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    Business

    Lead Through Strengths

    Lisa Cummings helps you lead teams, build your work culture, and improve relationships with CliftonStrengths A.K.A StrengthsFinder.

    The “Lead Through Strengths” podcast was created for you if you’re ready to stop taking the “path of most resistance” at work and in life.

    It sounds silly, yet it happens all the time when people get focused on fixing their weaknesses. It doesn’t have to be so hard. Stop focusing on what’s broken about you.

    Lisa Cummings, one host, is a Gallup Certified Strengths Performance Coach, so she brings you a wealth of corporate wisdom, combined with Gallup research. She’s also certified by the Life Coach School and has an MBA, so she brings a good combo of business and coaching.

    Brea Roper, your other host, is also a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. She is incredible at helping you cast a vision for your future – using your natural talents. She’s especially talented at leading personal retreats in Kansas City, MO (and she will travel).

    Many episodes are educational Q&A from our corporate clients. They’re usually questions we get in our StrengthsFinder corporate workshops. Over 34 Million people have taken the CliftonStrengths assessment.

    With this show, you’ll learn how to find your strengths and put them to work. If you manage a team, you’ll hear ideas for leading your so your colleagues can come to work feeling more energized and engaged.

    We publish by season.

    Season 1: Career Q&A
    Season 2: Strengths Interviews
    Season 3: StrengthsFinder Q&A (also known as CliftonStrengths assessment)
    Season 4: Team Building 12 Week Strengths Challenge
    Season 5: One StrengthsFinder Talent Theme Per Week: Career Branding Adjectives for your personal brand, red flag situations for that talent theme, and action items to put that talent to use
    Season 6: Nine Core Concepts of Strengths
    Season 7: Facilitator Interviews (because, who needs Lisa only – we have lots of other great StrengthsFinder trainers for you)
    Season 8: CliftonStrengths Customer Q&A
    Season 9: The Foundations of Strengths and Mindset
    Season 10: Coach the Coach – Brea and Lisa help you build your independent coaching practice, or implement strengths into your work culture
    Season 11: Lisa wrote scripts for each of the 34 CliftonStrengths talent themes. The episodes are read by Andy Dandy, her AI voice actor.

    There’s a lot of confusion about the name of the assessment because it is difficult to spell (or put the singular/plural in the right spot), and it has changed names. All of these are the same survey tool: StrengthsFinder 2.0, StrengthsFinders, StrengthFinders, StrengthFinder, StrengthsFinder, Clifton Strengths, CliftonStrengths, Clifton StrengthsFinder.

    Despite the difficulty with the word, the content all points to Strengths Based Development and leadership using StrengthsFinder with your team.

    In addition: here are some hot topic areas covered by audience questions so far:
    Getting promoted;
    discovering your strengths;
    differentiating yourself;
    coaching and feedback;
    marketing, branding, and promoting yourself;
    getting unstuck;
    developing your direct reports;
    noticing what works on your team;
    connecting and networking;
    personal leadership;
    politics and perceptions at the office;
    getting viewed as an A player;
    building trust and influence at work or in your industry;
    being a people-leader that you want to be, even when you’re short on time;
    how to get your creative mojo back;
    understanding how your EQ (emotional intelligence) is more important than your IQ at work;
    stuff you didn’t learn in business school that’s hurting your career; getting unstuck and un-trapped;
    being a better leader;
    solving problems;
    getting past confusion;
    aligning your mind, body, and purpose in life;
    managing major life transitions;
    and taking a minute to reflect on what you really want in life

    Advertise
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    • Google Play
    • Spotify
    Latest Episodes:
    Career Branding When Activator Is Your Strength Dec 08, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Activator to your career.

    In this series, you get one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Activator Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    Here are a bunch of Activator-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Instigator
    • Go Button Presser
    • Fresh Thinker
    • Action Jackson
    • Initiating
    • Movement Maker
    • Catalyst
    • Fast
    • Just Ship
    • Influential
    • Kick Off Crew
    • Eager
    • Brave
    • Change-Friendly
    • Energetic
    • Action-Oriented
    • Starter
    • Propulsive
    • Spark
    • Gets It Going
    • Momentum Creator
    • Early Adopter
    • Motivator
    Red Flag Situations For Activator

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Activator. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Activator:

