Gallup StrengthsFinder, people tools

Hi there, Bill Gallagher. I want to talk to you today about one of the tools we use for developing people. So one of the people development tools that we use is something called strengthsfinder from the Gallup organization. And I want to share with you a little bit about StrengthsFinder. If you're not familiar with it or if you are familiar with it, tell you how to use it better for developing both yourself and the people on your team. StrengthsFinder is a really fabulous tool, and you may be familiar with other tools like this in the past, but I've moved over really exclusively to using StrengthsFinder now from using so many others in the past. So there are things like it that you might be familiar with, things like Myers Briggs or Disc or that kind of thing. I like StrengthsFinder better because of the focus on the strengths of each person that we work with and using and working from strengths rather than thinking as much about weaknesses and trying to suck glass in life. And I also like it better for the rich words. So instead of having, say, four letters or eight letters or that kind of thing, using them different combinations in an encoded fashion. StrengthsFinder uses 34 different talent themes to talk about where you have the greatest potential to develop yourself and your strengths. So I use it in three principle ways with teams. So we typically start to do this at the beginning of a client engagement where we do strengths on the key leaders of the teams, and then we extend that to the rest of the company over time. So the first thing that we do is we train people to both develop themselves and then to develop their people using the strengths finder tools. And I'll tell you more about that in a minute. The second thing that we do is use StrengthsFinder in hiring. So we think about the key things that we want to do, and we give the StrengthsFinder test as part of the assessment, as part of the hiring process. And we use that to probe both the person's backgrounds and the things that they say and understand them in a little more full fashion. Of course, people love this in the hiring process. It's always perceived in a very positive fashion. And then the third thing that we do is in planning our jobs and balancing the team. So if we're going to make a key hire, we want to think about what are some of the strengths that we're looking for and which categories do they fall into. And then if we look at an existing team, where is the team strong and where is it weak or what's it lacking? And then if some of the strengths or strengths areas are lacking, that may be appropriate to draw from that in one of the next hires that we make in the company or especially in the leadership team, to give you a feel for what we're talking about here. So there's 34 strengths, and each of us is given a top five. So when you take the basic assessment, you pay $15, $15, about 30 minutes, and you do it right online. So it's easy to set up with your new hires. And then you're given your top five. Right. So what are my top five? My top five are ideation, strategic communication, activator, and command. So let's talk about what each of those is and what now you'll have different strengths. Probably you may share one or two of mine as well, but each of us has a top five that are really strong in potential for us. So these are not actually strengths yet. They're my talent themes. They're the areas that I could, with practice and over time, really develop into strengths or something that I could use nearly flawlessly on a very consistent basis. So ideation is the first one. So this is having ideas, valuing ideas, coming up with ideas, appreciating ideas, just loving everything about ideas. And this one's really true for me. I come up with ideas continually. And there are some places where I can count on having great new ideas. Places like in the shower or while taking a run or while driving to work or riding my bike, or there are a number of places or in the middle of the night for sure. So there are lots of places where I can consistently come up with new ideas. But I love ideas. Now, a flip side to the ideation talent theme is that too many ideas in an operating environment too quickly can destabilize the team. And as I'm often the CEO, that the number of ideas that I can generate can leave the team feeling like they need to chase down every one of my ideas. And while some of my ideas are awesome, many of them are not. I don't actually care if the idea is awesome or not. I just love creating, creating new ideas. Now, of course, good ideas are better than other ideas, but you get the idea. So the second thing, the second one of my talent themes is strategic. Strategic is the big picture. I am pretty good at seeing the big picture and seeing the opportunities to maneuver within the big picture. It's kind of the chess playing talent theme. Right? So I think about that. When a team is getting bogged down in the details and can't seem to find its way out, I can kind of see and hear what's going on in a conversation, in a situation, and see opportunities to maneuver or to accomplish what we want to accomplish using my strategic theme. Flip side to that is that sometimes I can leave a group or an individual that I'm interacting with feeling like I'm a little cold and just looking at the whole thing strategically. So sometimes people want to see and feel more of that emotion. And when I'm problem solving, that doesn't always come out. My third is communication. Communication is putting ideas into words so I can find a way to say things. And people sometimes come to me and say, hey, I'm trying to work out how to say something. And I frequently get that, and people know they can come to me for that. So communication is my third. It also makes me a good conversationalist. However, once again, there's a drawback or something to be aware of. So in some teams and some environments, I can fill the room, right? I'm one of the first people to talk because the words come quickly to me, whereas they come slower to other