Maximizing the Benefits of Your Coaching for Others

On a recent Called to Coach, we spoke with Maika Leibbrandt, Gallup Senior Workplace Consultant and Theme Thursday host, about timely updates for the coaching community, including developing your own strengths "one-pager"; and barriers to becoming a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and how to overcome them; accessing all 34 of your CliftonStrengths; and the June 3-5 CliftonStrengths Summit.

Below is a summary of the conversation. Full audio and video are posted above.

Jim Collison: We're going to spend 15 or 20 minutes plowing through what's relevant for coaches right now, and what are we hearing in the community that we can update you on?

Maika Leibbrandt: And listen to this in time. Don't put this on your back burner and stack your play list and say, "I'll listen to this in 90 or 100 days," because it won't be nearly as important to you (then).

4:26 ML: So your work as a coach or as a strengths enthusiast or any sort of member of this community does not end with the person you're coaching. People who focus on their strengths at work are 6 times as likely to be engaged in their jobs. So if you want to go back to the 85% of (workers who are) not engaged, the role strengths play in fixing that can't be ignored. People who receive feedback on their strengths have an almost 8% increase in productivity.

And outstanding performance from human beings is the result of them knowing what they do best and figuring out how to create the opportunity, and ask for the opportunity, and take the opportunity to do that every single day. So if you are helping one person through that challenge in your role as a coach or a champion or someone who believes in strengths, you are helping impact the lives of circles of other people, ripples of other people, especially if that one person is a manager.

And you're going to hear from Gallup a lot this year about the importance of the manager, along with a lot of important research and interesting findings we have about the role of the manager. So today we want to talk about what is stopping you from making the most of that. Maybe you're not certified, maybe you're not yet confident enough to use CliftonStrengths 34 instead of just Top 5; maybe you're not using your code discount because it can sound like "full 34" is expensive. But there is a code discount that we want to make sure you're aware of. Or maybe there's something that's keeping you from stepping up and acting like a leader in this movement. Today we're going to talk about all of these things.

JC: I want to get us started with what I'm going to call the "one-page challenge." I get a lot of questions in the Facebook group about, "What is CliftonStrengths and how do I explain that to individuals? Is there a one-pager that is out there?" I've always kind of hesitated on this one-page idea, first, because I think it's too simplistic; second, because your style and what you're doing matters -- and the area you're coaching and who you're working with.

We spend a lot of time on gallupstrengthscenter.com trying to make that a site for a one-pager. By the way, we have a Research for Coaches series -- Adam Hickman started that off, and Jim Harter will be here March 15. Our goal is to help explain some of our research. I think sometimes people quote our stats and then someone challenges that, and coaches say, "Um, I don't know -- I just got that off of the Gallup website. So I think it's important for you to understand those stats before you quote them.

But I want to issue this one-page challenge. If you have a one-pager, if you've put one together -- if you haven't, maybe you should.

8:14 But let me encourage you to start creating your own one-pagers that we share on the Facebook group, to get some ideas as to what other people are doing to explain this -- on Facebook.com/groups/calledtocoach. These one-pagers would still belong to you but let me encourage you to think through -- what would you grab, what would it look like, how would you make it uniquely yours, and how would you own that? Thoughts on that, Maika?

ML: Just that it's a really great first step, and we need to see it as that, but if you are going to own your journey here, you can't say, "Hold on, I'll send you a one-pager" if someone asks about strengths. This idea of a one-pager I love, because I think it will bring together a lot of our best ideas to get strengths into the consideration of other people, but I think it needs to transform into your ability to be excited about strengths and not have to hide behind stats or behind what Gallup has said. But what (about strengths) speaks to you? And your courage to say, "This is how it's important for me and this is how it can work for you."

JC: I wouldn't necessarily say you would use this one-pager but it's something you own, and your ability to reflect the mission and purpose of what you're trying to do and how you're trying to move the engagement number and help people be more productive in the workplace. I don't think if you've taken the time to put your own one-pager together (maybe call it a mission or purpose statement) -- if you haven't taken the time, I'm going to encourage you to do that.

10:23: Maika, you had mentioned certification -- getting certified. We've had 10,000+ people train with us, and we have about 6,000 certified people. There's a "delta" there (difference of 4,000 people or so). What do you see that stops people (from getting certified)?

ML: If you're one of those who has been trained and is eligible to be certified but haven't taken that step, I don't want to guess why not, but I've spoken to some (of those 4,000) who are either intimidated by the process itself or haven't set that down to do it.

I want to help you understand that it is within our best interest that you be certified. It is our desire that people we have trained and poured into and people who have made that investment with us, that we can keep you as part of that community. The reason for certification is to be able to say we've got this common language and common approach, and that we are all plugged in to the same mission and the same understanding of the tool itself.

So when someone comes across you and your passion for strengths, they can trust that it isn't like a game of "telephone" that has gone too far away from the integrity of the instrument. Also, the benefit of being certified is that you essentially come to the front of the line for anything Gallup has to offer you. So, communication goes to certified coaches first; you get the benefit of using our annual learning series, which is invaluable -- it's hard to put a price tag on it. It's our way of saying, "Let's make sure we stay connected, that we stay plugged in to each other." You also get to use the Gallup logo.

Maika Leibbrandt's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Strategic, Positivity, Woo, Ideation and Adaptability.