Your Woo Talent: Possessing Authentic Social Courage

On this Theme Thursday Season 3 webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Woo with guest Rhonda Knight Boyle.

WOO stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. On the contrary, strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport.

Some people shy away from starting up conversations because they worry about running out of things to say. You don't. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words, you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet -- lots of them.

As an individual, WOO is about building my network, but as a leader is about expanding our influence. It translate to building expertise through a network of skills. With WOO your greatest resource can be that network you have built. It is the constant awareness that you have an effect on other people, and it can be a positive one. It is also an awareness that there are people out there that you can win over and bring into your network. WOO equips leaders with that ability to not have to know it all yourself, but to invest in others that can expand your expertise.

As a leader, WOO gives you magnetic attraction. It means people tend to be attracted to your organization, team and spark that you create when you walk in the room. It also means it attracts you to others. People with WOO are constantly aware of who they have yet to win over. It is about building comfort. You naturally make employees feel like they are at home. It is an authentic social courage that can inspire motivation in others. It can be about hospitality by creating a sense of authenticity and disarming social comfort.

It can also be about a diversity of connections. Since WOO is about a social breadth it can create this great diversity and inclusiveness. The making of new connections is powerful. It can have an almost social multiplicity. It is an energy creator in many ways. It doesn't always have to be loud. It can also be a form of comfort. WOO gives you that ability to really know and see others. There is an incredible hopefulness to the term there are no strangers, just friends you haven't met yet.

Somebody with WOO might build trust by helping people feel seen and important. This can come as easily as learning others' names, and learning their social details. A leader might build compassion by demonstrating their love of people in general to show that you don't play favorites. It is the ability to project that this is a constant talent of yours. At your soul you really do like people. It is very consistent and authentic. You can create stability by helping find stability in others. You may connect people who are going through a similar challenge. Individuals with WOO can build hope by talking about the social impact of what you can expect. Talk about how a goal is going to energize and inspire others to be part of something.

Rhonda Knight Boyle's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Ideation, Woo, Maximizer, Communication and Activator.