CliftonStrengths® for Managers Report: Your Strengths as a Coach

Gallup's recently launched CliftonStrengths for Managers report contains insights that you as a coach can apply in your work and in honing your coaching brand. Learn more about the edge your Top 5 and Top 10 strengths can give you in listening to your clients, asking powerful questions and bringing out the best in your coaching. In Part 2 of a series on the CliftonStrengths for Managers report, Mike McDonald, Senior Workplace Consultant at Gallup, joins the webcast to guide you in leveraging this report to apply your strengths and move toward coaching success.

Gallup Called to Coach Webcast Series -- Season 9, Episode 31. This is Part 2 of a 5-part series. Access Part 1, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 of the series on the CliftonStrengths for Managers report.

 

Think about, How do we interact with this report? ... First, to our own growth and development, but also ... if we consume this really well, the value we create for the people we're coaching will be enhanced.

Mike McDonald, 28:42

How do we give our strengths away as a byproduct right to that person we're coaching in a way that moves them forward?

Mike McDonald, 13:06

[The report helps coaches think about] How do I really hone and focus my own coaching down, so I can identify those who I'm working with, what ... my brand promise is?

Jim Collison, 26:52

Jim Collison 0:00

I am Jim Collison, and live from our virtual studios around the world, this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on June 21, 2021.

Jim Collison 0:21
Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world. If you're listening live, we'd love to have you join us in our chat room. There's a link right above me on our live page there that'll take you to YouTube. Sign in with a Google account and join us in the chat room. If you're listening after the fact that you have questions -- and many of you do this now; it's pretty great -- send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on any podcast player, or you can subscribe on YouTube there and watch it if you'd like to do that, some talking heads. Just subscribe on YouTube, and we appreciate you doing that as well. Dr. Mike McDonald is our host today. He works as a Senior Workplace Consultant with Gallup, soon to be, Mike, I think we're going to be back on the Riverfront here before we know it. It's great to see you. Welcome back to Called to Coach!

Mike McDonald 1:11
Yeah, likewise, Jim, always appreciate any excuse, any opportunity to hang out with you.

Jim Collison 1:17
Yeah, I think --

Mike McDonald 1:17
I say that without any, that's not artificially inflating your ego, Jim. That's just a straight, straight shot.

Jim Collison 1:23
Since our offices are right next to each other, it'll, it'll be nice to -- separated by a door, but it'd be, it'll be good to see you. We, Mike, we're kind of in a 3-part series, although we're going to add a fourth part to this; Austin's going to join us this Friday and, and give us kind of an advanced view, a deep dive on the mechanics of our new CliftonStrengths for Managers report just launched at the end of May. Has been really, really popular. And so we wanted to create some tools for you to start, as coaches, to start thinking about this.

Jim Collison 1:54
So today, we're going to think about this as you as the coach. I'm most excited about this one for you because it's about your learning and your development. Oftentimes you're always thinking about someone else. This, today is about you. Friday and advanced look at the report from, from the guy who kind of orchestrated and put it together. So you don't want to miss that one. Mike, we'll follow up in in a couple weeks then with a talk about then using this with those you coach who are managers. And then we're going to do one that's unique, because I think, you know, everybody manages something. We're going to talk about how anyone can benefit from this report.

Jim Collison 2:31
But Mike, let's dig in a little bit today. As we think about coaches, and I just, you know, I've got a real heart for coaches and the work they do. And when I saw this report come out, and I started reading it, I started reading my own report, I was like, Oh, this could be really good for coaches. And not good in the sense -- it's going to be; we're going to talk about that in a couple weeks -- it's going to be good for those who manage or those that you work with that are managers. But Mike, today, we really want to focus that emphasis on the coach. How can they use this in their own, for their, for their own development? Can you, can you get us kicked off?