    1. Analysis Paralysis. If your industry or workplace culture is to carefully weigh every option before taking action, it can be very draining to Activators. The waiting game is extremely frustrating. If you lead through Activator, you get satisfaction from starting things, so every delay and moment of bureaucracy can make you feel like an animal trapped in a cage. Be sure to communicate with your leader that you'd love to be involved in as many pre-launch and starting line moments as possible. Since it's unconventional to assign projects based on the place in the timeline, this can be an eye-opening step (and one that helps you shape your job toward the elements that put you at your best).
    2. Maintenance Mode. If you lead through Activator, you are most motivated, energized, and excellent at the starting line. If you find yourself assigned to the maintenance of processes or products, you're more likely to get bored. Your magic mojo is usually not at the finish line and after. It can be a powerful insight to realize that you may be more attracted to short-cycle projects than to programs. After you try on that concept for awhile, have a conversation with your manager about your ideas for how to amplify your contribution by getting you involved at the momentum-creation phase, and then moving on to the next thing.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Activator

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Activator at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Activator, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Come In, The Water Is Fine. Often, Activators are early adopters. If you've observed someone who leads through Activator, and they're courageously braving a new way of doing things, use them as a model that the team can follow. Often, when big corporate rollouts happen, the team perceives the company messaging as "rah rah visioning." Many people will sit on the sidelines until they know it really works or until they know this rollout is going to be a real thing that gets implemented. Meanwhile, your Activators are likely already in there, doing the thing, testing it out, and living in the new world. Get them to champion it by sharing exciting features or time savers with the team. Activators can be a practical voice to show others that the new way is working out great.
    2. Beta Testing. People who lead through Activator love being on the cutting edge. They bravely try new things. So if you ever need to pilot a program or beta test, they could be a great group to use to get things started.
    3. Change Management. When you have a major change initiative, often, you have a project team that has been working away for months or years. Getting people to adopt the change is often tougher than all of the tactics it took to plan and create the new thing. It can be exhausting for those who got the project to this place. Well, this is the finish line for one group and a starting line for another. It's a great place to bring in Activators. They often love being part of a kick off crew. They are great at being a spark of energy. Notice the difference: they love creating spikes of energy at the kick-off, yet their energy for a project wanes as it drags on. So get them on the kick-off crew, not the maintenance crew.
    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the About section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Adaptability Is Your Strength Nov 24, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Adaptability to your career.

    In this series, you get one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Adaptability Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    Here are a bunch of Adaptability-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Early adopter
    • Goes With Flow
    • Spontaneous
    • Responsive
    • Thrives Under Pressure
    • Mindful
    • Reassuring
    • Present
    • Calm
    • Easygoing
    • Right-Here-Right-Now
    • Adaptable
    • Flexible
    • Agreeable
    • Enjoys Change
    • First Responder
    • Accommodating
    • In the Moment
    Red Flag Situations For Adaptability

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Adaptability. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Adaptability:

    1. Old Faithful. Just in case you're not familiar, Old Faithful is a natural geyser. It sprays 100 ft in the air. It happens over and over again - over a dozen times a day. It's in Yellowstone National Park, where Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho come together.If you lead through Adaptability, you might like to see Old Faithful, but you wouldn't want to be Old Faithful. Mundane work, predictability and routine will likely bore you to tears. Repetitive work is not fun when you lead through Adaptability because you draw excitement from changes in the moment.

      Here's a coping strategy: if you're in a role where you do something similar over and over, search for the unique surprise inside of it. For example, if you do customer inquiries over and over, focus on the element that makes this person's question unique. Focus on being fully present with the other person. Those two elements (the change/surprise part, and the right-here-right-now part) can help you find threads of motivation.

    2. Rich in tradition. Many companies are proud to represent years of tradition and history. If your company is heavily focused on the past, it might feel like stagnation to someone who leads through Adaptability.

      The stuck feeling of "same old, same old" can be frustrating for Adaptability. Even if you work for a cutting edge company that puts a heavy emphasis on lessons-learned meetings or post mortem processes, you might still feel the drain of not being able to live in the here-and-now. Every rehashing of the past can feel like an anchor in the water when you're trying to drive a speedboat.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Adaptability

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Adaptability at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Adaptability, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Unexpected Detours. If you manage someone who leads through Adaptability, they revel in change. They'll likely have a fun work day when they can take immediate action and work things out "on the fly."

      They make people feel seen and heard during changes that are difficult for people to adopt. So pull them in to help you implement change that involves the buy-in of other people.

