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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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    • Spotify
    Latest Episodes:
    Career Branding When Individualization Is Your Strength Feb 03, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of curiosity about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Individualization 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 a better alignment between your 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 Individualization 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. 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 Individualization-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Perceptive
    • Astute
    • Insightful
    • Outlier Detector
    • Customizer
    • Anthropologist
    • Uniqueness-Spotter
    • Sees Who People Are
    • Observant Biographer
    Red Flag Situations For Individualization

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

    Here are two Red flags for Individualization:

    1. Execution Over People. Imagine going to a kickoff meeting for a new project team, and the head of the team dives right into the task list. They don't give you time to get to hear how each person's strengths can fit into the bigger picture. They don't even give you a second to get to know the people you're going to work closely with. If the feeling of brushing over or devaluing the people side is part of the culture, it might be really draining for you when you lead through Individualization. This is because you thrive by knowing what makes each person tick. You're at your best when you can see how people's differences are their differentiators. Without having this step, you'll feel like you need to cram that into your personal process. And if there's no time made for "those soft things" you're going to feel drained.

    2. One Size Fits All Rules. Imagine a situation where your manager distributes a list of canned responses that you are required to use when contacted by any customer. You are told not to deviate from this list, regardless of the person's individual needs. I remember this happening early in my career when I was required to answer the phone by saying, "It's a great day at ACME Company, how may I help you?" This drove me crazy. Although I could appreciate the positive vibes, it felt fake. Those were not words I'd ever choose, and they never felt genuine coming out of me.

      This is a double whammy for Individualization. First, if you have this theme, you likely don't believe that one size fits all. Each person would be better off coming up with their own version of a positive vibes greeting. Secondly, if you have Individualization, you might dislike being boxed into rules. So when a one-size-fits-all rule gets implemented, it's going to feel like an energy vampire every time you have to execute on it. You likely feel that any list of responses should only be a guideline. And you'll know that it could be made better if you could put a unique spin on it based on each customer's style.

    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Individualization

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Individualization 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 Individualization, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Style Spotting. When you get a new customer, and your team doesn't know anything about them, assign someone with Individualization to research the customer and create a style profile. They'll have fun uncovering how they are unique, and what kind of communication they prefer.

    2. Team Connector. Say you have a newly formed global team that's working on a huge new project. You don't know most of the team members, and they don't know each other. Everyone's in a different time zone, with unique cultures and experiences. If you want to kick off with a team building meeting or a get-to-know you activity, assign it to someone with Individualization. Even if you're listening as an individual contributor and no one assigns you a task like this, take it on yourself. Find one fun fact about each person and make a one-pager that shows each person's photo, role on the project team, and one fun fact. This will be a fun and useful exercise for you, which will help you get you feel more productive because you now know something about each person. And it helps the team connect as well. It's a win all the way around.

    3. Objective 3rd Party. If you have a personality clash on the team, or you're having one yourself, call on a teammate who has Individualization. This person can be the objective 3rd party who is excellent at seeing the gifts and positive intent of each person. Often, their deep intuition for seeing value in each person can bring the battling parties to see that they're not so far away from each other. Often, they can find the differences and see how they can be used as a positive partnership. Of course, use this one with caution. You don't want to send in a peer as an arbitrator when the goals are not artfully set up and executed. Yet, if you have a highly mature and self-aware team, this is an outstanding use of Individualization.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Individualization. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Input Is Your Strength Jan 20, 2019
    Show notes

    I get a whole lot of questions about how to amplify your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Input with 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 a better alignment between your 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 Input 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. 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 Input-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Inquirers
    • Collectors
    • Information Sponges
    • Generous
    • Appliers of Knowledge
    • Well-Read
    • Knowledgeable
    • Researchers
    • Investigators
    • Corporate Librarians
    • Archivists
    • Curators
    • Workplace Archeologists
    Red Flag Situations For Input

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

    Here are two Red flags for Input:

    1. Busy work. Because people with Input like to learn and then aim that learning at something useful, it's really draining to do tasks that seems like "make work." If you lead through Input and you see this happening, challenge yourself to share insights or document the process to make it useful to someone else. This way, you can still feel like you're curating something useful to teammates.
    2. Outdated or unsearchable tools. If you lead through Input and you see something like a database or CRM system or customer service tool that is not kept current, it will be draining. You'll be able to see the huge value in sharing information, and it will be extremely frustrating to find that others don't value the repository in the same way.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Input