Mike McDonald 3:05
Yeah, would love to. So a couple of things. You know, and this is where you all have to keep me honest. I was telling Jim, you know, I love the framework he's put together. But we really wanted to turn the lens around on a slightly different topic or subject, which is all of you, right. So much, like, all of our content -- similar to managers, coaches, and managers, by talent and by design are always thinking about other people, right, which is great. But we do have to pause and think about, Where's the investment in ourselves? So that we think about the benefit or the value we bring to anyone else still has to come from our own growth, the way we operationalize the best of our own capacity.

Mike McDonald 3:44
And so, similar to managers, I would contend, coaches very likely don't hit the Pause button and actually do that often enough. So Jim, I thought that's where we'd take ourselves today. I know that was what was on your mind is How does this translate to us? So let's dive on in. And Jim, if you don't mind, if this will work, I'd love to even use just some of the comments section for a little bit of our conversation today.

Mike McDonald 4:05
So here's what I'd like to have us do, and let's just start off here. And I'm not going to explain this, this question; I'm going to use your responses and we're going to take ourselves into our more broad conversation. But I want all of you to think about your own Top 5, Top 10 strengths. And just take a look at those. And here's a story, Jim, from 1,000 years ago. So when I first started working at Gallup, I was in a conversation with someone on my team. And in the context of the conversation, she concluded it by saying, "You know, you're a pretty good listener." Now, I love the compliment, right, I'm telling the story here, you know, lo these many years later.

Mike McDonald 4:43
But, you know, if any of you have had this kind of moment for yourselves, I, she left, and I was thinking about what she had said. And then I kind of looked, you know, kind of had that internal dialogue and looked in the mirror and I was like, "I don't think I'm a very good listener. Actually, I don't think I'm a very good listener at all." But here's what I was thinking, Jim is, is it wasn't like I was just trying to undermine my own effect. But I really wanted to challenge myself. So I looked at my strengths. And I was like, "Well, here's what -- I have Focus as one of my Top 5 strengths." So when anybody starts talking -- and certainly in the context of this conversation, when she started talking -- I just tractor-beamed, right, into that conversation, laser-locked onto it, and that was what took over.

Mike McDonald 5:24
But here's where I was challenging myself -- and when we think about ourselves as coaches, right, what, what if I would have used my Focus on purpose, Jim? How much more effective could I have been with the intentionality behind that strength? Now, the truth of the matter is, any of our 34 strengths with intentionality behind them can and should be a power-listening strength. So it was a lesson for me, and it's one that I'd like to use as a quick doorway into the conversation of how this report operationalizes itself on behalf of the coach.

Mike McDonald 5:53
So if we went to the conversation, or to the comment section, I'd love to invite everyone like, for this moment, let's plant a flag. And Jim, maybe you'd have a reaction for yourself in terms of, What is it that now and forever becomes our power-listening strength that we commit to? And what would that cause us to capture in our coaching conversations? What questions would that cause us to call out strategically going into a productive and action-oriented coaching conversation? So I'll stop there, again, if that comment section is appropriate. But again, I've got Focus on record. Jim, what is it for you while we let the group catch up?

Jim Collison 6:28
Yeah. So Arranger allows me to listen to lots of different conversations, even multiple, like if there are multiple things going on around me, to be able to take in, balance, grasp, consume, understand, in some cases, all of those, all at the same time. So a room of many people talking -- and Arranger's [No.] 1 for me -- a room of many people talking isn't an issue for me. Like for, for some folks, that's really hard. You know, they're like, One at a time! And I can, I can kind of follow multiple conversations and actually be involved, which is a little scary. Makes me great at Summit. Like we just came off the Summit experience. When we're Summit in person, and we might have a ton of people going on around, generally, I can hold, keep and keep track of all those conver -- now, I don't retain that very long. So it doesn't, it's not like it has, I can remember, "Oh, yeah, I remember" these conversations days, maybe even hours, later. But in the moment, very, very powerful for me, right. It makes me, gives me the ability to take in big groups or take in multiple things that are happening in a room all at the same time.