      When balls get dropped (even by others), you won't see this person sulking on the sidelines. You'll see productive progress. So next time you have unexpected changes at work or in your industry, think of people on your team who lead through Adaptability. Their ability to be amiable to change (on both the people and process side) can be a huge help to the team.

    2. Urgent Pressures. If your team works under urgent pressures, surprises, and emergencies, think of those who lead through Adaptability. Challenge them to fine-tune their responsiveness. For example, if the job demands unanticipated travel, see if they can learn to pack and leave in under 30 minutes.

      Also take advantage of their demeanor as a calm and reassuring person. When other teammates are upset by daily events, someone with the Adaptability talent can often help the team find productive ways to relieve stress and make progress. They can have the influence that moves teammates to acceptance rather than resistance.

    3. Never The Same Day Twice. Avoid assigning work that requires structure and predictability from someone who leads through Adaptability. As much as you can, avoid asking them to work on a project where they're required to follow the same operating procedures every day (or where there are lots of rules and controls). These responsibilities will be frustrating. Look for projects or roles with constantly changing circumstances. Call on them when you need to respond to constantly-differing requests of customers, guests, patients, etc.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the About section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Analytical Is Your Strength Nov 10, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Analytical to your career.

    In this series, you get one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Analytical Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    Here are a bunch of Analytical-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Numbers Oriented
    • Truth-Finder
    • Data Driven
    • Systematic
    • Coherent
    • Evaluator
    • Questioning
    • Rigorous
    • Level Headed
    • Deep Thinker
    • Researcher
    • Inspector
    • Well-Reasoned
    • Methodical
    • Logical
    • Diagnostic
    • Reasoned
    • Scientific
    • Observer
    • Factual
    • Meticulous
    • Rational
    • Pragmatic
    • Measurer
    Red Flag Situations For Analytical

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Analytical. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Analytical:

    1. Drama. If you lead through Analytical and you feel surrounded by constant drama on the team, it might suck the life out of you. Of course, workplaces have humans, so you're going to have conflict and hurt feelings from time to time. At the same time, if you feel that decisions are continuously swayed by a heart-led focus that discounts the facts, you'll be drained. If you have to work with a teammate who is highly emotional at every meeting, you might suspect that they're unable to do the critical thinking necessary to do the job well. These high-drama situations will likely frustrate the heck out of you.

    2. Trust The Process Decision-Making. Imagine leading through Analytical and going through a big merger at work. You're analyzing all of the angles, trying to figure out what the job will be in the future, and whether you'll even have a job. Your leader keeps telling you "have faith." The concept sounds simple, yet that likely won't fly with you. Any version of, "just trust us" or "just do what I say" or "just believe us when we tell you we've thought about it from every angle."…well, that won't cut it for people who lead through Analytical. You will often need to see the sausage-making that people are trying to buffer you from. You want to know the ugly underbelly so that you can weigh the real facts rather than the sound bites. In fact, it can be helpful to communicate this need with your leader during tough times - that even when the underbelly is ugly, if you know the decision points and assumptions, you can get settled in the same way as the people who are comfortable with blind faith. It's counterintuitive to many people, so this is an important red flag to explore and discuss with your leader.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Analytical

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Analytical at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Analytical, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Poke Some Holes. You're optimistic about something, but it's high stakes. You want to be sure you've thought through all of the assumptions, downsides, risks, and objections. As a leader, this is the perfect time to bring in your team member who leads through Analytical. They can poke holes, be a skeptic, and give you watch-outs that you'd never think of. And in this context, it feels great because they're doing it as a contribution rather than as a negative nelly.

    2. Deeper Insights. If you have a mound of data, and you don't know what story it should be telling you, hand it off to someone who leads through Analytical. Ask them to bring back their top 3 insights. Besides allowing them to have fun swizzling the data in pivot tables and charts, you'll get a new lens on an otherwise overwhelming pile of numbers.

    3. Level-Headed View. Imagine a situation where you need to make a go / no-go decision about a service you currently offer your customers. Most of your team is emotionally attached to this service because it's the one that allows them to have tight relationships with customers. The simple mention of a go / no-go decision puts the team in a frantic, emotional state. This is the perfect task to give to someone who leads through Analytical. Ask them to provide the qualitative and quantitative data that will allow you to make a level-headed decision about this service. Come up with a rubric that is grounded in logic. With a scorecard and analysis in mind, this person will be able to put their personal preferences aside and get you a well-reasoned dissection.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the About section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Arranger Is Your Strength Oct 27, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Arranger to your career.

