Beyond the Book: Applying Tips From the Appendices

When you read (or listen to) a book, how often do you refer to the appendices? That part of Wellbeing at Work contains nuggets of insights about your wellbeing and your CliftonStrengths that will greatly enhance the benefit you receive from the book. Learn more about how each of your Top 5 strengths can inform and support your own wellbeing and your team's wellbeing, and how managers can lead wellbeing conversations with employees by starting with strengths. Join Jaclynn Robinson, Learning and Development Consultant at Gallup, and Ryan Wolf, Gallup's Physical Wellbeing Lead, as they wrap up our 5-part series on wellbeing.

Gallup Called to Coach Webcast Series -- Season 9, Episode 55. This is Part 5 of a 5-part series on wellbeing. Access Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of this series on wellbeing.

Below is a full transcript of the conversation, including time stamps. Full audio and video are posted above.

Appendix One was primarily designed to support people in thinking about, What do I lead with? And ... What element of wellbeing ... could use that extra dose of medicine to make me go from ... struggling to thriving?

Jaclynn Robinson, 10:01

The difference between a good life and a great life might just be community wellbeing.

Ryan Wolf, 17:31

Our research shows ... just how effective and impactful it is for managers to start wellbeing conversations with strengths in mind.

Ryan Wolf, 37:47

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on October 26, 2021

Jim Collison 0:18
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 on our live page. There's just a link right above me there; it'll take you to the live page. Sign in with your Google account, and join us in the chat room. Let us know where you're listening from. If you're listening after the fact, you can always send us an email -- and if you have questions: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to subscribe to this, this webcast, Called to Coach, on your favorite podcast app, or you can do it right there on YouTube by clicking the Subscribe button, bottom right-hand corner. Ryan Wolf is our host today. Ryan's the Physical Wellbeing Lead here at Gallup. And Ryan, it's always an exciting day when I get to spend it or start it with you. Welcome back to Called to Coach!

Meet Our Guest on This Episode

Ryan Wolf 1:05
Yeah, thanks, Jim. Great to be here. And excited, very excited to have Jaclynn here. Jaclynn, how's it going?

Jaclynn Robinson 1:12
How are you, Mr. Wolf?

Ryan Wolf 1:14
Very good.

Jaclynn Robinson 1:15
I'm excited for this morning. I get to hang out with you two.

Ryan Wolf 1:18
Good.

Jaclynn Robinson 1:19
It negates the fact that it's really early on the West Coast.

Ryan Wolf 1:22
Yes.

Jim Collison 1:23
But nobody cares that's listening to the recorded version. They're like, "Hey, just move on."

Jaclynn Robinson 1:27
Not at all.

A Review of the 5-Part Wellbeing at Work Series

Ryan Wolf 1:27
No, today's, today's perfect, We're going to be kind of wrapping up this 5-part series on wellbeing at work. And then at the same time, we kick off a new series that you and Jim are launching: The CliftonStrengths Wellbeing Series. So that'll be launching next week. And we'll get into a few more of those details. But we've got a lot of things to discuss today, on, on this big day. So far in this series, we've covered really a diverse set of content surrounding wellbeing at work. So we started with Mohamed Younis. And, and he brought in his insights on wellbeing from leaders that he works with and that he interviews on The Gallup Podcast.

Ryan Wolf 2:19
And then we talked, we brought in Anthony Blue. And he discussed kind of really the careful methodology and research that goes into really validating the data that we have that quantifies wellbeing, which is such a huge topic, because wellbeing is definitely not the easiest thing in the world to measure and validate. So, so that was a great combo. Then we talked with Natasha Jamal about how D, E and I and wellbeing are really interrelated and kind of amplified through each other, which was a really awesome conversation. And then just a few weeks ago, we talked with Danny Lee, who discussed wellbeing from his kind of CliftonStrengths lens and expertise.