Mike McDonald 7:45
I love it. So Jim, what I'm getting, that Arranger strength of yours allows for a broadband of capacity for multiple inputs. So as that person, right, if you, if it was an individual person, the cues, the clues, everything that you're picking up on in that individual exchange, is powerful. But it also allows you to sit in the cockpit of a conversation like this and orchestrate air-traffic control. How do we collectively build out a conversation that takes us forward? We've seen that on display multiple times every week for the past century. It's like breathing air for you. Right? So I love the content, Jim, and we've got some great responses popping in the comment section here.

Mike McDonald 8:25
So I know Susie start off with Learner, absolutely. Ali cheated, but we'll take it: combination of Communication and Input. No, that's fine, Ali. Got some Individualization showing up. Strategic! Isn't it interesting? I love this! This is where we're learning some lessons that the intentionality behind any of these strengths -- I don't know if anybody would think necessarily on its face, "Oh, Strategic. How does Strategic cause me to listen?" But of course it does. Right? Of course it does. And we, as we, as we type in our responses to the -- Shylah, thank you for sharing your own testimony. That made me feel better about mine. Activator. Activator, right? So a lot of, a lot of our own responses coming through, but here's what I would contend, right? You all know this, but I think this helps us get inside the, the report in a personal way.

Mike McDonald 9:13
And again, this is about you all today. If we claim our power-listening strength, then the report, right, gets the key turned in the ignition, because we all know this, right? If we are already committed to listening better, the questions we ask then are going to be better, which creates better understanding on the part of that person relative to their own performance. And ultimately, then, better performance, right. So the input of our attitude and capacity to listen well, based on what we're taking away inside this report, is a great way for us to do the 3 things that we know are coaching best practices: our capacity to listen to individualize; ask powerful questions; and then, Jim, I think where you and I have had this conversation, where we really like to devote our time to is thinking about the action. Right? How does this now cause me to change my behavior, change my decision-making, change my effort leading the conversation, as opposed to going back and doing everything exactly the way we were before? We had a nice pleasant chat. And now I just go back to every habit default that was preestablished.

Jim Collison 10:21
And Mike, I like the words you used, "Leading the conversation." I want to make sure we, we understand, as we come at this from coaches, oftentimes you're a leader; you're an influencer. You're leading the conversation, either in a coaching conversation, maybe you're in a group setting. And so you're the leader there. I want you to see these, focus these through your own talents, through your own themes, and how do we push these things forward?

Mike McDonald 10:45
Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Well, so thanks, everyone, for indulging. I love the content in the chat. I mean, there's so much learning going on. Yes, Ali, I know you weren't cheating. That is just perfect Maximizer on display. So love the fact -- my Focus wants to challenge all of us to pick one. But don't pick one. It's great. I love the integrated notion of all of this. So let's, let's think about the report then. So a couple of things, you know, I guess that we'd love to really consider around, you know, our challenges and opportunities as coaches is we know that the report, for everybody that we work with, right, can be dangerously recreational, dangerously novel. And how do we continue to push people, pull people through, yes, the Naming portion of it; yes, the Claiming portion of it. But we would all, I think if we were to tell the truth in a transparent moment, that it's, it's the Aim portion of it, right? That's where we get, we can get there pretty fast, but that's where the value proposition we as coaches bring to the table.

Mike McDonald 11:43
I think it's where every human being gets challenged: How do I actually use the best of myself to do more? And so essentially, when we think about ourselves, I want to walk through some of the content here, Jim, as, and I loved your way, How do I interact with my report? I want to take us through some of the features, and how does this actually play itself out, using all of you as the centerpiece?

Mike McDonald 12:06
Now, on the first page, you know, it just starts off with a framework here that I think starts to provoke, you know, as much questions as it does statements. And down below, it talks about how each theme page includes: First bullet, How that theme contributes to your success; Second bullet, How that theme could get in the way of your success; Third bullet, Action items that you can implement immediately. So here's where I would take us. If we start to, you know, wander down, and I think, Jim, you're sharing my report, let's take a look at my Ideation strength. And I'll put myself right out there for all of you to, you know, tease apart the threads of my own strength as we take a look at it. But if I'm a coach and I'm looking at this, with a slight translation, I can start to think about where the best of my coaching can show up. And I want us to be thinking about this.