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Input 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 Input, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Make information findable. If you lead someone with Input and you want a system for curating, storing, and finding information that everyone can use, send it over to someone with Input. Whether you ask them to make a Wiki or update an intranet page or collect FAQs, the idea of gathering and sharing useful information will light up someone with Input.
    2. Research deeply. When you need someone to do a deep research quest, ask someone with Input. They'll enjoy looking through archives, learning, and then distilling the important parts down to make them usable to others. The idea of researching and applying is highly energizing for those who lead through Input. And then translating them into usable bits will be a fun way for them to apply the information while being challenged to distill the important takeaways.
    3. Soak up practices from other teams. Basically, ask them to be a sponge and soak up the approaches that others are using. Then they can apply it to your team's specific situation and make recommendations. The idea of investigating the options by being curious inquirer will be fun. From there, applying it to your team adds to the energy because someone with Input wants to apply the learning to a specific project or situation.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Input. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Intellection Is Your Strength Jan 13, 2019
    Show notes

    I get a whole lot of questions about how to amplify your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Intellection with 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 a better alignment between your 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 Intellection 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. 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 Intellection-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Philosophers
    • Deep
    • Musers
    • Intense
    • Intellectuals
    • Critical Thinkers
    • Reflective People
    • Contemplative
    • Solitude Seekers
    • Introspective
    • Willing To Be Contrarian
    Red Flag Situations For Intellection

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

    Here are two Red flags for Intellection:

    1. Pressure to give answers in the moment. If you lead through Intellection, it will likely be annoying to go to a meeting where someone asks you to make an important decision or give your opinion on something they've sprung on you in the moment. You do your best thinking when you have time to marinate on it, so be sure to find a way to communicate to your team that you'll be at your best when you have time to think about something in advance. This means, watch out for those blank calendar invitations that don't tell you anything about the meeting at hand. Get the agenda in advance. Know what contribution someone is hoping for. Otherwise, they might pressure you to "talk it out" in the moment, which will likely drain you and frustrate you.
    2. Groupthink. If you lead through Intellection and you're on a team where people blindly nod along with each other, you'll probably feel frustrated with the lack of critical thinking. If you're in this situation and you're thinking that your team is a bunch of sheep or "Yes Men" or lemmings, imagine how difficult it would be for you to have a deep, trusting relationship with peers. The same goes for teams who seem to skim the surface and then act - while never doing the deep thinking on a topic. Watch out for these situations because they'll be big energy-zappers for you.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Intellection

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Intellection 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 Intellection, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Help me poke holes in my idea. Many roles today are filled with distractions, quick meetings, and instant messenger. This can be efficient, yet it can also keep teams from the deep contemplation needed for important decisions. If someone on your team has Intellection, ask them, "what am I missing here" or "what else should I be thinking of" or "can you poke holes in my idea?" They will appreciate the idea to think beyond the surface.
    2. Contrarians wanted. Just because someone on your team has Intellection, it doesn't mean that they'll disagree with everything. At the same time, using their critical thinking will unleash their best. Their deep reflection and reasoning skills are valuable to help teams see past the surface. They can see downstream impact that others can't see. They can see the unexpected consequences that others can't spot.
    3. A task of solitude. Next time you have a role where someone needs to work from home, or do a seemingly lonely job of traveling and being alone in hotel rooms (or holed up in a remote cabin), see what someone on your team with Intellection thinks. They will often love doing tasks that require solitude because they do their best thinking when they can contemplate alone. This doesn't mean that they don't like people. Yet often, they will be private people who need time alone to be at their best.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Intellection. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Learner Is Your Strength Jan 06, 2019
    Show notes

    I hear a lot of curiosity about how to apply your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Learner 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 a better alignment between your 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 Learner 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. 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 Learner-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Curious
    • Variety Seekers
    • Studious
    • Lifetime Learners
    • Expert
    • Multi-Passionate
    • Inquisitive
    • Dynamic
    • Explorers
    • Growth-Focused
    • Early Adopters
    Red Flag Situations For Learner

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

    Here are two Red flags for Learner:

