Connectedness: Bridging Silos

Connectedness, one of the 34 StrengthsFinder™ talent themes that Gallup has described, is often underappreciated and can even be seen as a bit flaky. People with Connectedness see patterns and typically have a sense of the connections that exist between all of humanity and even all that is within the universe. Sounds too new agey? Think about this: The power of Connectedness is its ability to integrate that which is disconnected, whether the fragments are factions of people or disparate ideas. 

What can Connectedness contribute to a team? To an organization? Here's my short answer: People with Connectedness can bridge silos.

Sometimes, those silos are about people. 

Recently, working with a client who is relatively new to her organization, I heard her describe what she perceived to be a preexisting tension between her department and another department. Her impression was that there was unnecessary difficulty in their collaboration, that there seemed to be an "us vs. them" mentality. Because her department and she necessarily collaborate with the other department, improved working relationships between the two departments would be extremely beneficial not only for both departments but also for the organization itself and the mission it serves. Encouraged by me to lean into her Connectedness, she set up a meeting with her counterpart in the other department, at which they focused on the outcomes the two departments need to bring about. By focusing on what they had in common (a shared goal), she helped create a bridge between these two departments that leads to their more effective collaboration. 

While others involved in the situation I've described may have felt the tension between the departments, it was this particular client, with her Connectedness, who had the talent to do three things: 1) sense and name the division between the departments, 2) find what they had in common that would be the foundation for collaboration, and 3) build bridge span to the other department. The result? They are no longer operating in disconnected silos but instead are joining forces to collaborate toward specific goals.

Sometimes, the silos are about information or ideas. 

As a new lawyer working in health care in a large firm, it was my responsibility to monitor new opinions from our state's highest ranking court to look for opinions that could affect our practice. Studying a new opinion that pertained to the construction industry, I saw the possibility that the opinion might be construed to apply to our health care clients, creating a new type of legal claim that could be used against our clients and giving rise to triple damages. When I took this observation to the senior lawyer in my department, he didn't see the connection. After all, the opinion related to a construction case, and we represented health care clients. It wasn't until amended petitions starting arriving at our office, all seeking those triple damages against our clients, that he realized the connection. By seeing the connection in advance, I was prepared with a legal rationale that we then used successfully to convince the court that this new type of legal claim should not apply to our clients.  

When asked to explain my Connectedness, I share my filter this way: When I see all that is around me-- people, ideas, information, cultures-- it's as though I see an overlay of lines pointing between them, drawing connections. And I am hard-wired to connect everything to purpose. I naturally focus on commonalities-- what people or things have in common. To give my Connectedness its most fruitful expression, I focus on connections that have strategic significance. With my clients, I see and name patterns that are relevant to their potential and performance and the goals they're trying to accomplish. I help them spot the common ground that can be strategically leveraged for common goals and the common good. I help them connect deeply to purpose.

For those of you who don't have Connectedness, I hope you have a deepened sense of how it can contribute. And for those of you who have Connectedness, I'd love to hear your Connectedness stories. I'll bet we have some things in common.  :)

For more information on Gallup's approach to Strengths, or to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ online, go to https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

What does a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach Do?

Were you to ask the question What Does a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach Do? of each member of our growing tribe of Gallup Certified Strengths Coaches around the world, the answers would vary but would have a common theme:

Applying research, insights and materials developed by Gallup, a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach helps other people use their talents in new ways to accomplish what is important to them in work and life. 

But how?

Perhaps you've seen the book StrengthsFinder 2.0, published by Gallup Press. 

This Wall Street Journal #1 business bestseller is based on more than 50 years of Gallup research and promotes people having the opportunity to do what they do best every day. With access to a new version of the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ assessment, StrengthsFinder 2.0 also provides strategies people can use to build their talents into Strengths and apply those Strengths in work and life. 

Maybe you're among the people who bought the book, took the assessment, had a brief boost in self-awareness, and then shelved the results because you had no good answer to the What next? question. Gallup Certified Strengths Coaches help with that What next? question by helping people leverage their Strengths toward clearly defined outcomes, utilizing research-based insight, materials and approaches. 

There's more to the story about what we do, though, because each Gallup Certified Strengths Coach has his or her unique niche that relates to the contexts in which we work, our life and work experiences, our purpose and passion, and, yes... our Strengths.

