes by interviewing real people on how a specific theme shows up in their lives.
• Called to Coach is a webcast resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world.
• ISOGO TV promises a lot: So dramatically increase your energy and decrease your frustration at work, that you cannot help but take the Strengths paradigm home to your family. Fueling life-changing stories.
• The True Strength Podcast by Ian Pettigrew (Kingfisher Coaching) features inspiring true stories of how people succeed through applying their strengths and being resilient. It often includes a Gallup StrengthsFinder profile.
• If you are looking to identify and develop your strengths and talents, take calculated risks and make decisions, The Strengths Revolution with Steve Morgan will help your personal development, as well as helping you support your clients, employees, teams and wider organisations. Knowing your strengths will also support positive risk-taking and decision making as part of good risk management.

 

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Sources:

• Balconies and Basements
• Leadership, team and conflict
• The Genius and Beauty of Strengths
• Strengths-based academic Advising
• Strengths partnerships