    In this series, you get one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Arranger Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    Here are a bunch of Arranger-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Juggler
    • Multi Tasker
    • Organizer
    • Piece Fitter
    • Collaborative
    • Change Lover
    • Maestro
    • Turnaround Queen/King
    • Configurer
    • Flexible
    • Dynamic
    • Conductor
    • Coordinator
    • Resourceful
    • Unflappable
    • Change-ready
    • Puzzle Rearranger
    • Interactive
    • Decision Maker
    • Change Agent
    • Priority Adjuster
    • Enlister
    Red Flag Situations For Arranger

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Arranger. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Arranger:

    1. The Slow, Steady Slog. If you lead through Arranger and you're in a slow-paced, careful work environment, you might get antsy fast. If you feel bogged down by obsolete processes or technologies, you'll be dying to make the positive changes needed to move forward. If you happen to be on a team where the obsolete guidelines are sacred, you'll want to find other parts of the job that are not so steady-eddie to keep your Go Button firing.

    2. Stay In Your Lane. Let's say you lead through Arranger, and you're responsible for marketing analytics. Although the job is typically focused on the marketing and sales teams, you see a cool opportunity to bring in a panoramic view with customer data and product data. Then you get the news that you need to "stay in your lane" - keep focused on the job you were given. This can be extremely frustrating if you lead through Arranger because the broad collaboration and the ability to adapt to the current times is exactly where your genius lies.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Arranger

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Arranger at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Arranger, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Stalemate. Imagine two teams have been battling each other for years. They never seem to agree on budgets. They seem to have competing priorities. Collaboration has halted. Consider bringing in someone on the team who leads through Arranger. They may thrive on the idea that they get to put together processes, plans, events, and tasks that will actually move both teams forward. It's important to know that if you put them in a situation where you want them to get momentum where it stalled, they need to have enough sway to make things happen. If they get blocked and ignored, they're likely to find a workaround, yet running into an entire team of people bellyaching about the change or telling your team member to "stop fixing what's not broken" it will actually drain them rather than make them thrive.

    2. Progress During Adversity. Let's say you lead a team of hardware engineers. Someone discovers a defect in the product that might set your go-to-market date back by two quarters. If someone on the team leads through Arranger, see what they can come up with. The puzzle of shifting resources, remaining unflappable, and keeping people enlisted in the project during these hard times - those are all things that this person will be fired up by.

    3. Matrix Mess. Imagine you're like 49% of the workforces around the world, and you have a matrixed reporting environment. People might describe themselves as having 4 or 5 bosses. Let's say you have a project that has become a complete mess. No one knows who owns it. Team members are spread all over the world, and no one can attend the conference calls at the same time. Most people work remotely, so getting everyone in a room to work things out is simply not an option. When you have a messy environment and a high stakes project that must get ironed out, call on your team members with the Arranger talent. Ask them specifically to focus on bringing functional collaboration. Ask them to be the maestro of the matrix. They will likely thrive if they get to think of themselves as a conductor in this seemingly muddled-up environment.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the About section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Belief Is Your Strength Oct 13, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Belief to your career.

    In this series, you get one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Belief Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    Here are a bunch of Belief-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Anchor
    • Stable
    • Grounded
    • Mission-driven
    • Certain
    • Self-Sacrificing
    • Values-Driven
    • Evangelist
    • Committed
    • Principled
    • Passionate
    • Loyal (if values-aligned)
    • Purpose-centered
    • Altruistic
    • Purposeful
    • Consistent Advocate
    • Inspirer
    Red Flag Situations For Belief

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Belief. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Belief:

    1. The mission isn't what it seemed. For example, let's say you joined a medical device company. You joined because you heard the vision of the lives you'd save with this new product that makes people's pace makers last an additional 10 years. You were overjoyed by the idea of not putting elderly or weak patients into another risky surgery. A few months into the job, you overhear some people talking about a revenue strategy that makes you think they're prioritizing revenue over the patient's best interest. Now, if you lead through any talent and you think something unethical is going on, you'll probably dislike it. But if you lead through Belief, and you suspect the mission that you joined the company for is a sham, it's all over. Now I'm giving you an extreme example to make the point clear. Yet if you lead through Belief, be on watch for this. Even in small situations where things are not what they seemed on the surface (or people are not who they seemed to be on the surface), it is difficult to ever get your trust back. When you're detached and "arms-length" because you're skeptical, your engagement on the job changes. It can go downhill fast if you don't get in front of this one.

