People strong in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

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

• Dependable
• Others count on them
• Keep their word
• Take psychological ownership for anything they commit to
• Good follow-through
• Conscientious
• No excuses

More about Responsibility:

• Needs on a team: To challenge
• As a Leader: Are productive
• In Conflict: Make it productive
• Partner with: No specific recommendation, but find other hard workers.
• In academics: 

  – loves to see things through to completion – will want to take required courses first – will want to know what is expected in each class – likes profs who are consistent and can be trusted – enjoys having a faculty mentor – will usually be prepared for advising sessions and will follow through on educational plans

Where does Responsibility Theme rank in the population?

2	3	4	5

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

• most likely to appear with Achiever and Relator and
• least likely to be found with Command or Restorative
  

The genius of your Responsibility theme is found in the depth and the quality of relationships you are able to form with people. Because you are a person of your word,people trust you. It is this trust that bonds you to others and bonds others to you. Your ability to build trusting relationships is foundational to any influence relationship.Therefore you tend to have a highly persuasive and influential impact on people. This talent can be used in leadership as people will only willingly follow those they trust, and trust is what you have the genius to generate in others. The final aspect of the genius of your Responsibility theme involves the level of commitment you can generate in others.This stems from the fact that you make such deep commitments to others and from the fact that you make such deep commitments to their full development and personal fulfillment.

The chances are very high that you have Strengthsfinder Responsibility if you absolutely feel a task assigned is a task that must be done. And that you feel badly until that job is finished if you do not finish the task on time.

• You take emotional and psychological ownership of any project you commit to.
• You feel incredibly guilty when you can’t deliver on a promise, even if no one else cares.
• You believe that apologies, excuses and rationalizations are the worst.
• Instead, you believe in making restitution through action.
• You want to maintain a reputation as someone who is completely dependable.
• You are the “go-to person” when something needs to get done.
• You sometimes volunteer for more than you can handle.
  • Source: Let’s Talk Personality

A more detailed explanation from Gallup:

Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help — and they soon will — you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should.

Action Items for This Theme

• Emphasize your sense of Responsibility when job hunting. During interviews, describe your desire to be held fully accountable for the success or failure of projects, your intense dislike of unfinished work, and your need to “make it right” if a commitment is not met.
• Keep volunteering for more responsibility than your experience seems to warrant. You thrive on Responsibility and can deal with it very effectively.
• Align yourself with others who share your sense of Responsibility. You will thrive on the feeling of being surrounded by hands as strong as your own.
• Tell your manager that you work best when given the independence and freedom to follow through on your commitments. Tell your manager that you don’t need to check in during a project, just at the end. You can be trusted to get it done.
• Take time to enjoy the completion of your commitments. Responsibility is a source of motivation for you.

Be ready to:

• Push yourself to say “no.” Because you are instinctively responsible, it might sometimes be very difficult to refuse opportunities. For this reason you must be selective. Ask for more responsibility in only the areas that matter most to you.
• Partner with someone with a strong Discipline or Focus theme. This person can help you stay on track and prevent you from becoming overloaded.
  • The Clifton StrengthsFinder and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are protected by copyright of Gallup Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.

• Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win (New Edition)by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin 
• Principles: Life and Workby Ray Dalio 

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson 

Extreme Ownership | Jocko Willink | TEDxUniversityofNevada

How to stop screwing yourself over | Mel Robbins | TEDxSF

Just for fun

Go deeper

• Using your strengths in school and college with great ideas on building relationships, study techniques, class selection, and extra curricular activities.

Podcast episodes to help you understand and leverage your Responsibility Strength

• Episode 1: Taking Ownership of Your Life – “The Tim Ferriss Show”
• Episode 2: Building Trust Through Accountability – “The Tony Robbins Podcast”
• Episode 3: The Importance of Integrity and Reliability – “The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes”
• Episode 4: Leading with Responsibility – “The Leadership Podcast”
• Episode 5: Women in Leadership: Embracing Responsibility – “The Confident Woman Podcast” (Host: Sherry Parks)
• Episode 6: The Responsible Woman: Leading with Integrity – “Women Who Lead” (Host: Andrena Sawyer)

Listen to great Strengths Podcasts

• 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