Ryan Wolf 3:10
So the links to each of those conversations will be provided in the kind of the final, finished product of this published talk that, that we're doing here, Jaclynn, today. Or you can get them, if you're interested and like them, sooner, at, at gallup.com. Just go to the Wellbeing link. But it's been, we're gonna get into our content here. Now we've, we published the book, Gallup published the book about 6 months ago, the Wellbeing at Work book, in May. So a decent amount of time has passed, Jaclynn, since you wrote some of your contributions, and since kind of the public and our listeners here have digested and just kind of read the book and maybe applied some of what they're doing.

Ryan Wolf 4:02
So bunch of, you know, that book is just chock full of some great discourse, things like net thriving and mental health and resilience. We integrate employee engagement into it. And, and also the idea that the next global crisis might be a mental health pandemic. So, so really interesting content throughout the book; ton of great content. I'm interested, Jaclynn, if you could help us kind of bring your perspective, and can you kind of talk about what you see manifesting so far in the workplace or in the workforce since the book's release?

Workplace Developments in 2021: Mental Health, Purpose

Jaclynn Robinson 4:44
Yeah, I would say, you know, two themes that automatically come to mind would be mental health and lack of clarity and purpose in the workplace right now. A lot of employees are struggling to identify, What's 2022 look like for me? Am I going to stay in the same role? Some employees have started to, you know, take up the slack for maybe having a shortage of employees in the workplace. So they might have more jobs that they're doing than they were initially hired in to do. So I think there's some confusion with them, even, as to, what does my future look like? Am I going to continue to have three, four, you know, different responsibilities or roles that I'm taking on? Or am I going to go back to the old ways, once things start to stabilize?

Jaclynn Robinson 5:33
So I've seen that on one spectrum, where there's that lack of clarity on what's the road look like for me, because they might have taken on more just in the past couple of years. And then others, some of that comes from leadership, where maybe leadership hasn't been quite clear on what the strategic initiative looks like. So the mission and purpose has remained the same, but how they get there might be different. And you've got employees that are struggling to understand, What is that, and how do I contribute to it? So I've seen some lack of clarity and purpose show up in those two ways, most specifically.

Jaclynn Robinson 6:07
And then with mental health, everyone is just getting hit so hard, and I just feel for everybody. But we're seeing that in higher education, where you've got students that, you know, they're really excited to be back. A lot of them are back on campus, and they're, and they're thriving to that degree, to feel like they've got that sense of community again. But there's still that just lack of mental health that they've been carrying from the last 2 years that they might still be trying to unpack. And then, of course, within the, the workplace itself, you have employees that are experiencing burnout, particularly if we go back to some that are carrying on more responsibilities due to that shortage of employees in, in the workplace, so to speak. But also just the social isolation, and I keep telling people, we've had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at us the last couple of years, and people are still just processing that. And they might not have had that opportunity to take a, a one-week vacation or a two-week vacation just to decompress, because work might need them.

Jaclynn Robinson 7:09
So that's where I think it really goes back to the employee engagement piece you were talking about, Ryan, with It's the Manager, so to speak -- really making sure they have a pulse on their employees. Are they experiencing burnout and poor mental health? Are they confused about what their future looks like? Are they talking to them if they feel like they're overwhelmed?

Introducing Appendix One: Talent Themes and Wellbeing

Ryan Wolf 7:33
That's great. So we actually just published, we helped, in our partnership with Wellcome Trust last week -- I don't know if you guys saw it or checked it out yet, but there's a great piece that's really fresh at gallup.com and Wellcome Trust on mental health in the workplace. So some really good, you know, just extra reading, that you can check out, and just extra data to kind of validate maybe some of the initiatives that you're creating in organizations. Excuse me there. So I think one of the real gold mines, Jaclynn, in the Wellbeing at Work book is Appendix One. And if you haven't read the book yet -- if someone's out there and has, haven't read it, haven't seen it, you might be thinking, Appendix? Appendix is cool.

Ryan Wolf 8:22
And yes, the, the, the Appendix, there's, there's a bunch of them. Appendix One, we're going to get into both, both of the ones that Jaclynn wrote, but Appendix One is super helpful, incredibly relevant and usable within the workforce today, especially for coaches, managers, for leaders. For those who haven't seen it yet, can you kind of, can you kind of walk us through Appendix One, maybe could you talk about, you know, how the idea of bringing this to the book started?