    2. You have to work closely with your anti-belief. Let's do another extreme example to make this one obvious. Say that you lead through the talent theme of Belief and one of your life's missions is to protect and serve animals. You are an active member of PETA, which is something you spend every night on. In the daytime, you work at an advertising agency. Last week, you got assigned to a new client - and they're a cosmetics company that does extensive animal testing. You try to suck it up because you need the job, but every time you talk to the product manager at the client, she makes your blood boil. If you lead through Belief, you probably can't just grin and bear it. It's more than that with Belief. Now, if you take a less extreme example, imagine that you learn a peer at work has a belief or closely held value that runs counter to yours. It gives you a seed of doubt about this person who you used to love working with. These are the moments you need to get ahead of before they derail the productivity you've always enjoyed when you work together. This is different for every person and every belief. For you, it may work out by simply finding other shared values so that you can feel rooted in other areas of trust. That can be a way to rebuild mutual respect. For others, it may be that you have to have an open conversation about your value that feels insulted.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Belief

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Belief at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Belief, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Product Evangelist. If you know your team member leads through Belief and they deeply believe in the "why" of the product, it's on! Unleash them as a product evangelist. Make it a thing to share the features, benefits, mission, and delight with the outside world. In a time when consumers are skeptical about "sales-ey ad copy," imagine what would happen if your team member ties a life mission to it. That's a product narrative that your customers will get behind.

    2. You Need An Ethical Rock. Imagine a situation where bribes are common. Or a role where a person is placed in a lot of tricky ethical situations. This might be a great place to bring your ethical rock - someone who leads through Belief. This person's clarity and convictions around ethics and values will allow that person to shine where others waffle. They will see clear moral standards where other people struggle with gray areas.

    3. Make Some Meaning. Regardless of the task, Belief is considered an executing talent. That means that it helps people get things done. As you can imagine, if you feel so passionate and connected to a topic that you would run through walls for it, then you'd have someone who is going to get some mega-big task lists checked off. Next time you need to apply the Belief talent theme, take time to connect the job responsibility with the bigger purpose. This brings the internal motivation to bring the A-game to the job.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the About section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Command Is Your Strength Sep 29, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Command to your career.

    In this series, you get one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Command Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    Here are a bunch of Command-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Strong-willed
    • Bold
    • Challenging
    • Driven
    • Truthful
    • Decisive
    • Determined
    • Concise
    • Unruffled
    • Candid
    • Honest
    • Persuasive
    • Frank
    • Quick
    • Direct
    • Plain-spoken
    • Leader
    • On The Level
    • Assertive
    • Chaos Tamer
    • Purposeful
    • Influential
    • Clarifier
    • Forthright
    • Straightforward
    • Clear Communicator
    • Strong Presence
    • Unshakable
    • Truth Teller
    Red Flag Situations For Command

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Command. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Command:

    1. Sugar Coating Culture. Do you have a team that avoids the issue behind the issue? Are there elephants in the room? Are people often beating around the bush? Are there passive aggressive comments? Do people skim past challenges because they'll raise uncomfortable conflicts? Ooooh. If you lead through Command, all of the stuff I listed sounds awful. It could totally suck the life out of you. If colleagues sugar coat the bad news, you might feel like they're patronizing you. If you lead through Command and you know a teammate is boiling hot about something, you want them to just say what it is. You will feel soul sucked if you think that work has turned into a giant mind-reading game. If you are great with the candor, yet you're not feeling very tolerant of the over-harmonizing, I recommend practicing Radical Candor. Check out the book by Kim Scott. It's a way of giving direct feedback with candor and compassion at the same time. You will become a great model for the team. They can watch you demonstrate candor in a way that they've never tried. Once they see how your truth-telling is a more efficient way to perform (and they get less scared of directness because they see the feedback working), you might be able to slowly turn the norms around on the team culture.

