Strengthscope Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q. What is Strengthscope™?

A. Strengthscope™ is a revolutionary assessment tool that provides a comprehensive measurement of an individual's strengths at work. Strengthscope™ is wholly owned by The Strengths Partnership Ltd. Strengthscope™ comprises around 160 rating scale items, plus dynamically generated questions to help respondents ascertain:
Their ‘Significant Seven’ strengths
The extent to which they are able to productively apply their strengths at work
How visible their strengths are to others.
The Strengthscope™ feedback report provides a comprehensive account of a respondent’s strengths at work, along with ideas as to how to put these strengths to best use at work. The feedback report forms a basis for a strengths-focused feedback session to provide the respondent with the best chance of maximising their strengths at work.

Q. Who designed Strengthscope™?

A. Strengthscope™ was designed by a team from The Strengths Partnership Ltd. The Strengths Partnership is a joint venture between Blue Edge Consulting and Titan Talent, respectively owned and managed by Dr Paul Brewerton and James Brook. James is an expert in personal development, strengths and positive psychology and is former Head of Talent for Yahoo! Europe. Paul is an expert in OD, organisational culture and psychometric design. As well as Paul and James, the design team contained a range of experts in assessment, selection, management and leadership development and psychometrics.

Q. What is different about Strengthscope™ from a normal personality questionnaire?

A. Strengthscope™ identifies your strengths: the things that ‘strengthen’ you. This is a critical distinction between Strengthscope™ and say a broadband personality measure such as OPQ or 16PF5. Strengthscope™ does not describe behavioural preference (as personality questionnaires do) but instead identifies the behaviours and activities which make us feel strong, powerful and energised.

Q. How do you define ‘strengths’?

A. We define strengths as ‘underlying qualities that energise us, contribute to our personal growth and lead to peak performance’.

Q. What model is Strengthscope™ based on?

A. In designing the central Strengthscope™ model, we drew on a wide range of research efforts produced in the fields of personality, ability, positive psychology and strengths. We drilled down to identify the essence of strengths at work, finally selecting 22 strengths which we felt best captured performance-critical strengths in the workplace.
Please click here for more information on the Strengthscope™ model.

Q. What are the differences between strengths and competencies?

A. Competencies are typically defined as characteristics and behaviours that predict successful organisational outcomes. Most organisations using competencies have focused their efforts on defining skills, knowledge and behaviours associated with success in a particular functional group or at a particular level in the organisation (e.g. leadership). Unlike competencies, strengths have a strong emotional element as well as leading to valued outcomes; the best signpost of a strength is when something energises or strengthens you. Strengths are also part of your character – things that are core to you and are fairly consistently expressed across situations. Unlike surface characteristics such as skills and knowledge, they are relatively ‘hardwired’ in our teens and are difficult to develop and fundamentally change beyond this point.

Q. How is Strengthscope™ different from StrengthsFinder™ or the Values in Action (VIA) tool?

A. Strengthscope™ differs in several important ways from these tools:
It was developed principally to be used as a work based tool, although it has applications beyond the workplace.
Strengthscope™ offers the user multi-rater feedback on strengths, providing feedback from key stakeholders on the extent to which strengths are demonstrated through everyday work behaviours and practices.
The language used is deliberately straightforward, free of jargon and appropriate to the workplace.
Unlike some assessment tools, the entire strengths profile is offered as standard.
It has been developed and validated in Europe. However, the tool is designed to be used globally and translation into different languages is planned in the near future.
The Strengths Partnership, the organisation behind Strengthscope™, has considerable consulting experience, know-how and tools to translate strengths assessment results into practical and measurable actions and results. We are able to answer the “This is a great assessment report, but so what?” question with confidence.
The model is intentionally more compact than those of other tools to make it more practical and useable.
Strengthscope™ offers a ‘team strengths’ report which can be used in team development settings.

Q. It is useful to have a view on how visible I think my strengths are but what about what other people think – is there any way I can gain the views of people whose opinions I value?

A. Strengthscope™ contains a multi-rater component which allows you to gather this feedback and is included in the feedback report. It is important that you are aware of how others who are close to you view your strengths in order to determine whether they see your strengths demonstrated through your behaviours in the same way as you view yourself. What is especially important to focus on is any ‘gaps’ or ‘blind spots’ between how you view yourself and how others see you. This will generate additional insights and self-awareness, enabling you to express yourself more authentically and to build higher quality relationships based on trust and openness.

Q. What about Strengthscope™’s reliability and validity – is it ‘fit for purpose’?

A. Our aspiration is for Strengthscope™ to be best in class in terms of psychometric properties. Our validation work with the tool is ongoing but up to now, we have obtained internal consistency reliability ratings which far exceed the baseline required by the British Psychological Society and American Psychological Association. Median reliability currently stands at 0.83.

Q. Do I need accreditation training to use Strengthscope™?

A. Yes, accreditation training runs throughout each year and training takes one day. Experience has shown us that it is very important that prospective users of the instrument have the opportunity to watch demonstrations, use Strengthscope™ in a live setting, and receive feedback on their approach. This is because the approach and emphasis in using Strengthscope™ is different to more standard assessment tools.

Contact Talent Tools for more information on accreditation training.

Q. How much does Strengthscope™ cost to use?

The price varies depending on the quantify purchased at any one time. The standard retail price for an individual assessment using the  360 / multi-rater version $175 + GST.

Q. What is the process for using Strengthscope™?

Strengthscope™ can be purchased by contacting Talent Tools.

Once payment is received, individual IDs or a project ID will be allocated to you.

You then invite participants to complete the questionnaire at www.strengthscope.com.

The questionnaire will take around 35 minutes of your time to complete and should be completed in an environment with as few interruptions and distractions as possible.

We will monitor completion rates and remain on hand for any support required.

You can decide whether feedback reports should be sent to you or direct to participants, along with a debrief preparation questionnaire and an FAQs document to answer any immediate queries they may have.

You then arrange separately for participants’ feedback sessions.

Q. How can I buy Strengthscope™

Simply call Talent Tools on 1800 768 569 or outside Australia on 61 7 3103 0177 or email us.

Q. What is Strengthscope™?

Q. Who designed Strengthscope™?
Q. What is different about Strengthscope™ from a normal personality questionnaire?

Q. How do you define ‘strengths’?
Q. What model is Strengthscope™ based on?

Q. What are the differences between strengths and competencies?
Q. How is Strengthscope™ different from StrengthsFinder™ or the Values in Action (VIA) tool?

Q. It is useful to have a view on how visible I think my strengths are but what about what other people think – is there any way I can gain the views of people whose opinions I value?
Q. What about Strengthscope™’s reliability and validity – is it ‘fit for purpose’?

Q. Do I need accreditation training to use Strengthscope™?
Q. How much does Strengthscope™ cost to use?

Q. What is the process for using Strengthscope™?