Mike McDonald 12:52
And I know with coaching, there's a very fine line about how much we draw out relative to how much we drive forward, right, with the clients that we're working with. And you all know that better than I do. So stay in that optimized space. But what I want us to have think -- be thinking about is our influence to action, our impact to action. And how do we give our strengths away as a byproduct right to that person we're coaching in a way that moves them forward?

Mike McDonald 13:23
So the way I narrate this, Jim, in my own mind is be thinking about this strength contributing to my success. So first and foremost, how does my Ideation operationalize itself for the client that I'm working with? So if I start with myself, think about the solutions orientation, Jim, that I could bring to the table. Think about the, the, not forever, but the ambiguity tolerance, right, the exploratory attitude, the courage, the confidence, maybe even the enjoyment and satisfaction. How much of our coaching is transmitted through our own emotion, right, our own delivery and our own extension? If I know this about myself, how then do I commoditize it and bring it to the benefit of the person that I'm coaching? So if we think about this, right, the world is a scary place. Performance, trying new things can naturally bring barriers -- can bring fear, anxiety, apprehension, barriers to where we might actually succeed, right? And so we see people trapped in this cycle of doing the same things but wanting to have different outcomes.

Mike McDonald 14:26
So I can create a comfort level with bringing people, with having people bring original ideas. I'm a safe place. They can think out loud. I'm a great sounding board. My invitation is really loud for their innovation to show up, for their creativity to show up. And they might be surprised just what they have inside their head that could lend itself towards a pathway, a solution, maybe an invention or a discovery. So what I help, what I help the person I'm coaching do is to not get caught up in "This is how we've always done it," right -- that, that painting themselves into a corner level of thinking. So this changes things, right? This changes the questions that I want to ask. This changes what I might hear in response. All of this now starts to sharpen my strategy and my approach and even my discovery of my contribution as a coach inside that conversation. So that's one feature. Jim, any reactions on the contribution to success? And again, it's a very fine line. How do I operate as a coach? But then also, how does this benefit my own client or coachee? Before we start getting into where this could get in the way.

Jim Collison 15:32
Yeah, I think when I first looked at it, when this first came out, this is something I actually kind of need to review on a regular basis, just to kind of remind myself, like, what's the role that I play in this? And, and me as a person, how do I, you know, I manage this webcast channel, so to speak. I work closely with Maika; I work closely with you. We're -- all three of us are similar: She leads with Strategic; you lead with Ideation. Just as I'm looking at this report, this is the first time I've looked at Ideation in this context. And I kind of go, "Oh, no wonder the way we work works the way it does," because I can come to you -- we generate, I mean, Maika and I generate tons of ideas. She's very Strategic about early on moving those forward, where you and I kind of marinate on that down to the very last second, right? And knowing that, that I really get the best of you when I get the last of you -- if that's the way to say it. The last, right, kind of, kind of the thing we get, the last thing we kind of get to is always seems to be what's best in that. You, you and I churn on that.

Jim Collison 16:32
So again, it gives me a -- knowing that about you. But I hope you knowing that about yourself, it gives you this opportunity to take those ideas down to the very last minute. Like how can we continue to kind of work on this -- and maybe now, knowing this, I know it's a safe space for me to do that with you. So that's my, that'd be my reaction to that just in, just in the 4 minutes, we've been talking about this, right? I mean, just the richness of that in just a few minutes.

