I talked in this blog about my journey to discovering Gallup Strengths and how I used it with many teams, in many settings, in a boot-leg way. Yup, totally unofficially and in my own made up way, leveraging my national award-winning teacher skills to make up some team development work I thought would be solid.

Over the years, I did this with individuals I managed, teams I managed directly, teams I worked with indirectly through layers.

The trainings were always incredibly successful for a few reasons: first, it gave everyone a common language that was asset based, to talk about what came naturally to us. Your top 5 strengths come to you so effortlessly, a response I often get when exploring them in my individual coaching is that people "But that's not a strength—everyone can do that!". Nope, they can't! It's your strengths that come so naturally that you don't even see it as something that you do! For example, my number one strength is Activator - I bring a lot of enthusiasm and startup energy to projects and sometimes I'm like "isn't everyone this way? Who isn't pumped to dive into action with <fill in the blank>??" No! It's a strength and when you think about it as such, you can leverage it strategically. Sometimes I'd just think "well, that's who I am —an enthusiastic person." Yes, and that is a STRENGTH. That can be leveraged to achieve my goals. Having this common language to talk about yourself and others is incredibly helpful.

Another benefit of the training is that because this common language is asset based, it reframed the way that we were talking and thinking about each other. The language of Clifton Strengths helps focus others on the assets that it brings. The person on your team who takes forever to make a decision? They are likely a Deliberative strength. Now, I'm an Activator strength-so I am often ready to get STARTED. I can find it frustrating when I perceive people to wanting to slow it down. I'd get annoyed at Timmy Teammate, and find it frustrating. After almost two decades of doing this work with teams, though, I have learned time and again, that chances are VERY high that Timmy Teammate had Deliberative in their top 5! Deliberative strengths need a lot of time to think about all the possible outcomes before they make a decision. Often, when Deliberative and Activator are together at a table, there can be some tension—because one is fired up and ready to go while the other wants to hold on and pump the brakes! I learned to appreciate the care Timmy brought to the table, and at the very least Timmy had an explanation as to why I was always so ready to get it started.

Another benefit was that this was ALWAYS a win in terms of professional development. People lovvvvve talking about their strengths all day—or all morning, or for an hour or two. They always left feeling really good about these sessions. Now, I don't believe team development always has to be something that people like. People also need development that makes them uncomfortable—yet when a team is early in their relationships and trust, or just needs a booster shot of team building, this does the trick. Occasionally, when our team was pretty consistent year to year or we didn't have many new folks, I'd skip this session in our annual rotation. That was a mistake. Another benefit of this development is that every time people come to it, they have new insights. Even thought their strengths haven't changed and they know the language, coming back to that on a regular basis with their new challenges or with the perspective of another year's experience also allows them to get a lot out of it. I've had folks who have done this 5, 6, 7 times—and I'm always very careful to ask if the time was worth it. The answer is a resounding yes.

The time invested in the sessions was always worth it; it always paid off. It really helped me as a manager as well—to consider what people are best for what situations. I need a Deliberative in the room with me when I'm making a decision to help balance out my Activator enthusiasm. It is incredibly helpful for me to have people on my team who are Strategic: who can pull back at 20,000 feet to see all the different outcomes that we are considering and think about what the pros and cons will be before we dive in. Once I knew their strengths, I would make sure to get their perspective before making a major decision. Ten out of ten times they'd have a nugget of wisdom I hadn't considered or allowed me to see something in a new light.

It also really allowed me as a manager to use my team in a more sophisticated way. They also really enjoyed this development because I was often bringing them in on things that were just easy and fun for them to do —and it also helped my organization work better. There is no one set of strengths that gets success in any role—as a teacher, or sales person, or consultant. Rather, it's about leveraging your strengths to reach your goals.

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What are your strengths and how do they show up in your life? Leave a comment below to share more!