Confidence: Confidence Wins Over Doubt-Builder Talent Tuesday Season 1

On this episode of Builder Talent Tuesday Season One, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, discuss the Confidence talent with guest Shahab Kaviani.

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People who are especially talented in the Confidence talent are keenly aware of their abilities. They harness this awareness to take quick and decisive action. They seize opportunities knowing they will succeed and use their talents to persist in the face of uncertainty and failure.

They have a strong sense of self-belief. They know they have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. They have confidence in their ideas and their ability to make things happen. They can easily convince others of their ability to get results.

Mastery Monday: Understanding Harmony

By Albert L. Winseman, D.Min

“Can we all get along?” These words said by Rodney King more than two decades ago are the epitome of Harmony: let’s find a way to get along. Harmony is more interested in what we have in common than what our differences are, what unites us rather than what divides us. I was having a coaching conversation with an individual with Harmony as his top theme who had done two tours in Iraq as a Military Police officer. I asked him what he liked best about his service in Iraq, and he said what he enjoyed most was getting out in the neighborhoods and talking to the residents and finding out about them and their lives – and finding common ground. He said, “We are more alike than we are different.” That is Harmony at work. Those high in Harmony sometimes get a negative label as a pushover, someone who just “goes along to get along.” While it is true that Harmony doesn’t like conflict, mature Harmony doesn’t just keep the peace, it makes peace – and often times that is hard work. Harmony finds the common ground, finds areas where we can all agree, moves forward. For Harmony, conflict is unproductive. The sooner we can find agreement, Harmony asserts, the sooner we can move on and make progress.

In this installment of Compare and Contrast, I look at the similarities and differences between Harmony and Belief, Learner, and Adaptability.

CliftonStrengths for Students: A Blueprint for Students to Thrive

By Tom Matson, Senior Executive Leadership Strategist: Gallup Education and Jennifer Robison, Senior Editor: Gallup Press

Students start their college experience with hopes for the future, often not only for their own life but also the world around them. And higher education leaders carry hope that their students will form an emotionally engaging relationship with their school, thrive on campus, and then create the great job and great life they’re looking for.

To help students and their school leaders who support them build their relationship and reach their goals, Gallup wrote CliftonStrengths for Students, drawing from its expertise in strengths development and the effects of strengths, engagement and well-being in higher education.

Coaching at Compassion International - Called to Coach S5E23

On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Jack Wilson.

Jack Wilson 
Jack has worked with Compassion International for 20 years in a variety of HR functions, currently serving as the Senior Leadership and Engagement Consultant. His responsibilities include leadership training and strengths coaching, and leading the employee engagement initiatives.

Founded in 1952, Compassion International is a Christian child development organization that works to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. Compassion uses strengths to live out the mission of the organization. Compassion has partnered with Gallup for 9 consecutive years and has used their employee engagement tools and methodology to drive engagement across the organization. We were honored this year to be presented with the Gallup Great Workplace award for the fifth time.

Developer: Discussing a Language of Progress- Theme Thursday Season 3

On this Theme Thursday Season Three webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Developer with guest Nicki Luther.

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You see the potential in others. Very often, in fact, potential is all you see. In your view, no individual is fully formed. On the contrary, each individual is a work in progress, alive with possibilities. And you are drawn toward people for this very reason. When you interact with others, your goal is to help them experience success. You look for ways to challenge them. You devise interesting experiences that can stretch them and help them grow. And all the while, you are on the lookout for the signs of growth — a new behavior learned or modified, a slight improvement in a skill, a glimpse of excellence or of “flow” where previously there were only halting steps. 

For you, these small increments — invisible to some — are clear signs of potential being realized. These signs of growth in others are your fuel. They bring you strength and satisfaction. Over time, many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you.

Mastery Monday: Understanding Connectedness

By Albert L. Winseman, D.Min

In the opening scene of “The Lion King,” the Shaman Rafiki holds up a newly born Simba in front of all the Pride Lands as “The Circle of Life” is sung in the background. This is the epitome of Connectedness: the circle of life, the web of creation, the invisible hand. Connectedness can sound like “there are no coincidences – everything happens for a reason.” Or it can sound like the “Butterfly Effect” – when a butterfly beats its wings in Brazil, it rains in Beijing. We are all part of one humanity, and what happens to one member affects us all.  Those high in Connectedness tend to see patterns and relationships where others only see chaos and confusion. While there may indeed be randomness in the world of those with strong Connectedness talents, there is no occurrence that is without meaning. The mystery of life is not confusing; rather, in a very profound way it is comforting.

In this installment of Compare and Contrast, I explore the similarities and differences of Connectedness with Belief, Harmony, and Futuristic. All of these themes have a lot in common with Connectedness, but it is important to note their differences.

How Strengths Shape How We See the World - Called to Coach S5E22

On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Gallup's Talent Development Architect, Dean Jones.