    2. Don't Poke The Bear. See, if you lead through Command, you're not afraid of poking that sleeping bear. Yet, when the corporate narrative is that you cannot challenge the assumptions of Mr. X (Mr. or Mrs. X could be any leader, subject matter expert, or sacred thing). If you lead through Command, you need the freedom to disagree (even if your stance is the unpopular one). You thrive when you can ignore the typical norms of an org chart where you're "supposed" to defer to others and not dig underneath the decision to reveal a flaw. If you work in a culture like this, learn to bring your most mature version of challenging assumptions. You might be viewed as "having sharp elbows" or being too blunt. Yet truth-telling is how you thrive, so focus on the influencing part of the equation. Try a "yes, and" approach where you affirm something about what they did. Then your "and" comes in as a new layer of a building block, rather than calling them out. For example, Ted, I love how your solution put the customer experience right up front. And it strikes me that they're likely to take this action next. In order to stay out in front of it, let's add this element to your plan to make it lock-tight. See how that worked out? Rather than telling Ted he was a dumb dumb for missing a step, you built on his idea. And now he's nodding along with you rather than resisting you or resenting you for catching his oversight.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Command

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Command at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Command, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. When you need clarity over consensus. Sometimes you have a workplace situation that leaves one party to feel disappointed or upset - you know, one of those times when it feels like there will be a win-lose vibe by the department who doesn't get their way?! When you need someone with an objective presence who can remove ambiguity, call on your team member with Command. Although they see consensus as a nice-to-have, it will not distort their decision-making process. This is great where you've had harmony-seeking teammates fail at getting to the core of the issue.

    2. When the messaging is a jumble. When you have a direction to communicate, and every department has thrown in their 2 cents…plus the kitchen sink, it can be a big 'ol cluster. It can turn into an incomprehensible jumble-of-jargon. People who lead through Command are great concept people. They can easily narrow your thoughts into a few words or a few buckets so that people can understand the message clearly. Even in a small moment when you need someone who can "cut to the chase," send in your person who leads through Command. They're great at finding the three words that decode the mess in everyone's head.

    3. When you need someone to take the driver's seat. Maybe your team is in chaos. Maybe you have a lot wishy-washy-ness that has kept the team from progress. Maybe the team culture has always been one that defers to the leader, yet you don't have time for someone to ask for your permission at every turn. When you need to get to a calm, clear future state, ask a person on the team who leads through Command to drive you there. They love being direct and decisive. They thrive when they can fix or manage out-of-control situations. And they will absolutely thrive if you give them permission to own it and then get out of the way. That will sound dreamy to most people with Command. When everyone else would be nervous to own a decision, they'll be thinking, finally…less micromanagement.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the About section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Communication Is Your Strength Sep 15, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Communication to your career.

    In this series, I break down one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Communication Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    We often see two distinct "flavors" of the Communication talent theme. You may have one. You may have both. One is fairness in the treatment of people. The other is standardization for processes. So here are a bunch of Communication-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Presenter
    • Transparent
    • Eloquent
    • Captivating
    • Expressive
    • Clever
    • Nuanced
    • Conversationalist
    • Entertainer
    • Collaborative
    • Poignant
    • Vocal
    • Word Nerd
    • Explainer
    • Evocative
    • Witty
    • Storyteller
    • Writer
    • Interactive
    Red Flag Situations For Communication

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Communication. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Communication:

    1. Dismissive About Words. If you lead through Communication, you believe that words carry truth. They matter, big time. Having your expression squashed or shut down will be draining. Seeing others get shut down will also feel draining. If someone keeps telling you to stick to the facts, and ditch the nuanced descriptors, you will likely feel handcuffed at work.

    2. Don't Talk It Out. If you're in a place where you're expected to fully vet your ideas and think them through before expressing them, you may feel like you're not at your best. If you lead through communication, your best ideas often happen while you're talking out an idea…live! If you're in a quiet, keep-to-yourself environment, it might feel stifling to you.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Communication

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Communication at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Communication, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Volunteer To Give Presentations. You can become known as someone who captivates others. This may be through the colorful, charismatic way that you present. Or, it can be that you're utterly compelling because of the way you craft the story arc.

    2. Invest In A/B Testing. Although you may love to improvise because you're a natural communicator, the extreme strength in communication happens when you focus on craftsmanship. Give a presentation with 3 different metaphors. Or try 3 different attention grabbers to kick it off. As you watch people respond, you'll learn a lot about which nuance lands with your audiences.

    3. Borrow From Hollywood. Think of your favorite movie plot. Re-watch the film to study how they reveal each new twist. Jot down ideas for how you can use similar techniques at work to deliver a training topic or to communicate a customer message. Experiment with ways to remix their techniques for building tension, surprise, and contrast. Use them at work to keep your audience on the edge of their seat – even if it's just for an email.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the Summary section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Competition Is Your Strength Sep 01, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Competition to your career.