We coaches have many things in common. All of us who are Gallup Certified Strengths Coaches work with the Clifton StrengthsFinder™, have completed a certification process with Gallup, and help people focus on performance and results. We all know that there's a unique power to a Strengths approach, because there's a compelling correlation between people doing what they do best and their engagement, productivity and happiness.

Yet each of us is utterly distinct. Hailing from more than twenty different countries, we each use our knowledge, experience, and our own constellation of Strengths in utterly unique ways to help people thrive in work and life. For example, from my place on the map, I work with high-performing leaders of purpose-driven organizations and their teams as they navigate through change and challenge, helping them turn challenge into opportunity as they ignite and deploy their Strengths toward well-defined outcomes.

And I daresay most all of us share a sense of calling to our work. And this is what makes me happiest about our tribe: We want to help people be their best and contribute their best. That's a privilege and a calling.

If you've never taken the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ and are curious about it, take a look at https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/  For a modest sum and a half hour of your time, you can take the assessment online and immediately receive assessment results.

To connect with a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, access Gallup's coaching directory at https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/Coach/en-US/Index

Engagement Lessons from the River

From Gallup's research, we know this:  When people are engaged in their work, it is a win/win for them and their organizations:  They are more happy and confident and have a higher quality of life, and their organizations benefit in terms of productivity and profitability. 

Engagement matters.

Let me share with you four ideas about engagement that are framed in the context of white water rafting. Applicable to all organizations, these four ideas are directed to leaders and managers: (1) People need to know where the boat is going; (2)  People need to be in the right roles; (3) People need clearly defined expectations; and (4) People need encouragement and celebration.

Imagine a swift-running river.  In the middle of the river is a powerful current, which flows around and over boulders that are lodged in the river bed. On the downriver side of the largest boulders, water swirls in a circular pattern, forming eddies. Occasionally, beyond the banks of the river, are isolated pools that were formed when the river flushed out of its normal boundaries. No current circulates through these pools, which are becoming stagnant. 

Now, let's imagine people who are traveling in rafts down the river, working as groups to navigate the white water. Their destination is clear:  they are headed downriver, and they must work as a team to navigate without capsizing. 

1.  People need to know where the boat is going.  

The current in a river with white water moves briskly downstream, taking what is in it with it. The river is going someplace specific. In all types of organizations, such clarity of direction often is missing. Instead, many organizations find themselves in a veritable swamp, where the water offers no appreciable momentum and trees obscure the view. Leaders (those people who have followers) will meet followers' needs of knowing where they're going: What is the vision that propels us to the future? What are we trying to accomplish? Where are we headed? Leaders must have answers to these questions, and they must communicate to the souls on board the vision of where the boat is going.

2.  People need to be in the right roles.  

The captain of a raft assesses who he or she has on board to configure them on the raft and optimize their performance. Roles on a raft are based on strengths. Similarly, managers can and need to align talent to roles so that people are having the chance to do what they do best. Gallup's research has yielded an impressive statistic:  When people have a chance to do what they do best every day, they are six times more likely to be engaged. And, remember, people's engagement drives their performance and productivity, as well as their organization's profit or accomplishment of mission. In order to align talent to roles, managers need to know what people do best and then align those people and their talents with the roles where they can give the best they have to give.   

3.  People need clearly defined expectations.

When a raft gets caught in an eddy, it swirls round and round, stuck in a circling current of water but out of the main current of the river.  Eddies can be dangerous; they're a place where rafts and people can get swamped.  Similarly, were a raft to get shunted into an isolated pool outside of the river's flow, forward propulsion is gone, time is lost, and the thrill of the ride is disrupted.  There is no fun in a stagnant pool. On the raft, the captain communicates to the crew clear expectations that help the raft stay in the current, avoiding eddies and going-nowhere pools.  In organizations, the manager must set clear expectations so that forward propulsion toward a goal can be maintained. When managers don't set clear expectations, their team members may be paddling furiously in circles in an eddy, working hard but getting nowhere. Or they may get stuck to the side, languishing in a stagnant pool. No clear destination? No propulsion toward that destination. 