Strengths are a filter – we say this in the Accelerated Course, and do the “Stand Up” exercise.

• Some things get through, and some don't
• We don't realize that it is just our perception - we think the world is that way (Competition example).  It’s not like “I have this perspective” – I think that the world is that way, and I don’t really understand why others don’t see it that way.  
• Self-awareness is our access to transforming our view of the world
• I become aware of the filter and can realize that there is something beyond it 
• Still trapped by the filter - but I realize that something is missing 
• The paradox is that we are always “trapped” by who we are – we can never escape it.  We can only fully love and accept ourselves.  And that allows us to transcend our own humanity.  We are not just given by who we are – we can then see our identity at work (of which our talents and strengths are a part) and extend beyond it.  
• Get interested in how something/someone else might complement me.  Understand the limits of my own abilities, talents, strengths and humanity.  
• Coaching is a process of building self-awareness.  
• Do I see how my own mechanism works?  
• Can I step outside of myself and watch it work?  
• Can I communicate who I am and how I work?  
• Can I be responsible for it?  
• Can I be responsible for the impact of it?  
• That’s fundamentally what distinguishes coaching from advice.  Some coaches have difficulty with that – they end up providing advice or guidance, and call it coaching.  
• Coaching is more about empowering that person to see, understand and own their own “mechanism” – so they can fully be responsible for themselves and their impact.  
• Advice makes people dependent, and is about the coach.  Coaching makes people powerful and independent, and is about the person’s self-awareness and self-actualization.  

Strengths are different from the inside out.

• We know the characteristics of a particular talent theme, and the unique contribution that it is and can be. 
• How that theme looks from the outside is not how the world occurs for that person - in some ways, it's almost the opposite. 
• While what we notice about the person from the outside is their impact or contribution, what the person experiences may be very different
• It may occur to them more like a deficit or a problem to be solved or an eternal question we ask ourselves
• Someone with Achiever always feeling like there is more work to do, more lists to make, more things to be crossed off
• Someone with Significance concerned with the question, “Am I important enough? Am I center stage?”
• Someone with Includer constantly scanning to make sure that no one is left out
• Someone with Ideation who constantly share an endless stream of ideas and wonders why they don’t take hold
• In many cases, the talent shows up initially as a concern – and part of the value and contribution of understanding your talent profile is seeing that concern as a unique and powerful contribution
• Frees the person up from being burdened with that – or wondering why others don’t share that concern – and seeing that talent as a gift and a contribution
• Part of being responsible for our talents is owning our unique perspective – our unique concerns – loosening their grip, and being able to see and own the contribution they are
• Coaches help with that process. 

Don't miss out on the 2017 CliftonStrengths Summit in Omaha, Nebraska on July 17-19. Register today!

Visit Gallup Strengths Center to browse our myriad of products and learning opportunities for strengths-based development.

Continue the coaching conversation on Facebook and Twitter. It’s a great way to network with others who share a passion for strengths!

Dean Jones is the principal architect of Gallup's global client learning strategy. Dean consults with clients on strategic solutions to address key business issues, including organizational development, performance management, learning and development, productivity and workforce effectiveness. He oversees the direction of Gallup's client learning offerings, the development of the organization's learning consultants, and the growth of Gallup's learning business worldwide, including its public course offerings and learning products.

Dean Jones's top five strengths are Activator, Focus, Woo, Strategic and Relator.

Adaptability: Calmness and Clarity During Change - Theme Thursday Season 3

On this Theme Thursday Season Three webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Adaptability with Gallup associate, Jamie McCarville.

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You live in the moment. You don’t see the future as a fixed destination. Instead, you see it as a place that you create out of the choices that you make right now. And so you discover your future one choice at a time. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have plans. You probably do. But this theme of Adaptability does enable you to respond willingly to the demands of the moment even if they pull you away from your plans. Unlike some, you don’t resent sudden requests or unforeseen detours. You expect them. They are inevitable. Indeed, on some level you actually look forward to them. You are, at heart, a very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.

Delegator: Mastering the Art of Inspiration and Delegation-Builder Talent Tuesday Season 1

On this episode of Builder Talent Tuesday Season One, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, discuss the Delegator talent with guest Doris Lux.

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People who are especially talented in the Delegator talent can trust and empower others to help grow their business. They know what their employees do best and position them to take responsibility for tasks at which they are most likely to excel. They can relinquish control and focus on growing the business.

They recognize that a growing business requires a shift from a do-it-yourself style, which is helpful in the early stages, to a handing-it-over-to-others style as the business starts to grow. They are willing to relinquish control and hand over authority for certain tasks to others who are better equipped to handle them.

Mastery Monday: Understanding Developer

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 further that work 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 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 can aptly apply to the perspective of those with Developer in their Top Five. Incremental progress is the best and most effective way to realize potential.

In this installment of Compare and Contrast, I look at the similarities and differences between Developer and Maximizer, Restorative, and Empathy.