Wellbeing and the Executing Domain

Jaclynn Robinson 8:56
Yes. This was fun. This was a fun project to be, to be pulled into for sure. And for anybody that isn't familiar with Appendix One, it offers key insights per talent theme for each element of wellbeing. So let's say that you feel particularly drawn to support career wellbeing. And you lead with Achiever. You could flip to the back of the book into Appendix One and look at Achiever, and it might offer, you know, one or two insights that are just going to support you with your element of wellbeing. So if we do just take Achiever as an example, let's think about just having this this work overload right now. Achievers love being productive, day in and day out. But over the past few years, you might have really picked up quite a bit of work. So maybe for you, that purposeful productivity is what's going to be key. What do I want to keep on my plate that's related to personal and professional goals that will better support my career and purpose wellbeing, as opposed to just taking, taking on everything?

Jaclynn Robinson 10:00
So the, the Appendix One was primarily designed to support people in thinking about, What do I lead with? And what area of, of, you know, I should say, What element of wellbeing feels like it could use that, that extra dose of medicine to just make me go from maybe just struggling to thriving? That was really the idea behind it.

Ryan Wolf 10:24
Yeah, I love it. OK, can you go into Achiever a little bit more? So you mentioned career wellbeing. What, what's next?

Jaclynn Robinson 10:31
Yeah, so let's think about social wellbeing for a minute. Achievers, you know, like, like others in the workplace, you might have suffered from social isolation during the pandemic. And so one way to really reenergize yourself and also target productivity is finding partnerships within the workplace with people that you like to get work done. Now you're feeding your social wellbeing, but you're also leaning into that strength of Achiever that likes to get things done. And we could even think about physical wellbeing. You know, preshow, we were talking about physical wellbeing and what we want to do this, this winter to better ourselves. And we're not alone. We know a lot of people are thinking about their physical wellbeing, which I will just caveat and say is also related to rest and nutrition. But maybe you've gotten, you know, off track of your goals.

Jaclynn Robinson 11:23
So one thing to think about is, What are your current health and fitness goals for this year? And if you have a desire to get back into your exercise regimen or to get more rest at night, really create a pathway to enable yourself to do so. So, a few teasers of what you can expect if you're looking through the book, just to give you some insights in how to better that element of wellbeing for yourself.

Wellbeing and the Influencing Domain

Ryan Wolf 11:47
Nice. OK, so that's, that's an Executing theme. Can you talk about how it might look differently in the other domains?

Jaclynn Robinson 11:57
Yeah, so let's say that you lead with Influencing, just as a, as a domain. Our Influencers are people that are a catalyst for change; they've got a lot of energy and synergy. So if you think about yourself thriving my Influencers, you know, you're able to move yourself forward, and others with that energy and synergy that you bring forward. So you might be inspired to achieve goals through conversations that you've had with other people; you're probably ready to get back out into that real world post-pandemic and be among others in a social environment. It could be volunteer work, it could be those 5Ks that we're starting to see happen again. But just being out among people, and talking about your goals with others might, might provide that sense of thriving for you, where you feel like you're really thriving.

Jaclynn Robinson 12:46
But alternatively, alternatively, that struggling piece might look like feeling socially isolated or having, you know, managed so much change in the environment, whether it's social or professional or personal. You know, you might feel like you're a little bit uncertain yourself. With all the change that's happened, it's like, you know, "I really want that sense of rebuilding connection with others. I want that sense of rebuilding connection to the workplace." So you might feel like you're lacking a little bit, because there has been so much change that it might have just thrown you off of your typical social game, so to speak. And we do know, as much as our Influencers are social, you still get tired sometimes, and too, too much change can be a lot for everybody. So I think having that time to just kind of sit with it and rebuild those social connections might be valuable to someone with Influencing.