4.  People need encouragement and celebration.

After navigating a particularly challenging rapid, often a captain of a raft will call for a moment of celebration. All on board lift their paddles and clack them together, amid cheers and whoops that echo off the canyon walls. The captain leads the celebration of what the crew has accomplished together. Gallup's research shows that one of the factors that drives engagement is whether or not a person has, within the last seven days, received positive feedback for something they did well.  Managers should affirm and recognize a team member's specific contributions, ideally, at least every seven days and in a way that is comfortable for the team member.

Leaders and managers, if you'd like some tools for building even greater engagement in your teams, one of your options is to work with specialists around the world, Gallup Certified Strengths Coaches, who can share Gallup's research-based approaches with your organization. 

Wishing all those on board a great, thrilling, and successful ride.

For more information on Gallup's approach to Strengths, or to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ online, go to https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

A Salute to the Command-ers

At a gathering of Strengths Coaches, one Strengths Coach asks all the Strengths Coaches in the room: What do you get when a woman with Command marries a man with Command? From around the room, coaches mull their answers before shouting out their responses: A marriage that's dynamite? A power couple!  A coach with high Deliberative mutters to himself, Trouble?

Command, that rarest of themes, is powerful. Potent. The theme of presence, Command is about that ability to push back when pushed. To take control of a situation and bring clarity. It's about influence. It's about wading into conflict and engaging the conflict.  

Interesting to contemplate this potent theme residing in both a husband and wife. I've seen it first-hand in a couple that is, indeed, a power couple: Each enjoys great professional success, their talents complement one another in their marriage, and together they are people of powerful influence in their community and beyond. He is an entrepreneur and consultant who specializes in making things happen quickly, strategically, and with great order. She is a leader in the social sector who has held long tenures in institutions, bringing a capacity to develop and implement new models that take root and grow mightily while inspiring imitation by other institutions. While he and she have some overlapping talent themes in addition to Command, their Strengths profiles differ, giving us an opportunity to explore through the lens of their experiences the interplay of talent themes with Command.  There is no one shade of any theme, including Command, as their stories illustrate.

Moving from arena to arena as a consultant and leader of entrepreneurial endeavors, his Command gives him presence from the get-go. Willing and able to be fearlessly frank, he brings clarity to situations where clarity is needed. Intensifying that Command, his Activator gives him the ability to catalyze change quickly. Backed up with solid organization and planning, his Discipline complements his Command so that he becomes an imposing, persuasive organizer. His Command doesn't run willy-nilly, as his Responsibility imbues him with a deep sense of ownership and commitment, while his Strategic, Ideation and Futuristic themes give him the ability to see innovative, best routes forward into the future. He is a Master Commander.

Her arena of operation is quite different. She effectuates change over the long haul in social sector institutions, creating innovative models that deliver entirely new strategies, alliances, and products. Like her husband, she relies on her Strategic and Futuristic themes to imagine and create what hasn't existed before. Her Achiever and Focus drive her to work tirelessly and relentlessly to get to specific outcomes. Her Individualization gives her the ability to be a casting director who brilliantly places and develops talent in roles where staff and volunteers then thrive, and, with her Relator, not surprisingly many of the people with whom she works enjoy deep and lasting relationships with her. But inside that velvet glove of Relator and Individualization is an iron fist of Command. When pushed, she will push back, challenging assumptions, persuading and advocating for necessary change, and using her strong will to bring about big results. She, too, is a Master Commander.

One of the lesser known aspects of Command is that people with Command respect people who will push back when pushed.  In this marriage, that is the case.  Rather than butting heads unproductively, these two Commanders respect one another.  The power and presence of their Command is never destructive in their marriage; instead, it fuels a mutual respect and creates a balance of power.

I salute these Master Commanders, who are using their particular formulations of talent so very effectively.

For more information on Gallup's approach to Strengths, or to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ online, go to https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

A Formula for Resilience

What allows some people to rebound from adversity while others are defeated? What's the formula for sustaining ourselves through defeat, disappointment, illness?  Could the answers to these questions lie in our Strengths?

