Maximizing Your Coaching Reach -- Gallup Called to Coach: C A Venkatrgahavan -- S6E21

On a recent Called to Coach, we talked with Gallup-certified Strengths Coach C A Venkatrgahavan, Director, Employee Relations and Policies at Accenture India.

During the interview, Venkat shares his coaching insights. The following is a summary of the conversation between host Pooja Luthra and Venkat. 

Pooja Luthra: Tell us a little about your journey so far with Gallup and others in the work that you do.

Venkat: I was a novice when we started and still feel like a novice. And I think the reason is with every passing day that I use (CliftonStrengths) and the tools we have access to, my discovery of what we can do with it and the opportunities that unfold every day are limitless in the last 36 months of being a coach. It’s been three years of intense application, and I’m feeling very much at peace with myself.

PL: Tell me a little bit about what you’ve been doing. What has been your focus?

V: I coach for the joy of coaching, and draw inspiration from coaching. I coach one-on-ones, I coach teams and I coach groups. My intent has been: 1) How can I maximize my "reach"? 2) How can I use this skill and these tools to get to know many people? I’m also now using this to see how I the “reach” I have can meet my objectives in what I do.

Deliberative -- Bringing Confidence Through Diligence -- Theme Thursday Season 4

On this Theme Thursday Season Four webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Deliberative. 

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Deliberative takes great care in making decisions that avoid foreseeable risks. They are thoughtful, considerate, aware, and really tuned in to what’s going on. It is about minimizing risk at all costs. It’s wanting to jump, and knowing that when you’re jumping that nobody is going to fall. When somebody with high Deliberative is at their best their diligence and decision making brings confidence. They are up for making choices, especially choices that matter. Individuals with high Deliberative enjoy the process of sorting through options to move things forward. When they are at their best they are anticipating obstacles and preventing mistakes. 

If you are high in Deliberative get involved in big decisions. Raise your hand for being involved in sorting through options. Sort through the existing evidence to make the best decision moving forward. Ask early and often for as many details as are currently available. Ask for the agenda. Ask for the enrollment data for students. Ask what expectations are expected of you early and often. Slowing things down is a by-product for the amount of time and consideration Deliberative puts into things. 

Employees, Leaders and Engagement: An Introduction to the Q12 -- Gallup Called to Coach: Mike McDonald -- S6E20

On this special edition of Called to Coach, we will spend time investigating the experiential, emotional and empirical aspects of each element of Gallup's Q12 engagement instrument and learning how it increases the power of our coaching as a primary driver of success. This series will be hosted by Dr. Mike McDonald, Senior Workplace Consultant at Gallup, who started at Gallup in 1990 as a manager/team leader and has had a variety of roles but has always led a team. One of his primary concerns for managers is one that he’s experienced himself: How many well-intentioned team leaders are there who are working really hard but don’t have any coaching or context about engagement and how do they lead to engagement through their strengths?

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Below is a summary of the conversation. Full audio and video are posted above. 

Jim: Strengths are infinitely more powerful in the context of a measurement called Q12 (which has 12 questions). What are you hoping to accomplish through the next 12 sessions (each of which is devoted to one of the 12 questions?

Mike McDonald: The first thing I want to do is to bring the importance of coaching to the leaders of teams if they want to be effective at driving engagement and performance in their teams. Leader self-awareness is critical, and that’s backed up by empirical research. The leader has to be in tune with the people they lead and the culture they’re creating and the performance that’s expected, nothing happens. And to have a coach for the leader is a game changer.

The other thing is to add aspects of coaching acumen to what we already know about great coaching. There are three points I’d like to land on:

1. The empirical matters -- this is truth, not just someone’s good idea.
2. Engagement is predominantly emotional. We never want to get rid of the emotional. We want to capture and create the power of emotion.
3. The experiential -- we have all been in the three engagement categories, engaged, not engaged and actively disengaged.

Mastery Monday: Productive Aiming -- Discipline (2018)

By Albert L. Winseman, D.Min

Precision. Detail. Routine. Structure. These are the hallmarks of those with Discipline among their Top Five Signature Themes of talent. Only 7% of the 18+ million individuals who have taken the CliftonStrengths assessment have it in their Top Five, which means it is one of the rarer Signature Themes -- coming in at No. 31 out of 34 in frequency. Discipline sticks to the schedule, has a predictable routine, plans the work and then works the plan. Discipline comes in two varieties: Spatial Discipline and Thought-Process Discipline. Spatial Discipline lives by the rule, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” The desks of those with a dominant Discipline strength are impeccably tidy, their homes are spotless, and they love to organize, categorize and straighten things up. As such, they never have to waste time hunting for an object, tool or important paper -- because those items are exactly where they are supposed to be. Thought-Process Discipline is a structured, organized, systematic way of thinking. Those whose Discipline tends to be more Thought-Process oriented tend to have an internal calendar in which they mentally log their appointments and to-dos, and easily and quickly create color-coded spreadsheets to give visual organization to their thinking. Many with strong Discipline talents are both Spatial and Thought-Process in their manifestation of their talents, but some are more one than the other. In any case, structure, precision, routine and detail make for a predictable world and drive efficiency and productivity -- which gives Discipline a great deal of satisfaction.