Mike McDonald 17:00
Well, and the language of it matters, right? So we use words like "safe," right? That helps me actually start to involve myself in a more capable fashion as a coach, right? What am I actually creating as an atmosphere, an environment for that person? I loved what you said, "Bring out the best of ourselves," but even the last of ourselves, it doesn't mean it's the worst of ourselves. It's just, in many cases, the best of our product, or the best of the experience, is what shows up right at the very tail end. So, well, I love that, Jim.

Mike McDonald 17:27
So let's take it on forward then. So for the mindfulness, then, how this strength or this theme might get in the way of my success. So great barriers, or not barriers, but boundaries for us to be considerate of. And again, we're talking about every level of emotional, verbal cue that's on display in our coaching exchange. Our own attitudes, so again, I'll use myself as a point of reference. I do have to know, where's that optimized space, right? As I'm coaching somebody, where does my -- my preference may be for ambiguity or my courage and competence for ambiguity. Where does it become threatening? Where have I not been considerate enough about the reception level of the person I'm coaching in a way that brings them on board, that allows them to enter from their strongest point of competence?

Mike McDonald 18:11
And so there's some really strong emotional language on here that really causes me to sit back and pay more attention -- and maybe even be listening for cues, right, clues. When we talk about anxiety, I don't want to create anxiety in my coaching exchange. I don't want to create frustration, right? I don't mind being unconventional, but I don't want to put people on the defense, right? So we, so that, that defense mechanism for everyone starts to show up. And so the intentionality and the mindfulness of my approach can certainly lend to the value of that exchange.

Mike McDonald 18:42
I also like this, too, you know, this notion of other team members might enjoy generating new ideas too. You know, so when we think about, Jim, on the other side, or a way when we call this to action, in large part, as we think about our coaching exchanges, us not being this vending machine of solutions, answers or possibilities. But how do we equip that person to create their own? In many cases, it can help them be more mindful of what's their social network provide them? Multiple sources of input, right, in decision-making, thoughts, considerations for how they continue to advance and move forward. And now it's not isolated, right. So now, so now I'm taking my Ideation out and it's starting to become a relationship-driven impact. But these, this is just showing up in the mindfulness of where my strength can operationalize itself to bring out the best, but also where I need to draw some boundaries in that exchange with that person I'm coaching. So a different level, different level of a way for us to operate.

Mike McDonald 19:42
Now, I want us to spend some time -- here's where as much of, of our focus, I think this is where Jim and I would encourage all of you, as you think about the, I guess, guidance or directions that your strengths can go to is the action items. And the action items were constructed with, with intentionality in a couple of different areas that I think bears our examination. So what we wanted to have show up in the action items is, How can we offer up actions for consideration that create great impact for -- you know, if we were thinking about the specific nature of this report -- the manager, but for their team, right. So as you can see the language for my Ideation, here's exactly how I should use it. So it's -- there's a shift in the tone and the attitude, even a little bit in the direction that these items would reflect or represent. But on the surface, it's, it's moving my team forward.

Mike McDonald 20:39
Where it gets interesting, though, is if I do these things, it activates my team with influence and action. But it also cycles back, because what it also does then is activates this particular strength for me as a leader. So Jim, if I do this, if I ask the second bullet, if that's an action item for me, and I go to my team, and I, you know, help them refine some of their thoughts around our problem-solving and our solutions. And I ask them, "Hey, what if we don't do this? What's at risk? What would be the tradeoff? What if we did, what if we did try? What would that first step look like?" You know, etc., playing that out. What if we fail, right? We'll do a premortem as opposed to a postmortem: What might go wrong? And let's make sure we've accounted for that in advance. But what if we succeeded? Like, what if we pull this off? Now, that's great, right, like that's a very productive conversation. That's my Ideation in action affecting and influencing my team.

Mike McDonald 21:39
But where we play the cycle in completion, Jim, is my team's response to those questions continues to activate the best of my Ideation. So we get this self-propelled positive spin taking myself and my team up, not just through the Aim it, or through the Name it portion of my strength, not just through the Claim it portion of my strength, but through the Aim it portion of my strength. So again, as we think about the ability to operationalize something in a cycle, this works to our advantage and to our favor.

