Your Arranger Talent: Turning Chaos Into Order

On this Theme Thursday Season 3 webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Arranger with guest Angela Belden Martinez.

You are a conductor. When faced with a complex situation involving many factors, you enjoy managing all of the variables, aligning and realigning them until you are sure you have arranged them in the most productive configuration possible. In your mind, there is nothing special about what you are doing. You are simply trying to figure out the best way to get things done. But others, lacking this theme, will be in awe of your ability. "How can you keep so many things in your head at once?" they will ask. "How can you stay so flexible, so willing to shelve well-laid plans in favor of some brand-new configuration that has just occurred to you?" But you cannot imagine behaving in any other way.

You are a shining example of effective flexibility, whether you are changing travel schedules at the last minute because a better fare has popped up or mulling over just the right combination of people and resources to accomplish a new project. From the mundane to the complex, you are always looking for the perfect configuration. Of course, you are at your best in dynamic situations. Confronted with the unexpected, some complain that plans devised with such care cannot be changed, while others take refuge in the existing rules or procedures. You don't do either. Instead, you jump into the confusion, devising new options, hunting for new paths of least resistance and figuring out new partnerships - because, after all, there might just be a better way.

You are able to sort through the clutter, and turn chaos into order. You are able to find the best way to get things done through the pathways in your brain constantly configuring and ordering. Strategic and Arranger tend to mimic each other. However, where Strategic is more about possibilities and creative options, Arranger is a little more boots on the ground. It is the most efficient black and white logistics. You have an almost overwhelming drive to accomplish. Very often Arrangers make great leaders because they can use this Theme as a Relationship Building tool. You as leaders are able to see the best seat on the bus for everyone on the team to thrive. Leaders with Arranger are at their best in dynamic situations where things are continuously changing. You are not afraid of jumping into things some people may find confusing, because of the attraction to devising new options and paths of least resistance.

Arranger is a healthy way forward to manage your busy day. Instead of seeing tasks on your list to accomplish, how can that be seen through other people? How can you position different talents on your team to move towards a task? Different from Adaptability that responds to change, Arranger manages necessary change. Arrangers aren't afraid of details. You are able to remain focused on the deliverables to be able to prioritize what areas need help. Arranger can sometimes be confusing to a lot of people when it isn't communicated well. Clear communication is your best way to build a team. You are giving them a stable environment where they can feel comfortable. You are going to accomplish this team building not only with trust and relationships, but also because of your results. You deliver on that trust by thinking about what needs to be accomplished.

Looking towards our four paths of followers; trust, compassion, stability, and hope, we first look at trust. How might a leader with this Theme build trust? How can you practice speaking what truth you are seeing? Trust yourself and your own ability to understand a reconfiguration. In many leaders, Arranger means they can build trust by giving and receiving feedback midcourse. Finding the best voice to give and receive that feedback is trust. Arrangers can show compassion by investing time in considering how you might help people develop. Hope has a special place with Arrangers. You have that important place to be able to release people from commitments that may not be the best for them. You can be managers of teams who can say you don't have to accomplish the same things your peers are accomplishing in order to be recognized. It is redefining what work and deliverables look like. Finally, stability is the hint that something could be better, and the answer to what "better" looks like.

Angela Belden Martinez's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Belief, Developer, Maximizer, Relator and Arranger.