Years ago, I became fascinated with the idea of resilience. More miles on my own odometer had taught me that those who can continue to adapt, refresh and repurpose were the people who survived with their joy and productivity intact. Wondering whether the word resin had a relationship to resilience,  I pictured a life sap within each of us, like the gooey sap that came out of the pine tree in our front yard when I was a child. I pictured a life sap that allows us to be supple and flexible, to bend but not to break, that allows us to recharge and refresh ourselves for life and work. Studying the lives of people who met life's adversities and who actually found ways to grow and become renewed through challenge, I wondered: What is their secret?

One night, in the midst of my resilience-focus, I had a vivid dream. Opening a pantry door, I saw floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with can after can of motor oil. The cans were colorful, and each was utterly unique. When I reached in to examine the cans of motor oil, I learned that each can was intended for just one person and that the formula for each can was different. I awoke from the dream puzzled. What might the motor oil in my dream symbolize? What was the significance of the unique formula for each person?

Unpacking the dream, I reflected on the functions of motor oil:  to keep engines from overheating, to reduce wear on moving parts, to encourage the smooth function of mechanical parts. To me, the motor oil in my dream was a mechanical metaphor for the life sap I envisioned for people, a life sap that gives them the capacity to be resilient, to continue to perform well despite the wear and tear of life. Just as the motor oil's formula was completely unique for each person, so too are the formulas for our individual resiliency unique to us.

I'd like to share with you two truths about resilience:

1.  Our particular talents shape our personal formulas for resilience. 

2.  When we meet life's adversities, challenges and tragedies by living into our unique talents and strengths, we can grow through our difficulties and produce in new ways.

Let me share three examples of these truths, coming from the trenches of medical challenges in those near and dear to me.

A very special young woman in my life was diagnosed with cancer when she was a child. The cancer was aggressive, and the treatment was brutal.  From my place alongside her and her family during the months of chemo and radiation, I observed an interesting phenomenon: With support from her parents, this young woman set goals. By Christmas, I want to be done with chemotherapy. This year, I am going to form a Relay for Life team and raise money to find cures for cancer. I am going to study to become a pediatric oncologist. This young woman, whom we later learned had Achiever and Focus talent themes, was fueled by goal-setting and goal-accomplishment. By living into those talent themes, she created a to-do list that ranged from near-term to long-term, with goals that benefited herself, her family and others. She was done with chemotherapy by Christmas, she did form multiple Relay for Life teams, she has raised thousands of dollars for cancer research, she has become an eloquent spokesperson as a cancer survivor, and she is a pre-med student in a university with plans to become a pediatric oncologist. Brava!

Another very special young woman in my life was born with life-threatening heart and lung defects. Since childhood, she has beaten the odds of survival, leaning on her Communication talents to navigate the world of medicine. From childhood, she has let medical providers know specifically what she needs and has been an effective advocate on her own behalf. In high school, she became a member of the advisory board of the children's hospital where she received treatment. In that role, she communicated, passionately, about the needs of patients. Now an articulate 21 year-old, she has paired up her Communication and Belief talents to become an effective and ardent spokesperson advocating on behalf of people afflicted with congenital heart and lung defects. As an anti-bullying speaker, she has broadened her platform to serve on behalf of a larger community who need her voice. Her advocacy work fuels her as she continues to navigate her persistent life-threatening challenges. Brava!

Last year, a woman close to me was diagnosed with breast cancer. As a leader in a dynamic work environment, she was challenged to juggle treatment with a host of nonnegotiable responsibilities. A long-time Strengths proponent, this woman used her Strategic Thinking talents (Input-Learner-Strategic) to learn about and plan for her treatment options. She fired up her Input-Learner-Futuristic- and Strategic talents to learn about and plan for all the factors she could control in her diet and lifestyle to mitigate the chances of her cancer's recurrence in the future.With her Achiever and Focus talents, she continued to push ahead during treatment to cross finish lines in her professional life, fueled by the successes and contributions she was making at work to maintain the energy to navigate through serious illness. Brava!

Do you see how each of these women met her respective medical challenge out of her particular talents, finding a way forward that allowed her to be fueled and energized in the process? Do you see that by finding ways to remain productive, to live purposefully in the midst of challenge, they each have grown through their challenge?

Inspired by the resilience of each of these women, I offer to you these six steps to help you on your own path to resilience:

1.  Claim your particular combination of Strengths (your unique "motor oil")

2.  Gather a circle of allies around you who will encourage you during your challenge.

3.  Clarify a goal you have in the midst of the challenge. The goal may have to do with how you'll navigate the challenge, or it may have something to do with "life beyond the challenge."  Pick a goal that will empower you.