Jim Collison 22:09
Mike, I'd almost like the coaches to read this, "How to Apply Ideation as a Coach" on there. Like just scratch that out and write in the word "Coach" on their own. And what if those same questions applied as, as they're coaching? Like, they're, they're really good at asking these kinds of questions. I think this is where I saw the power in this report, as I was looking through it, for coaches. So if I'm coaching you, and I have high Ideation, which I do, it may be OK for me to ask some of those questions as part of my coaching. Like, what if you did that, and you failed? Let's work through that for a second. Like, and, and so, you know, all those things you've just said about teams and working with managers and teams, I think can directly apply a lot of ways.

Jim Collison 22:53
If you're coaching a team, or if you're coaching individually, these, you can look at these and say, you know, "What will we do when we succeed? Let's rehearse that." Like, "What will we do when we fail?" And if we know what happens when we fail, failure doesn't seem so scary, right, at that point. So I just, I like that. I would I, you know, I would encourage coaches to get this --scratch out "Manager"; just write the word "Coach" in, and then read everything through the lens of me as a coach -- How can I use these in what I do as a coach?

Mike McDonald 23:26
Yeah, no, I agree. You know, and we could walk through each of these four bullets, and just shade them a little bit, Jim, to your point, where it becomes very relevant. So play out, play out the first bullet. If I'm coaching someone, I think it'd be interesting for them to identify, and we do this a lot when we, we talk about identifying your board of directors or your constituency. Who are the people who really help you refine your thoughts, that give you permission to think out loud? Whether it's Ideation or any strength that causes you to be creative, who are the people that provide a great sounding board? Some of them are great at translating it to execution. Some are great about translating it to make sure that our social dynamic is intact as we operationalize it, or as we execute on it. So, great way for us to aim some questions and approach there.

Mike McDonald 24:13
The "What if?" and, you know, the Ideation cycle of those four questions, Jim, I don't know -- for my Ideation, with those four questions, I don't know what I couldn't do. Like, I feel like I could walk in and only ask those four questions in almost every situation and really have a very productive discussion. So you know, that second bullet point really hits the center there. Even thinking about how we extend our coaching on through, right, that it's, it's certainly about pathways to solutions that thinking about the performance accountability.

Mike McDonald 24:42
So, you know, I liked your shift, Jim, where you talked about, you know, repositioning fear, apprehension, anxiety, but asking as an assignment the person I'm coaching, "Hey, the next time we get together, I want you to bring 3, 3 concerns -- like 3, 3 hot areas, right, and a solution as crazy as it might sound. You know, and not just make this an event, but making an ongoing level of examination. And in, I think, our capacity to see like and help them see, Do you realize, when you did this, that happened? Or when you did that, this happened? Seeing those connections, right, helping them appreciate the fact that they didn't just do chores or didn't go from A to B. But 2 + 2 -- I'm gonna use maybe a confusing point of reference -- 2 + 2 even equaled yellow, by the time they were done, right, with that Ideation capacity.

Jim Collison 25:34
And I think, I think, Mike, being known as that. In other words, as we think about the coaching promise, like when you're, when you're working with a client, to have your coaching values or your coaching charter set to your Top 5 -- or your Top 10, in this case -- because you have them, you have all 10, right? To start saying, "Here's my promise, and it's strengths-based," right? "I'm -- these are the things I bring, because of what I, because of my Top 10. Here's what I bring to you as a coach." Because as a coach, I can't be everything to all people. You know, I, I'm not a Discipline-Focus guy; you're not going to get a lot of that from me, right? And so, but not to lead with that, you know, but, but to lead with these things, Mike. You, having high Ideation, to create some promises.