    In this series, I break down one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Competition Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    We often see two distinct "flavors" of the Competition talent theme. You may have one. You may have both. One is fairness in the treatment of people. The other is standardization for processes. So here are a bunch of Competition-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Winner
    • Energetic
    • Selective
    • Intense
    • Record Holder
    • Driven
    • Scorekeeper
    • Striver
    • Measurer
    • Champion
    • Challenger
    • Scrappy
    • Ratings Creator
    • Gamer
    • Performer
    Red Flag Situations For Competition

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Competition. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Competition:

    1. No Public Metrics. Call them KPIs. Winning Scorecards. Dashboards. Performance Metrics. Quotas. Standards. Job Levels. Targets. Whatever you call them, they're something you need if you lead through Competition because you find it motivating to know where you stand. When there's no measure of success, you have no idea how you compare to others. And that's no fun if your drive comes from your ranking of things.

    2. Everyone Gets A Trophy. If you're in a culture where people get rewarded for simply showing up, you might feel offended and drained. In a work environment, this can be more annoying than in 7-year-old soccer leagues because it tells you that you don't work in a meritocracy. If everyone gets the same commission or bonus or job level for the same, mediocre performance, it will really take away the juice that makes you want to be awesome.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Competition

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Competition at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Competition, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Earn A Personal Record. Even when you run a 5k by yourself, it's fun to set a personal record (PR). Translate this to mundane tasks at work to give yourself the juice to blast through them at work. For example, if you made 90 phone calls one day, challenge yourself to get to 100 tomorrow, or to get to 90 in 7 hours rather than 8.

    2. Help Someone Else Win. Share your hacks and tactics. Help other people on the team step their game up. Since winning is fun, you'll enjoy treating someone else to that feeling. Also, it allows you to keep stepping your game up so that you can feel challenged in a pool of smart and formidable teammates. As the water level of the whole pool goes up, so does yours. So do the company results.

    3. Challenge Someone To A Duel. Find someone else at work who thrives on winning. Look for a top performer who will make you step your game up in order to win the bragging rights. Make it a duel that you have a chance at winning. At the same time, be sure it's not a "gimme" because it's no fun when you're not even in a legit challenge. Of course, the smack talk and the energy of the competition is fun, yet it's also a great way to meet company goals by pushing each other to set new records and pull off more than you've ever done before.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the Summary section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Connectedness Is Your Strength Aug 18, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Connectedness to your career.

    In this series, I break down one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Connectedness Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    We often see two distinct "flavors" of the Connectedness talent theme. You may have one. You may have both. One is fairness in the treatment of people. The other is standardization for processes. So here are a bunch of Connectedness-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Integrator
    • Idea-Connector
    • Bridge-Builder
    • Comforter
    • Considerate
    • Abundance-Minded
    • Faithful
    • Kind
    • Listener
    • Seeker
    • Perceptive
    • Unifier
    • Caring
    • Nature-Lover
    • Advocate
    • Open-Minded
    • Philosophical
    • Thoughtful
    Red Flag Situations For Connectedness

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Connectedness. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Connectedness:

    1. Silos. If your company is famous, internally, for a siloed, departmental approach, you might be drained by the closed-mindedness. When colleagues refuse to see that issues impact more than one small group, they could seem selfish. If you're constantly trying to get people to be more aware of the downstream impact of their actions, you might wear yourself out, like you're walking upstream in a fast-flowing river of non-collaboration.

    2. Experiencing Us vs Them Comments. If you constantly hear the service team complaining about the sales team, or the engineers complaining about product marketers, you'll wonder how it's possible to view things with such a self-serving mindset. You're keenly aware of how we all have a ripple effect on each other. You even realize that disdain that is felt but not spoken has a ripple effect. If this is the vibe on your team, it can really bring you down.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Connectedness

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Connectedness at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Connectedness, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Help People Live In The Matrix. You naturally see connections among people and processes that other miss. If you have a matrixed organization, where people report to 4 managers, take calls all over the world, and connect via conference call and instant messenger all day, it can feel like a sea of disparate transactions. But they don't seem separated to you. Volunteer your talent by showing the connections and helping your colleagues understand how things fit into the larger picture.

    2. Leverage Your Network. With your strong sense of community, you can connect people to each other to amplify the teamwork in your group. You might be the only one on the team who would realize that Susmitha does the same thing in India that Mateo does in Argentina. Not only can you give them a sense of community with each other, but your insights might allow for some efficiencies that no one else would have seen.