4.  Find ways to spin up your Strengths, individually and collectively, to accomplish the goal you've set.

5.  Find meaning and purpose in the midst of challenge by intentionally reflecting on what you're learning and how you're growing.

6.  With your circle of allies, celebrate your successes, small and large, along the way!

Each of us has inherent talents that are unique to us, and we operate with them whether we are aware of them or not. When we know, with certainty, what they are, we can intentionally develop them into Strengths and lean into them in times of challenge or crisis, harnessing them to give us the power to not only endure but also to emerge with new insight, with spirits intact, and new ways to live into our life's purpose.

I wish you well-being and well-doing.

For more information on Gallup's approach to Strengths, or to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ online, go to https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

The Gift of Individualization

The antique grape salt and pepper shakers were an unexpected, yet touching gift. From my friend, whom I'll call T, they were part of her family's legacy. T, you see, knew me well enough to know why I would treasure these pieces of her family history.

There is no one-size-fits-all to T's gift-giving, nor is there a one-size-fits-all approach to any people in her life. I'm amazed at how observant she is about the particularities of the people around her and just how many details she remembers about the people in her life. T loves to collaborate with diverse people, encouraging and helping them utilize their particular aptitudes and interests. In her profession, she is a master at tailoring her approach to each person with whom she works and to each audience she addresses. In the language of Strengths, these talents for customizing approaches with and for individuals are referred to with the talent theme name Individualization.

When T first was exposed to Strengths more than 10 years ago, she seemed a bit resistant. She innately recoiled from a system that seemed to classify people.  I think her feelings about this may have been exacerbated by the way some of us spoke about talent themes: She's a Woo. I'm an Input-Learner. You're an Achiever! To her, those statements seemed to reduce individuals to labels, to classify humanity by categories like some Linnaean taxonomy for people. I don't buy into labels, she said.  I'm not into categorizing people.

She raises an excellent point that invites reflection.

I've taken T's response as a personal reminder to be careful in how I speak to people about Strengths. Across the desk, in my family, on the phone, in conference rooms, are people, not Top 5 or Dominant Themes Lists. And all of these people have distinct manifestations of talent, distinct life experiences that have shaped their points of view, knowledge and skills unique to them, and challenges that have been theirs and theirs alone. T's resistance reminds me to focus my Strengths conversations on people, with the vocabulary of Strengths serving only as a means by which we might communicate to help them ignite their intentional use of talent productively toward goals. 

Here’s to those people with Individualization talents, who may remind those of us working with Strengths to always see the person before us. T, just as the grape salt and pepper shakers have a special place in my home, your insights have stayed with me.  

To  friends and fellows who use the language of Strengths, I hope you'll remember my Individualization heroine, dear T, who would cheer you on as you approach people not as lists, category representatives, specimens or labels, but as the utterly unique Individuals they are.

For more information on Gallup's approach to Strengths, or to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ online, go to https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

Deliberative Heroes

Today is the birthday of one of my dear friends. Special to me for many reasons, I have come to rely on her carefulness. This friend is never glib, reckless or impetuous. Instead, she is thorough. Conscientious. Wise. She takes time to think, and when she does share her advice, it is rock-solid and takes into account potential risk that I and others may not see.

My friend's way of being reminds me of my father, a man who embodied caution and carefulness, who was simultaneously risk-aware and conscientious.

There were times when my father's caution annoyed me, such as the day he first handed me the keys to our family station wagon. With a new drivers license tucked into my wallet, I was high as a kite, ready to navigate the streets of my hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to claim some independence and no longer depend on my parents to drive me. What did my father say to me as he handed me the keys? I'm handing you the keys to a death machine. You have the capacity to kill with the car you will drive.  You are responsible for every life you carry in the car, and you are responsible not to take the lives of other people on the road. I kid you not. That's what he said. Whoa! There I was, ready to accelerate into independence, and my father, like a brake, slowed me down to contemplate the risks associated with my new freedom.