Jim Collison 26:22
The report has some sections here on the bottom where we think about, you know, we've written these, How does your team react to new ideas? Fill in, "How does my client react?" Right? "Who should be involved in brainstorming processes for long-term goal setting?" That's back to your board of directors. "Who do I, who am I bringing in, in this case, to do it?" I mean, all of a sudden, this looks like a Coaching Business Developer, right? A way to start thinking, like, How do I really hone and focus my own coaching down, so I can identify those with, with those who I'm working with, what my promise, what my brand promise is? And this begins to start working that out for you, much like the individual development plan would when we're talking about setting individual goals.

Mike McDonald 27:10
Yeah, no, I love it. Completely agree with that, Jim. And here's where I'd like to kind of bring this all full circle in the way that we had promised. But I, we would encourage all of you, you know, process through this yourself. As much as you would test it or, or apply it or supply it to the person you're coaching, ask yourselves and walk yourselves through all of these questions. And to that point about the, the portion, reflect to plan for action, How about you? Right? How about me? How about Jim? How do we react to new ideas and changing plans, right? We've all got businesses; we're all trying to grow our reach of impact. Who are those people? Who are those partners that should be involved in our brainstorming process for our own long-term goal setting?

Mike McDonald 27:54
And that's where I wanted to take us back up. I was tempted to touch on this in the beginning, but I just want to bring us back. And we've heard a lot of this. But -- and we know it, right, but there's a portion underneath the 3 bullets on your first page of the report. We talked about this: How this theme contributes to your success; how it gets in the way and action items that you can implement immediately. But I think the best summary of all of this, Jim, is, is that the the portion right below those 3 bullets, where it says, "Use Them." So Jim, I'm up on the first, on the second page of the report. And there's a call for all this. We talk about this with managers in performance development: The most important expectation of an excellent manager is to have one meaningful conversation every week with each team member about their goals.

Mike McDonald 28:39
Let's shade that again, just like we have talked about: The most important expectation, perhaps, of a coach is to think about How are we that meaningful conversation with our client or, and/or helping them think about, Who are the meaningful conversations they ought to be having? And who would they be having them with? If I was to bring it back full circle for all of you as coaches, Who is the person that you're spending time with that creates a meaningful conversation with you? And more definitively, What does "meaningful" look like to you, knowing your Top 5 and your Top 10 strengths?

Mike McDonald 29:13
So Jim, the, kind of the wrap to this that I, you know, I think we could all agree on, and certainly when we think about managers, coaches, clients is it's really hard to create something that we're not consuming. And so I think, you know, if there's, if there's a center to our conversation, it's the encouragement for all of us as coaches to be thinking about, Who are we, in the context of this report? Who is our client, in the context of this report? And how do we consume it so that we can create it for the best of both? So --

Jim Collison 29:45
It got really quiet in the chat room, Mike, and I was like, Who's looking at their own report right now? Like, you know, starting to dig in, thinking, "Oh, yeah, you know, I could, I could be spending this time thinking through this with -- as a coach. Like, How am I bringing these forward? How am I aiming these to my clients? How am I pushing them back to myself to say, How do we become a better coach in this? How do I partner with other coaches in some of the work that I'm doing? How do I work, you know, how do I continue to exponentially grow on the teams that I'm a part of?

Jim Collison 30:22
Many of our, Mike, many of our enterprise coaches are coaches and something else, right. They, the coaching is maybe a part-time role for them or half-time role, in some cases. And they're thinking on their teams that they're working on, How can I bring these pieces? I may not manage directly, and Mike, this is my challenge. I don't manage anybody directly. But I manage 10,000 people with influence. And, and 10,000 maybe to 25,000 that surround -- in the community around us, right, as we think about that. And so it begins to be a challenge for me, right? It begins something I can look back on. Mike, anything else you add before we wrap it?

Mike McDonald 30:58
No, nothing more, you know, I just, an encouragement to get inside, Jim, I think you said it best when, when you were really challenging us, you know, to really take a good look at the report and first think about, How do we interact with this report? And, you know, for a variety of reasons. First, you know, to our own growth and development, but also -- similar to a manager -- knowing that, if we consume this really well, the value we create for the people we're coaching will be enhanced as well. And whether we're speaking to it personally, or in a first-person point of reference, it'll be in the back of our mind. And I think we can appreciate what our clients are considering and working their way through and knowing that we've gone there before them.