Become a Better Partner Using the “Hula Hoop” Theory, an Effective New Coaching Tool

By Dana Williams

During a business trip last week, I encountered a woman who was traveling with three hula hoops crossed very strategically across her body. She had a joy in her step as she glided through the chaotic San Diego airport. With her huge suitcase and hula hoops in tow, she was a sight to see among the crowds. I wish I had more time to spend with this wonderful “hula hoop” lady, but we were both on the move so instead, I snapped quick photo. She was confident and did not worry about what those around her thought. It appeared to me that her mind was positively focused on making a difference in the world using her talents. 

She may not have known it, but this woman and her hula hoops illustrated an effective coaching strategy I find many of my clients desperately need. Great moments and effective partnerships don’t come from focusing on anyone but yourself. Science tells us that we can rewire our brain to be focused on positive performance and experience. Yet we continue to listen to the toxic voices in our head that tell us otherwise throughout the day. We worry about what people think, we make up stories about situations that are not even true and we form habits that we do not even realize we have. We tend to react to activities in our day instead being curious about what we are thinking and why.

Armed With Strengths: Using Your Talents in Life's Crises -- Gallup Called to Coach: Traci McCausland -- S6E19

On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Certified Strengths Coach and Founder of Follow Your Strengths, Traci McCausland. Traci is a Strengths Trainer, Engagement Consultant, and Career Coach who lives in Iowa. 

During the interview,  Traci shares how she has been putting her strengths to work amid a life crisis -- in her case, a cancer diagnosis. The following is a summary of the conversation between Jim Collison and Traci. 


Jim: Let’s talk about your journey to coaching.

Traci: I’m based in Waterloo, in eastern Iowa, and my background is in HR and I have a master’s in counseling/psych from the University of Kansas. I focused on career and vocation in my grad school work. Back then, I wanted people to be happy at work, but now I know that engagement is more than just being happy. In those days of reading and studying what that looks like, all things pointed to Gallup. So I finished my master’s degree, did a little recruiting and then spent four years at Accenture in talent and organization performance in Kansas City. 

We decided to move to Iowa and that led me to find my way locally and piece together a few things. I’ve taught for John Deere for about seven years as a contractor and then when I saw Gallup open the doors to becoming certified in Strengths and go deliver this, I thought, “Well, that seems like what I’ve been on this track to do for 15 years without knowing it.” I went through the training in March 2014 and was so blessed to have learned from Curt Liesveld and Heather Wright, and there were people in the room who were doing this full-time and I thought, “I want to do this full-time.” So today my focus is on Strengths workshops and training sessions, and using Q12 around engagement. 90% of my work comes from leading team sessions and workshops, and about 10% from coaching, mostly about career and transition, including college students.

Manager as Coach: Start With Trust

By Maika Leibbrandt

Employees today are not looking for a boss; they are looking for a coach. It sounds dreamy, but what does it mean for leaders who have spent their careers learning how to be a great boss? If you’re going to stay in the game and change the game into something better, it might be time to stretch your understanding of what you are paid to do as a manager.

I don’t see a lot of people raising their hands, saying they want to work for someone who puts out fires. But when I ask managers what they are paid to do, often their list of tasks boils down to fixing problems, chasing projects and herding groups of people in a direction in which they want them to go. Yet what team members increasingly desire is in-the-moment feedback, guidance based on their talents, and freedom to work hard in ways that lead them to better outcomes. They want meaningful work that unifies their strengths, their values and their mission. While there are specific distinctions between boss and coach, I believe one difference sets the great coaches -- those who create truly engaging environments -- apart from all other managers: They start with trust.

Context -- Comprehend the Present by Knowing the Past -- Theme Thursday Season 4

On this Theme Thursday Season Four webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Context. 

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Context is about comprehending the present by knowing the past. There is a value in being able to not miss things that have been relevant and important in the past, especially as you are thinking about how to move through the present and into the future. 

If you are high in Context you create safety by ensuring that mistakes are not repeated. You can promote inclusivity by understanding individual and group histories. When Context is at its best those high in it are well informed. They are prepared for anything. They can calmly reference what they know when faced with a problem. It is helpful to show the path that lead to where you are today, and explore the steps on how you got there. 

The Subtle Approach to Building a Strengths Culture -- Gallup Called to Coach: Zachary Lohrisch -- S6E18

On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Zac Lohrisch, the Learning Content Manager of The Good Guys, an Australian appliances, electronics and health products retailer.

Introduction

• Zac works at The Good Guys, one of Australia’s most respected retailers.
• He is on a mission to help people live their best lives.
• He is the Learning Content Manager at The Good Guys.
• He is building strong individuals and teams with an innovative approach to leadership development.
• He’s implemented strengths in a national leadership development program that has been delivered to more than 300 retail leaders.
• His passion is developing impactful learning solutions that get top results.
• Zac’s Top 5 are Learner, Individualization, Ideation, Woo and Communication.
• He has worked for The Good Guys for 10 years in multiple roles in HR and Learning & Development.

Mastery Monday: Productive Aiming: Developer (2018)

By Albert L. Winseman, D.Min

Individuals with strong Developer talents not only see the potential in others, they want to invest in that potential and help it grow. Every individual is a work in progress, and Developers are driven to move that work further along. No growth is too small -- all growth is recognized and celebrated. Those high in Developer like to teach, coach, mentor, invest. Small increments add up to huge growth. Developers are fascinated with devising the best way to bring out the best in others and to help them achieve their full potential. Developers tend to be patient and make a commitment to human growth. A friend of mine is fond of saying, “By the yard, it’s hard; but inch by inch, it’s a cinch!” That saying aptly applies to the perspective of those with Developer in their Top Five. Incremental progress is the best and most effective way to realize potential.