    1. Stagnation. If you lead through Learner and you stop growing and learning, you will likely feel like you're dying inside. Use this as an early warning sign. If you're bored. If you're stagnant. If you're assigned to maintain something and keep it the same, you have to find other ways to feed your Learner or you will be super drained.
    2. Maintenance. Think about the contrast between maintaining something that is already up and running versus being involved in a new project or program. If you're involved in keeping something at status quo, you will likely have few days that feel energizing. That's because you love to explore and learn and experience new things. If you own a program that has already launched, be sure that you're continually working on your craft or your subject matter depth. That way, you can maintain the success while constantly bringing new information or new angles to the team.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Learner

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Learner 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 Learner, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. When you need a tester. If you have a change initiative and you need someone to be the early adopter, call on someone with Learner to be your pioneer. Tell them that you're asking them to test and explore - to soak it all in - and to document the good and bad. They will have fun being on the cutting edge and being the trailblazer for the team.
    2. When you need to introduce something foreign. Imagine a situation where your team is taking on a whole new set of responsibilities. You're going to have to ask some people on your team to think or act or learn in a whole new way. Pick someone with Learner and tell them that you're introducing this to give them some variety and a growth-challenge.
    3. When you need one person on the team to learn everything there is to know on a topic. Sometimes teams want to be on the cutting edge of an ever-changing competency or subject matter. A project like this might seem insurmountable to the non-Learner. Or it might seem frustrating to a non-Learner because they're never complete. But to a Learner, this continuous study and growth will be fulfilling.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Learner. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Maximizer Is Your Strength Dec 30, 2018
    Show notes

    I get a whole lot of questions about how to amplify your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Maximizer with 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 a better alignment between your 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 Maximizer 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. 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 Maximizer-related adjectives to consider using in your career branding efforts and your LinkedIn profile:

    • Efficient
    • Sorters
    • Selective
    • Persuaders
    • Strengths-Oriented
    • Choosy
    • Challengers
    • Always Refining
    • Never Done
    • Transformers
    • Excellence-Seekers
    • Tinkerers
    • Iterators
    • Quality Boosters
    Red Flag Situations For Maximizer

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

    Here are two Red flags for Maximizer:

    1. Premature Launch. If you lead through Maximizer, you naturally focus on quality. You have high expectations, and it hurts to hand over a work product before it meets your quality standard. So if you're on a team that values quantity over quality, you'll likely get frustrated. Also, if you find that a work product has huge potential…if only you could do this to it…(only to find out there's no time or budget to allow it to live up to its potential), it will make your Maximizer sad.
    2. Weakness-Focused Culture. Maximizer is a talent theme that is naturally aligned with a strengths-focused culture. If you find yourself part of a team that obsesses over weaknesses and problems and what's wrong, you'll be yearning to flip things around. Sometimes your strengths point of view will be refreshing and welcomed, but if you find that it's dismissed, you'll feel drained by only working on what's broken rather than getting the high leverage out of strengths.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Maximizer

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Maximizer 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 Maximizer, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. When the rest of the team can't see potential in a project or person. The Maximizer talent sees potential all over. So you could apply this to a change that people are resisting, or a future vision that needs to be created. You can even turn on the Maximizer talent to bring an inspirational message to help other people see "what can be."
    2. When you need incremental improvement over time. People with the Maximizer talent don't need to constantly work on exponential change. They get a charge out of incremental improvements that compound over time. If you need someone who can help you realize potential over the long-haul, tap into the powers of the Maximizer who loves to test and experiment and iterate to continually improve something.
    3. When you want to go from good to great. People who lead through Maximizer rarely rest on their laurels. Good isn't good enough. They like to make things better and better and better. They're constantly asking "what if we did this" or "I wonder what it could be like if we tried this" - they're looking to get the most out of things, so they're chasing efficiencies and mastery all the time. If you want someone who doesn't get bored with continuous iteration, tap your Maximizers.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Maximizer. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Positivity Is Your Strength Dec 23, 2018
    Show notes

    I get a whole lot of questions about how to align your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Positivity with your career.

    In this series, I break down one strength per post.

    That way, you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make a better match between your 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.

    Today, the talent theme of the post is Positivity.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding
    2. Red Flag Situations At Work
    3. Fresh Application Ideas
    Career Branding When Positivity Is Your Strength

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. If you imagine your resume 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. This is an overlooked use for tools like LinkedIn, which is not just for job seekers.