Jim Collison 13:43
Jaclynn, can you, can you talk a little bit, in our series that's coming up, and we're gonna promote, promote this towards the end, you and I are going to walk through a framework. And one of the things I've appreciated about the way the Appendixes are laid out is that the Appendix One has a really a list of all the themes. So a page by theme, with each of the 5 wellbeing elements plus some instruments, plus some advice that's in there. And we're going to practice that a little bit here a little bit later today, or in this, in this webcast, as we do this. Appendix Two is really a framework, right, that, that coaches can grab and use and walk folks through, right? It gives you some clues to how to use Appendix One in the process. If you just practiced that a little bit, when we looked at the Influencing Domain, by saying, and this is going to be the format for this, for our webcast that's coming up is: this -- it's thriving, you know, How can I, how can I use this theme to help me thrive? Where, where could I be struggling in this, right -- a really open conversation about where I could be struggling?

Jim Collison 14:47
And then, I think this is the, this is the "secret sauce" and what's most important: When we think about in the Influencing Domain, how does this help me in, or how does this help me support others? Because I think we're all in this together. Right. It's not always just about us, but in the context of relationships. So with the Influencing Domain, as we look at this, and we're covering these today because we don't necessarily look at it this way in the book. So this is kind of free bonus content for you guys that are showing up. But how does that, how does it support others from Influencing?

Jaclynn Robinson 15:18
I think about Influencers as the natural catalysts and cheerleaders and leaders for individuals, they get them excited and energized and moving towards a common goal. So when they're firing on all cylinders, that's what it feels like, they bring so much just energy and charisma to the environment. But if they are struggling, then that's going to impact individuals and teams quite differently. Now, all of a sudden, they've lost that person that tends to rally them together for projects, events, initiatives, goals, and it might fizzle; people might feel like that light on the team has been dimmed out a little bit. And they might be less clear on how they're all moving together towards a goal. Executers can get people going towards that goal. But Influencers can really make sure that people are moving together with a lot of good synergy behind it. So we might feel like that, that light's dimmed out some.

Jim Collison 16:16
I think this Influencing Domain has an incredible ability right now, where people are burying; they're digging in; they're hunkering down, where -- you mentioned this a little bit earlier -- they're isolated, right. They're feeling like, "I don't know. I'm working from home. I'm going in, I'm not -- should I be around people; shouldn't I be around," right, whatever. And, and I think Influencers have this positive ability to really start pulling people out, right, start pulling them out of like, Hey. And then, and, Ryan, however that looks, like, yeah, in some areas, we may not be able to get together physically, but how can we get to, how can we still continue the virtual gatherings that we're doing? What kind of things can we be doing that helps in this situation? Because we're all, we're all in this together, right? And so I think Influencers have this ability or, or can -- this, this spark, I think is the, is the way you said it, Jaclynn -- this spark to kind of get folks moving forward. Ryan, you want to add anything to that?

Ryan Wolf 17:18
Yeah, I also think, you know, we haven't touched on, we haven't mentioned community wellbeing yet. And in, in the book, you know, Harter and Clifton are careful and in helping us remember that, you know, the difference between a good life and a great life might just be community wellbeing. So, so contributing to the community has certainly kind of been flipped on its head; it's a lot different than what we might have been doing pre-pandemic, showing up with boots on the ground, rolling up the sleeves. So I think it's important to really, you know, each of the, each of these -- in the Appendix, each, each theme has a great piece of advice for all 5 elements. And community, I've been just getting a lot of questions from people about, you know, community wellbeing, it's way different now. What should we do? Well, there's some really good advice that Jaclynn's provided in the book. So, so I'd recommend checking it out just, just for that case.

Jim Collison 18:18
You know, we had a question in the chat room about, Are these available online anywhere? Today, they're available, they're just available in the in the book. So that's, that's where they're at. If you want to get access to them, they're back there. Very, very, very helpful. Jaclynn, can we look, can we go through the same format again, thinking about the Executing? We touched on this a little bit, but I want to spend a little bit, just a little bit thinking about, How can this, if I'm in, working in this domain, this idea of it thriving, struggling? And then how do I use it to support others?

