The Power of Bring & Need For Strengths

Have you ever tried to explain your talents to someone, but ended up stumbling or resorting to clichés like “I’m a people person” or “I work hard”? Gallup CliftonStrengths gives us something way better: a Bring statement and a Need statement for each theme. These two lines are like your strengths superpower in a nutshell. As a result they are clear, honest and surprisingly revealing.

Think of them as your contribution (bring) and your fuel (need):

• Bring = What you offer

• Need = What helps you do your best

Together, they tell a little story about how you show up and what conditions help you shine.

Most of us have a pretty decent instinct about what we’re good at, but it gets hard to know why or how to communicate it. The Bring and Need framework does that in a way that feels real. Instead of saying: “I’m good at communication” or “I’m a great presenter”, you can get something that feels human and practical: “I bring attention to messages that must be heard — and I need a sounding board and an audience.” Hint, hint, we have strong Communication Strengths in our team. 

This helps transform statements into a more useful explanation for real conversations and something that the other person can hook on to and remember about you, reinforcing the strengths mindset, over a deficiency mindset.

Here are examples from a handful of themes to show the pattern:

Achiever

Bring: Intensity and stamina of effort

Need: Freedom to work at my own pace

Communication

Bring: Attention to messages that must be heard

Need: A sounding board, an audience

Developer

Bring: Commitment — time and energy — to human growth

Need: Someone to invest in

Strategic

Bring: Creative anticipation, imagination, persistence

Need: Freedom to make midcourse corrections

Positivity

Bring: Contagious energy and enthusiasm

Need: Freedom to experience the joy (and drama) of life

You can access the full Bring and Need Statements here: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/655616/bring-need-statements.aspx

So how do you use ie: claim and aim the Bring & Need (beyond just reading or remembering it)? Ideally, this isn’t just a neat report you glance at once and forget.

Here’s how you can actually use it:

• In Conversations: Go into a strengths chat with your partner, teammate or manager to get clarity and say: “Here’s what I bring… and here’s what I need from you so I can bring it fully.”

• In Career Talks, Interviews, Performance Development Reviews: Instead of nebulous qualities, you speak in concrete contribution language that hiring managers or your manager remembers.

• In Teams: When everyone does this, you stop guessing and start appreciating why people do what they do. You likely spot it in others before they even do and can then recognise and reward it. 

• In Personal Growth: You see not just where you shine but can also identify the conditions that help you shine consistently.

So think about your own Bring and Need and then where you can use it optimally.