    Chances are good that you are a lot like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't see your teammates and customers every day. 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 adjectives you can use in your career branding and your LinkedIn profile. People who lead through Positivity are often:

    • Upbeat
    • Fun
    • Energetic
    • Hopeful
    • Magnetic
    • Encouraging
    • Optimistic
    • Enthusiastic
    • Warm & Friendly
    • Celebratory
    Red Flag Situations For Positivity

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

    Here are two Red flags for Responsibility:

    1. Devil's Advocate. If your team has a pessimistic tone where people are awarded for their cynicism or constant reality checks, be on watch. This can suck the life out of you – especially if the team is constantly picking on each other's ideas with a "that will never work" type of default response, rather than building on each other's ideas and hearing each other out.
    2. Celebrate For A Nano Second. If you lead through Positivity and you're in a culture that doesn't stop to celebrate, regardless of how big the accomplishment, you'll be constantly drained and baffled wondering why you can't slow down for a second to acknowledge the accomplishment. Although you don't expect everyone to give praise as readily as you do, it will drain you if you know it's getting withheld.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Positivity

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Positivity 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 Positivity, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Lifting spirits though change. If you have someone on the team who leads through Positivity, call on them when the team is having trouble seeing the silver lining in the situation. Behind the scenes, brainstorm with them all of the things you can think of that are still going well. Also list all of the potential future outcomes this change will enable. You'll have fun making the list, and you'll likely come up with ideas that will help you get adoption for a tough change.
    2. Tone setting. When you need someone to pump up a room, consider someone with the Positivity talent. They often light up a room just by walking into it. So next time you have a kickoff event, or you want a moment of levity in a meeting, ask this person in advance to bring a fun segment to the event.
    3. Seeing possibilities. When a team feels stuck, the leader is often reluctant to come in with a rah-rah message about how you'll be okay in the future (and rightly so). If you want to lead the team through a deep conversation along the lines of "Who do we need to become to make that happen?," enlist your team member with the Positivity talent in advance. They're awesome at possibilities-thinking, so they can seed the conversation with believable ideas to get the momentum going in the room.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Positivity. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Relator Is Your Strength Dec 16, 2018
    Show notes

    I get tons of questions about how to go deeper to align your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Relator with your career. So in this series, I break down one strength per episode.

    That way, you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make a better match between your job and your strengths.

    – If you're reading 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 reading 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.

    Today, the talent theme of the episode is Relator. You'll get three layers to chew on:

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

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. If you imagine your resume 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 in most resumes and profile is "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live. This is an overlooked use for LinkedIn. That's why it's not just for job seekers – it's also about shaping your career.

    I bet you are just like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't see your teammates and customers every day. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding. It's where your teammates, customers, and vendors go look you up before a meeting – to see who they're about to talk to.

    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 adjectives you can consider using in your career branding and your LinkedIn profile. People who lead through Relator often have a tight-circle, a good BS Alert System, and are often:

    • Friendly
    • Genuine
    • Loyal
    • Transparent
    • Caring
    • Trustworthy
    • Authenticity-Spotters
    • Deep Connectors
    • Relationship-Focused
    Red Flag Situations For Relator

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

    Here are two Red flags for Relator:

    1. Keeping Up Appearances. If you have the Relator talent and you feel that people are always Peacocking around to show off only the polished, perfect parts of their contributions at work, you'll probably be drained by the relationships at work because you think they're fake and superficial.
    2. Transactional. If you're in a role where there's no time or desire for building relationships over time, you'll be drained by it. If the sterile, fast, transactional exchanges are part of the expectation, you need to find other ways to fuel your need for care and friendships. Try challenging yourself to see how quickly you can drip in relationship-building anecdotes into a 30-second conversation (note: this doesn't mean superficial, talk-about-the-weather type of small talk). Activities like this will help you test it out to see if there's room for relationships in your organization.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Relator

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Relator at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're listening 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 Relator, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Nurture. When you need a deep relationship to develop over time, think of someone with the Relator talent to nurture it over the long term. For example, this could be someone who manages your most important account. Or it could be the person who onboards new hires as their first-year mentor. Or it could be a performance coach who helps a peer develop over time.
    2. Confidentiality. Sometimes you can't tell everyone about a decision or a product or a process change. Yet you need someone to be assigned to it. Often, people with the Relator talent are great keepers-of-confidences. Especially when they can tell it is important to someone else.
    3. Authentic. Imagine a situation where your team or your brand is getting dinged for being stiff, stodgy, and old school. You're afraid to swing too far into the informality that seems to be taking the world by storm. You still worry about professionalism, yet you need to attract great talent to your team. If you're trying to strike the balance, call on someone with the Relator talent to bring the authentic, professional personality of your team out to the world. This can be valuable for marketing your team and your company when you're hiring for the next opening.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Relator. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Responsibility Is Your Strength Dec 09, 2018
    Show notes

    I get a whole lot of questions about how to align your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Responsibility with 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 a better match between your 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.