    3. Make Someone Feel Like They're The Only One In The Room. In a hard-charging, distracted environment, your teammates are probably used to not being seen, heard, and appreciated. You probably have a natural ability to listen and make someone feel like you're fully present in the conversation. What a great way to spread the ripple effect of kindness.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the Summary section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
    Career Branding When Consistency Is Your Strength Aug 04, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of reflections about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Consistency to your career.

    In this series, I break down one strength per post — so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make an even stronger alignment between your current job and your strengths.

    - If you're exploring this concept as a manager, use this series for career development ideas and even new clues about responsibilities you could give a person with this talent theme so that they can show up at their best.

    - If you're exploring this concept for yourself, use this as a chance to build a reputation for your strengths so that you're more likely to be given assignments that live in your strengths zone.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding 2. Red Flag Situations At Work 3. Fresh Application Ideas

    Career Branding When Consistency Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. Think about your personal resume, CV, or your LinkedIn profile, I bet it's full of "the what," which are things like job titles, skills, knowledge, expertise, or the degree you earned. What's missing is usually "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't physically see your teammates and customers every day. So many of us work on remote teams. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's how your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting - to see who they're about to talk to. And rather than only telling them what you know, you should also give them a peek at how it is to work with you.

    So here are a bunch of Consistency-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Policy-Maker
    • Operations-Focused
    • Rule Enforcer
    • Compliant
    • Systematic
    • Even-Handed
    • Standardizer
    • Practical
    • Reliable
    • Pragmatic
    • Equitable
    • Efficient
    • Steady
    • Guardian of Equality
    • Unbiased
    • Fair
    • Justice-Maker
    • Egalitarian
    • Impartial
    • Promise Keeper
    Red Flag Situations For Consistency

    These are the cultures, interactions, or situations that might feel like soul-sucking drudgery to someone with the talent theme of Consistency. They could even make you want to quit the team if they get really bad. So I'll give you a couple of these to be on watch for — because if they fester, you might become detached or disengaged at work.

    Here are two Red flags for Consistency:

    1. Constant Customization. If you lead through Consistency, you might prefer stable routines and clear guidelines. If you do, you could feel very drained at work if all processes seem to be up for negotiation and tweaking. You have a keen eye for standardization and ways it could serve your team or customers better. If you feel like you constantly have to battle people to get them to follow the guidelines, it could be a real soul-suck for you.

    2. Special Favor. If you lead through Consistency, you might have more of the people-fairness variety of the theme. With this, you believe that people should be treated equally. If you observe a team or a person getting unfair advantages or special favors, it will annoy you. If you see a specific person getting an unfair disadvantage, you might even find yourself taking action as their advocate. If you're in this environment and it feels unfair to you, you would likely feel drained by the culture because it runs counter to your personal values.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Consistency

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Consistency at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're exploring this concept as a team manager, be sure to have a conversation around these ideas. You'll both be able to come up with places to apply them.

    For someone who leads through Consistency, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Document Things. If you like the process side of Consistency, document processes so that they can be referenced by new hires or people new to that task. That way, the likelihood of inconsistencies goes down because they're following your steps rather than loose verbal instructions that Emma-down-the-hall mentioned.

    2. Stabilize After Change. After a re-org or merger or team shake up, you're likely going to create new norms, routines, and standards for yourself. It would be something that you naturally do because you want to get back to a routine that feels normal again. This is a great time to offer your processes to the team. Imagine how a standard operating procedure guide might help others find some calm in a sea of chaotic change. Even if you make something as simple as the "who does what" list, it will help people figure out the new norms.

    3. Rules Role. Look for responsibilities that allow you to establish or enforce guidelines. Even in knowledge worker roles, I've seen people become the creators of the team manifesto or the "keeper of the brand promise." It's a way to help the team keep standards, even when they're inconvenient. Get an ISO 9000 certification. Become a Six Sigma black belt. Volunteer for compliance-related responsibilities.

    Here's Your Personal Branding Homework
    1. Go take action on your LinkedIn profile with the career branding section. Challenge yourself to write one sentence in the Summary section of LinkedIn that captures how you collaborate as a teammate at work.
    2. Then think over the red flags to see if there's anything you need to get in front of before it brings you down. You might decide to make the situation mean something different, or pre-plan a reaction for the next time it comes around.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. If you're a manager, have a conversation with your team members about which of these things sound like something they'd love to have more of.
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