Jaclynn Robinson 18:49
Yeah, if I think about Executing, you know, you likely feel well-aligned with -- I'm going to use my term again -- purposeful productivity within and outside of the workplace. You know, you might feel like you're hitting your fitness and nutrition goals; you might feel like you're on target financially with any short-term or long term goals that you have. So it's just, it's that pep in your step of, Wow, I'm getting things done. I feel like I am firing away. But if we think about struggling, it's gonna look different. It's, it might feel a bit directionless, you know, just in terms of how you're contributing to the mission, based on the work that you're putting forth, because work is top of mind for Executers.

Jaclynn Robinson 19:30
You might also be struggling with multiple work responsibilities that you have, because the, the load has just become a lot. That can also, you know, not just deplete your energy but your ability to achieve goals and to achieve them with efficiency and quality. So you might feel like that's a bit inconsistent. It could be that your fitness and nutrition goals are inconsistent; you're working more, you're sleeping less and eating less.

Jaclynn Robinson 19:58
So all, you know, all in all, you might just feel like, Am I achieving what I set out to achieve? Because I feel like I'm just missing the target again and again. And then if we think about how Executing can support others, you know, if you've got an Executer that's thriving, you're you've got someone that's just a torchbearer for the team. They're, you know, helping with the agenda; they're making sure people know what they should be doing; they inspire people to get the work done. But if you're struggling, now, all of a sudden, you've lost that person that typically knows the course, and I kind of, I'll go back to Mandalorians, like, "This is the way!" They don't know the way; it's like, "I have so much on my plate," you know, I'm sinking; the ship is sinking. So now you've lost that person that tends to be the, the foundation or the weight when it comes to the workplace, I would say.

Jim Collison 20:55
Ryan, would you add anything to that with, with your experience?

Ryan Wolf 21:00
Yeah, I would agree. So it's, it's interesting how, as well, you know, there's kind of, you might feel like, at some points, you're definitely thriving, but then maybe one or two weeks later, you might be struggling; you might be fatigued. So I think it's important to recognize that, you know, those states can, can be fleeting, and they might not last long, whether, whether you dip down, or you're coming back up, but it's important to, to just kind of go back to your North Star and identify, you know, the items that, that really can help you.

Ryan Wolf 21:37
And, you know, having conversations -- if we're if, if it's career, having conversations with your manager or with your colleagues; if it's, you know, social, physical, financial, having conversations with your, your best friends, your family members, people you live with, so you can, you know, kind of get those thoughts out of you and into words, and talk about how, you know, we can get things back on track. So, so I think that was really good, Jaclynn.

Jim Collison 22:09
Can I add a little bit to that, Ryan? So, you know, one of the things I've, as we look at these two domains, and of course Influencing for me is 4; I have 4 in my Top 5 and then an Executing theme in there. And one of the things I've kind of discovered in this is I kind of ran out of Influencing gas, oh, I don't know, two weeks ago. I just couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't do it anymore. It, I had, I had had a really busy fall season here in the United States, Northern Hemisphere. And, and I was just, I was just done. And I needed, actually, to use some Executing just to get some stuff done. Like that was a recharge for me. That was, I've kind of jumped on a bandwagon of like, OK, I'm gonna create this long list and I'm just gonna start checking stuff off. That's not typically how I recharge my batteries.

Jim Collison 22:58
Danny talked about that last time we were on, right, getting your batteries recharged. Typically, Executing is not one of those things that recharges it, but my Influence was just so tired, I just needed to get away from it for a while and get some things done. And so, Jaclynn, as we look at these, as we look at these, I love this framework of thinking, like, hey, actually a dominant theme was struggling for me in this, right? And I'd not, you know, you had mentioned feeling socially isolated, having managed so much change in the environment socially or professionally that their themes might be exhausted. I think that's, that's an exact, that's, of where I was, right? And being able to kind of step up with, "OK, I'm gonna get this done."