    Today, the talent theme of the post is Responsibility.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding
    2. Red Flag Situations At Work
    3. Fresh Application Ideas
    Career Branding When Responsibility Is Your Strength

    Let's start with career branding. You probably already have a reputation for what you know. If you imagine your resume 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. Now, what's missing in most of them is "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live. This is an overlooked use for LinkedIn, which is not just for job seekers.

    I bet you are just like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't see your teammates and customers every day. 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 howit is to work with you.

    With that in mind, here are a bunch of adjectives you can use in your career branding and your LinkedIn profile. People who lead through Responsibility are often:

    • Trustworthy
    • Loyal
    • Diligent
    • Dependable
    • Accountable
    • Conscientious
    • Promise-Keepers
    • Honest
    • Committed
    • Responsive
    Red Flag Situations For Responsibility

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

    Here are two Red flags for Responsibility:

    1. Chronically Missed Deadlines. If you lead through Responsibility and your team culture is one that is cavalier with deadlines, it will suck the life out of you. To you, your word is your honor, and you expect other people to honor their commitments as well. So when people miss their deadlines and treat it like no big deal, you'll likely feel like it's a place where mutual respect is severely lacking.
    2. Imposed Urgencies. You're conscientious and dependable. You plan things out diligently so that you can keep your promises. So when other people constantly blow up your day with their lack of preparation, you're likely fuming. If you work in a place where people tend to launch their hand grenades at you — which puts you at risk of not keeping your promises, this will suck the life right out of you.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Responsibility

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Responsibility 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 Responsibility, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. The long haul. When you need someone who will consistently chip away at a project over time, assign it to someone with Responsibility. They are self-starters who will diligently follow it through the long term.
    2. Trust. When you need to hand something off to someone you can trust, assign those responsibilities to someone with Responsibility. When you know you can't babysit the process, the person who leads with Responsibility will keep you posted on timelines, deadlines, and progress without any hand-holding necessary.
    3. Ownership. Think of a project or process that no one has really owned before — one of those things that sort of gets done, but never that well. Change that up by assigning clear ownership to someone with the Responsibility talent theme. They're great at covering it from soup to nuts when they know they can take charge and bring order to a neglected part of the business.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Responsibility. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Restorative Is Your Strength Dec 02, 2018
    Show notes

    I get gobs of questions about how to align your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Restorative with your career.

    So in this series, I break down one strength per post so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make a better match between your job and your strengths.

    – If you're exploring 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 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.

    Today, the talent theme of the post is Restorative.

    You'll get three layers to chew on:

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

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. If you imagine your resume 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. Now, what's missing in most of them is "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live. This is an overlooked use for LinkedIn, which is not just for job seekers.

    I bet you are just like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't see your teammates and customers every day. 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 howit is to work with you.

    With that in mind, here are a bunch of adjectives you can consider using in your career branding and your LinkedIn profile. People who lead through Restorative are often:

    • Problem-Invaders
    • Issue CPR-Givers
    • Unintimidated by Big Problems
    • Root Cause Finders
    • Diagnosers
    • Fixers (or Fixer-Upper)
    • Investigators
    • Accountable
    • Rehabilitators
    • Realistic
    • Troubleshooters
    Red Flag Situations For Restorative

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

    Here are two Red flags for Restorative:

    1. False Harmony. If you lead through Restorative and you have a team culture where people are outwardly harmonious (when they don't actually agree) — where they fake their agreement and go through great lengths to be conflict avoidant, you will probably feel super drained by that.
    2. Sweeping Issues Under the Rug. If you keep getting responses to your problem-solving ideas that sound like, "Well that's not really something we own" or "That will never work here" or "No one else seems worried about it, so let's not make mountains out of molehills" — you will be soul-sucked because you're around people who are ignoring problems that you'd be happy to solve.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Restorative