Even at the time I heard his little speech, though, I knew that my father's goal was not to be a killjoy; instead, underneath that speech was love and care. My dad's selfless service to me and to everyone with whom he interacted gave me a foundation to know those words were shared in love. He cared deeply that I would be safe in my car, that I would guard the safety of those who rode in it, that I would never hurt someone else and that I would never experience the excruciating tragedy of having done so.

In his university career, my father's thoroughness was valued highly. He could be depended upon to be conscientious. His words, carefully chosen, were highly regarded. Yes, he had a sparkle and wit as well, a mind brimming with curiosity and a humility that endeared him to others. My dad supported my mother in her career, as she took choir after choir of 7th through 12th grade students on performing tours across the United States in caravans of buses and vans. My father felt acutely the responsibility for the lives of those young people on tour. In a conversation in the year before his death, he remarked quietly, We brought them all back. Their lives mattered deeply to him, and he had carried the weight of responsibility for their safety, quietly, in the core of his being. His caution, though, was by no means his only defining characteristic:  students remembered much more his pick-up games of basketball with them, his taking photographs and videos that captured their growing-up years and their journeys into adulthood, his teasing and humor.

In the language of Strengths, the particular talent my dad shared with my friend is the Deliberative talent, which can contribute to our families, work groups and community that brake and caution we need. At a time when speed has become a high-order value in our culture, when we're pressured for instant action and instant response, we at times find ourselves plunging into rushed, ill-considered plans, failing to anticipate downstream consequences, failing to anticipate what can go wrong. Those who embody the Deliberative talent can contribute mightily to our lives and work, helping us slow down, anticipate what can go wrong and prevent wreckage that in our rush we might otherwise cause.

After my father's death at the end of 2012, our home church was packed with hundreds of his colleagues, friends, nieces, nephews and former university students as well as those who had been on those cross country tours. In the eulogy, the minister captured many dimensions of my father's nature, the full spectrum of which could never be captured in a single word or label. As he wrapped the eulogy to a close, though, the minister shared that my dad's last two words in every conversation with his family were Be careful. The minister then turned that word careful around, suggesting that it meant, in my dad's life, full of care.

Oh, how I appreciate my Deliberative friend.  And I celebrate my Deliberative father, whose care was shared not with glee and glib, but with a deep wisdom and from deep love.

Happy birthday, dear friend.  And I love you, my dear father.

For more information on Gallup's approach to Strengths, or to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ online, go to https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

The Parable of the Produce Stand

Riotous colors in a grey stone alleyway of a tiny village in the Cinque Terre. Eggplants, peppers, beans, tomatoes, squash.... that scene on the Cinque Terre has stayed with me.  I offer up this image of summer splendor to illustrate what I'll call The Parable of the Produce Stand.

At a surface level, let's look at three observations we can make from the photo:

1.  Variety:  An array of different fruits and vegetables are crated by variety.
2.  Robustness:  There's absolutely nothing anemic about the produce in the picture.
3.  Offered for use:  The produce is displayed to be bought and consumed.

What lessons from this produce stand can help us increase our productivity and happiness?

1.  Embrace our uniqueness.  

Each of the thirteen or so varieties of fruit and vegetable in the photo has potential to make a unique contribution. There is no eggplant parmesan without eggplant. No stuffed peppers without peppers. No classic red sauce without tomatoes.  Like those fruits and vegetables, we each have potential to make unique, signature contributions. Our uniqueness is in fact measurable: Of the seven billion people on the planet, no one can contribute from the same collection of talents, skills, knowledge and experiences as you. No one. Those factors form your uniqueness, and your best contributions will come not when you try to be what you're not, but when you become more of who you are, building on and giving from your uniqueness.

How do you do this?  Start by learning exactly what your unique combination of talents is.  By far the most accessible, specific, and insightful tool I've seen for this is the Clifton StrengthsFinder®, an online assessment you can access at strengthscenter.com.

2.  Build our robustness.  

Those fruits and vegetables look healthy, colorful, appetizing.  They've been carefully planted, tended and harvested to bring out their maximum flavor.  So, too, we need to build the robustness of our own talents with intentional tending and feeding.