Jim Collison 31:41
How valuable as a tool to know, too, as well. In other words, when you're, you're recommending this to your clients, to say, "You know, it might be best if we had our man, we had your managers pick up this report." You know your own and the report structure inside and out. Mike, since we've released the 34 report, I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, "Page 21." They know, like page 21 has become a, that's where the flag is planted, right, and, as we think about that.

Jim Collison 32:11
So I really do think there's some great opportunities for coaches to kind of consume it and learn it and kind of own it -- own their own, and then push this forward with those oh-so-important managers that we spent a bunch of time just, just weeks ago, just before the Summit, talking about their challenges and their perks and, and what they're responsible for, and the, the amount of impact they make in an, in an organization. So Mike, thanks for coming out. We'll look forward to Friday, this coming Friday. If you're listening to this as a podcast, it may be in the channel already. Austin is coming to talk a little bit about kind of the, kind of the advanced version of the report. I'm excited to have him in here. He helped put this together, and he's going to spend some time talking more mechanics. You'll want to join us on Friday, again, gallup.eventbrite.com, if you want to join us there.

Jim Collison 32:56
In a couple more weeks in July, I think July 12, Mike, you and I are getting together to talk about how to use this with your manager. So it gives you, let's just say 3 weeks to really kind of get -- for those who are listening live -- to really get into this and own it. And then we're going to talk a little bit about pushing it forward into the, those who coach who are managers. So I'm really excited about that. But the third and final session, Mike, is the one I'm most excited about, which is for everybody else. Because everybody manages something. And so how do we, how do we look at this for all the other things that we manage? So, excited to do that in the show.

Mike McDonald 33:29
Hey, Jim, can I just, a couple things. So first off, I really appreciate you having us think about -- because I love giving credit where credit's due. I'd like to take credit for this, but I love the way you're angling and looking at the multiple facets of the report. So thanks for taking us into this discussion. Loved, I loved what George said in the chat. He had a reference: "Great business planning tool." I couldn't agree more, George. I think this, as we think about all of the business leaders, managers we're working with, and our own businesses, how is this not part of the very project document that we would put together to take everything forward? And then the last piece, Jim, that I guess I, you know, and let's think about this as a series. I would love it, selfishly, if we could start off our next session, I would be really curious for this audience or anybody else who's joining, let's show up with momentum. I would like to kick off next, our next conversation, What did we do? What did we do between now and then? And let's really link this together. I think, looking at the content and the collective talent and tenure of this group, Jim, I think we could create a real critical mass of coaching capacity here if we bring these three together.

Jim Collison 34:36
If you're, if you're listening live -- and we had a couple, we had 150 of you or so register for this. If you're listening live, go ahead and get registered for that right now. You can go to gallup.eventbrite.com. That third and final session will actually release tomorrow morning. So if you want to get a notification of it, you can follow us: gallup.eventbrite.com. I want to remind you of all the resources that are now available in Gallup Access. So if you haven't been to the Resources section, log in, hit the menu in the upper left-hand corner, and then choose Resources. And Mike, there is a ton of stuff that is out there. Chris Haley, who is our in, one of our internal guys, he's adding content to it all the time. So we're excited about it as well. If you have questions on anything, you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. We just got through the Summit, and we'll just remind you, if you, if you attended the 2021 summit, you now have 87 days -- or something like that; there's a counter on the page when you log in -- to use those resources. So make sure you're logging in and taking advantage of all those sessions that were available there. You can join us on any social platform by searching "CliftonStrengths." And we want to thank you for joining us today. We look forward to the next couple of these. Join us live, listen to them in the recorded version. But with that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

Mike McDonald's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Input, Ideation, Learner, Achiever and Focus.