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Restorative at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're listening 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 Restorative, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. Give them your big, hairy problems. Many managers feel bad delegating problems. Yet problems are a treat for people who lead through Restorative. Tell them why you assigned them, and that you know they'll be able to diagnose and propose at a level that few people can do.
    2. Get them assigned to solving problems for your best or biggest customers. This person will enjoy the challenge of discovering and removing the obstacles. You can rest assured that they'll go about it in a businesslike, focused way (rather than the emotional panic that many would get into).
    3. When you're stuck. When you catch anyone on the team saying, "I'm stumped" or "I'm baffled" or "I don't know what to do" — consider partnering them with your team member with Restorative. This person has fun finding the root causes and helping people decide how to move forward.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Restorative. So, here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.
    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Enjoyed The Podcast?

    To subscribe and review, here are your links for listening in iTunes and Stitcher Radio. You can also stream any episode right from this website. Subscribing is a great way to never miss an episode. Let the app notify you each week when the latest episode gets published.

    Career Branding When Self-Assurance Is Your Strength Nov 25, 2018
    Show notes

    I get a lot of questions about how to align your CliftonStrengths talent theme of Self-Assurance with your career. In this series, I break down one strength per episode so that you can add to the insights from your StrengthsFinder report and make a better match between your job and your strengths.

    – If you're exploring 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 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.

    The talent theme today is Self-Assurance. You'll get three layers to chew on:

    1. Career Branding
    2. Red Flag Situations At Work
    3. Fresh Application Ideas
    Career Branding For Self-Assurance

    You probably already have a reputation for what you know. If you imagine your resume 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 in most profiles is "the how," and this is where your StrengthsFinder talent themes live. This is an overlooked use for tools like LinkedIn, which is not just for job seekers.

    I bet you are just like my StrengthsFinder training clients, where you don't see your teammates and customers every day. That's why LinkedIn has become so important for career branding – because it's the tool your teammates, customers, and vendors use to 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 adjectives you can consider using in your career branding and your LinkedIn profile.

    People who lead through Self-Assurance are often:

    • Independent
    • Instinctive
    • Self-Sufficient
    • Stable
    • Resilient
    • Confident
    • Courageous
    • Solid
    • Influential
    • Certain
    • Persistent
    Red Flag Situations For Self-Assurance

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

    Here are two red flags for Self-Assurance:

    1. False Collaborations. If you lead through self-assurance and you're partnered up with another person or another department when your opinion doesn't really matter, it will drive you crazy. You will already know a direction you'd propose, and if your ideas constantly fall on deaf ears, you'll feel totally soul-sucked by it.
    2. Hand Holding. If you work with someone who needs constant hand-holding, it will wear you out. You work independently and you expect others to at least try to figure it out on their own before leaning on you. And if you feel like someone is trying to constantly hand-hold you, you're likely to resist and feel as if they're treating you like a child or a newbie or a dummy.
    3 Fresh Application Ideas for Self-Assurance

    These are ways to apply the talent theme of Self-Assurance at work, even when the job duties on the team feel pretty locked in. If you're listening 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 Self-Assurance, put this talent to good use with one of these options:

    1. When a critical issue comes up, think of the person who leads through Self-Assurance. This doesn't mean to dump all of the problems on them. It means to look for situations where a lot is riding on the decision or execution (good or bad). Rather than being scared and hesitant as many would be, someone with Self-Assurance can confidently handle the challenge without getting ruffled.
    2. Watch for change that makes others nervous. Think about things like process changes, re-orgs, or mergers that make others fear that they'll be redundant and lose their jobs. This is the situation where you can put the person with Self-Assurance out front to show people how to confidently and resiliently flow through major organizational changes.
    3. Assign this person to responsibilities that benefit from no second-guessing. Those with strong Self-Assurance have strong instincts and can move forward quickly. If you need someone who will not hem and haw over a decision, make this person your go to.

    So there you have it. It's a quick tour for building your career through the talent theme of Self-Assurance. Here's your 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.
    3. And finally, volunteer your talents through the application ideas. And 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.

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

    Rock Your Talents As A Team

    If you're thinking about doing a virtual or in-person event to kick off your strengths-based culture, head on over to our training page to see if our current offerings are a good fit for you. Until next time, thank you for being part of this powerful strengths movement that helps people unleash the awesomeness already inside them.

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