Let's say you've taken the Clifton StrengthsFinder®, you have self-awareness about your unique talents, but you don't know how to develop your potential. Build your talents into strengths by intentionally using them. Think of your talents as a muscle that will get stronger with exercise.  Focus on a particular talent theme for a week at a time, intentionally leveraging it toward goals you have. Build knowledge and skill that complement your talents.  If you'd like additional support, rev up with a Strengths Coach who can help you develop and apply your talents productively toward goals in work and life.

3.  Offer what we have to give.

While the produce in the picture looks beautiful, it's not a still life intended to amuse visitors along the Cinque Terre.  It's a working produce stand, where the fruit and vegetables are intended to be purchased and consumed.  So it is with our talents:  They're meant to be shared.  While it's sad to think of beautiful produce that spoils, never having contributed flavor and never having been consumed, it's sadder still to think of people whose potential to contribute is never realized.  The world misses out.  And, when we don't get to use our strengths regularly, we may miss out on some of the hope, confidence and satisfaction that are byproducts.  When we do focus on using our strengths, we are happier and more engaged in our work.  How much happier? How much more productive?  People who focus on using their strengths are three times more likely to report an excellent quality of life, and six times as likely to be engaged at work.

Each of us has utterly unique talents, knowledge, skills and experience to contribute.  We need to be and are needed to be productive. When we contribute what we uniquely can and have meaningful impact, now that is fruitfulness worth celebrating!

I hope you'll remember The Parable of the Produce Stand. You have great capacity to be productive. Embrace your uniqueness. Build your robustness. Share what you have to give.

For more information on Gallup's approach to Strengths, or to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ online, go to https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

Slaying the Giant

Thanks to Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath:  Underdogs, Misfits, and The Art of Battling Giants, I’ve given more thought to David, that shepherd boy who volunteered to attempt to end a deadlock between armies of the Philistines and Israelites as the head-to-head competitor against an armored, gigantic warrior. 

Gladwell’s insights into the ancient story are intriguing:  Goliath is presumed to have the upper hand, while David appears to be the classic underdog, equipped as he is with only a slingshot against Goliath’s armor and sword. In fact, David has a superior projectile technology that he exploits to prevail against a massive, nearly blind man weighed down with armor. In Gladwell’s words, The powerful and the strong are not always what they seem. Illustrating this theme through the stories of such people as stellar litigator David Boies and childhood leukemia-slayer Dr. Jay Frierich, Gladwell derives conclusions about ordinary people confronting “giants” ranging from armies and governments to misfortune and oppression.

I see each of Gladwell’s human success stories through an additional lens, a strengths lens: Each of Gladwell's heroes has unique personality traits that have been developed into strengths and used to achieve particular goals. These strengths aren't fungible from person to person.  

Let’s take David, for instance.  While we may surmise that David volunteered to battle the giant, in part, because he had confidence in his ability with the slingshot, my guess is that not just any shepherd proficient with a slingshot would have volunteered to carry the weight of the conflict alone.  Confidently and audaciously, David not only volunteered but then refused his king’s offer to equip him with armor. (Who, we might wonder, says no to the king in order to do it his own way?)  David used strategy and speed to his advantage, firing quickly at the strategic target of Goliath’s only vulnerability, his unprotected forehead. David sought, claimed and excelled at the clutch player role.

We all have outcomes we need to bring about, in work and in our personal lives, and we each have a unique combination of talents that we can leverage toward those outcomes. Not all of us thrive as clutch players, needing to summon our best in a heated moment of pressure.   Instead, some of us are planners whose strengths best shine when we are unhurried and have ample time to anticipate risks, obstacles and problems.  Some of us give our best when we are focused on building relationships and sensing others’ feelings.  Some of us shine best when we have time to immerse ourselves in thought, reflecting deeply on ideas, generating new ideas and approaches.  Each of us is different and gives our best when we are giving from who we already are.

Many of our most powerful talents are so innate to us that we are unaware of them.  When we know what our talents are we can strategically aim those talents at the outcomes we need to bring about, using our most effective route to success.  When we know the talents of the people with whom we work, we have a force multiplier as we can strategically align ourselves so that each of us contributes in our most powerful and effective ways, energized by being who we are and contributing what we do best.

We aren’t all clutch players, nor should we be.  We need to pick targets that we can hit, given our particular strengths, and aim our unique bag of tricks to slay the giants before us.

For more information on Gallup's approach to Strengths, or to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ online, go to https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/