people. And that can compromise the value of conversation in a team. So I learned to both pace and plan and use different techniques to draw out and to quiet people to get people to think, because I'm one of those dominant voices that can fill a whole room in a conversation, and I want to pull that back, right? So with each of these strengths, you could see in the world of these talent themes, you could see that there's a real positive to it, and there's also a time and a place or a place where it can come in and so too with your people. So activator is my next one. Activator is about getting started. I love to just get started. And when I have an idea and I see a way to get it done and I can advocate for it, I'm ready to go. And if you're a methodical executor planner, you may not be as comfortable moving forward yet as I will be. And so some people are a little unnerved by the speed at which somebody with an activator theme will want to proceed ahead, and they'll want to put more time into thinking through all the what ifs, how abouts, and like that. And learning to let those people show up as well and contribute is a very powerful thing to do. With my activator, the last one is command. So command is really what it sounds like. Taking charge. I'm very comfortable taking charge. I know that I can take charge if the house is burning down, if bombs are Going off if the situation calls for it. I'm completely confident taking charge and comfortable and at home in that it does create a problem for me sometimes being on a committee or something like that. And I have been on boards and committees and I have learned to reign in that command, to notice that I have that drive or desire to take charge of something and to wait for the moment where it's really called for and wanted. The other thing is that in certain things, in family relationships, with my kids, with my wife, there's many times where command is not an appropriate thing and then there's other times where they really want that. So learning when and how to use command is a really critical function. It's also important in developing your people to learn to let others take command and to notice your tendency to do that and pull it back. So the point of all this is for you to understand that as you look at your top five talent themes and take the assessment, you want to think about when to apply them and when not to use them or what to be aware of with them. Now I have things that are in my bottom and I mostly don't go there and I mostly try to think about who to hire that has some of those things. So for me they're things like the harmony and the consensus and including other people and like that kind of thing that I don't get as much energy from. But I recognize those other things that are not in my top five are important and so I hire others and surround myself with people that do them. So your first steps for this are to go and take the assessment. You're going to go to StrengthsFinder.com you're going to spend your $15 and you're going to do it right online. It takes you about 30 minutes maybe once you do that, you'll get your top five. And I recommend that you not only begin to learn them and study what they say about each of the talent themes and notice them in your life, but take them and Write your top 5 on a post it and then if you work in an office setting, put that post it on your computer or somewhere prominent. You could also put it on your mirror at home or on your dashboard if you're on the road, consistently put it there. You could put it as a background on your phone or something like that, but keep it really alive and present. Now, when you're working with your team as well, do the same kind of thing. Take your top five, put them on some post its and put them somewhere prominent for a while. Then Every time you are challenged by something or frustrated and not sure what to do, look at your top five and then just ask yourself, which of those top five talent themes could you use in this situation to take a new approach to something that's challenging for you? So determine your top five and then start to figure out how to use them by keeping them prominently displayed. You can do the same thing with your people. And as you start to do your hiring, have your people take that and then examine the kinds of things that they're saying in the interview process and what you see on their resume with what the talent themes say about them. Finally, when thinking about balancing out your team, notice what the top five are for all your team and think about which things are missing. As you plan a new job, plan out which of the major categories. So the talent themes, the 34 themes are organized into four, four big areas. So they include the executing part, right? Those are the people that get things done. They're the operators. That's not me. I'm not one of those. The second thing is the influencing side. So these are people that are persuasive and influencing others and bringing people along to your way of thinking. I've got a lot of that. The third is relating. These are people about relationships and connections between people. I'm low on that, but really important for a team. And the last one is strategic. So these are the people that are planning and thinking about the future and seeing what's going on and looking for patterns and understanding how we got here and so on. These are the four big areas. So as you think about each of the jobs that you have to fill over time and to grow your organization, you might want to think about which of these major areas, which of the talent themes within them that you'd like to see some of. Now. There's no one right style of leader. There are many leaders with all different ones. It's just about thinking about what situationally is really called for for your team and your job. Once again, StrengthsFinder.com we'll put the link right up here. Go there, check it out, start to use it yourself. Let us know if you've got any questions or comments or want to know more about how we do what we do. I'm Bill Gallagher. Thanks. So.