Wellbeing and the Relationship Building Domain

Jim Collison 23:43
And so it's just, it was a different way of thinking of things. And I know I've done this in the past before, I just never thought of it this way, of unplugging a dominant domain; plugging in something else to get some things done. It was super, super helpful. It's kind of one of those things I'm hoping that we, as we, as we work through these here towards the end of the year, beginning of 2022, we get this opportunity to have conversations like this to say, "Yeah, no, I need, I, there's gonna be some things I need to make a change on here or there or in the air, right -- those, those kinds of things. So, Ryan, I cut you off. Do we want to, do we want to look at another, do we want to look at Relationship Building in that same format?

Ryan Wolf 24:23
Let's do it. Jaclynn, go ahead and lead us through Relationship.

Jaclynn Robinson 24:26
Oh, Relationship Builders. God bless the Relationship Builders. So the Relationship Builders, you know, they love working together; they appreciate being around others and spending time with friends and loved ones regularly. I think about them as the folks, whether it's, you know, movie night or going to a fitness class or -- I'm going to bring up that 5k again -- or some community event, or spending money on a memorable experience with people, that's when I feel like they are thriving. They're at their best when they can be around others. The struggling piece could come from social isolation. Danny Lee has, has Relationship Building so high, actually -- speaking of Relationship Building -- but I just think about those high in Relationship Building because they're so connected with people, more hypersensitive to social isolation or loneliness when you've got the pandemic that's happening in the world.

Jaclynn Robinson 25:25
So they might feel like they, they might be feeling that -- I'm thinking of two things here. The other end of the spectrum is they might be feeling like they just have the weight of the world and the weight of the emotions of the world on their shoulders. Because as Relationship Builders, you know, even if they're disconnected from people physically, they're still hearing from loved ones and friends and coworkers. They're still experiencing and observing the problems that are happening in the world. And we've gone through a lot in the last couple of years. So that could be that struggling piece is when they're just going, "There's just been so much heaviness with people. And I love people. And I feel it."

Jaclynn Robinson 26:07
The way that we can think about them contributing to individuals and teams when they are thriving, so let's go back to that positive, is they're the folks that, you know, people go to. They're the glue for teams because they have this ability to just see people. People feel seen, heard and valued around them, and they can come to them, and they can feel safe and vulnerable. But if a Relationship Builder is struggling, you know, now all of a sudden, they're not that rock to other people. They're, they're having a hard time themselves, and they might just feel like their ship is sinking a little bit. And so now you've got people that have naturally depended on them, and this person, isn't that, that rock that they used to have. So they might need to find someone else to go to, but, but that person's just kind of tired. They're exhausted.

Jaclynn Robinson 27:03
What thoughts would you all add to that, as we think about Relationship Builders? I bring up Danny Lee too only because in conversations, Relationship Building is my least dominant domain. So I go to, I go to him for everything, just to bounce things off. So I love the Relationship Builders, because they are that, that person for us, that glue.

Ryan Wolf 27:21
So I was thinking, I might actually ask you for a little bit of advice. So I've got Harmony Top 5. I was also just thinking about people who have Empathy strong. What, what kind of things can we do in the digital world when we don't have, when we don't see people's faces, we don't make eye contact as often as we used to? What can we do just differently and think about to feed those strengths of ours?

Jaclynn Robinson 27:50
That's good. Have you felt in the last, I'm just rounding us up to two years since we've been in this process. I know we're just short of two years. But has there been a time in the last couple of years where you've just felt like, "Oh, you know, I, that was a good experience. That was a great meeting." Or "I was able to just get a true read on what's happening in the room or on the conference call"?

Ryan Wolf 28:15
Yeah, yeah.

Jaclynn Robinson 28:16
Just curiosity.

Ryan Wolf 28:17
Yeah.

Jaclynn Robinson 28:19
What does that look like for you?

Ryan Wolf 28:21
Yeah, I think it's just, it's coming back to making sure we're, I'm intentional about, about making sure that we're communicating a lot and meeting a lot. So, so yeah, I think it's easier to, to send an IM or send an email when we used to see each other just face to face, and kind of use that to recharge my Harmony battery, so to speak. But, yeah, it's just harder to get that nowadays. And I think, I was just thinking through that -- it's probably similar for those who, you know, have Includer or, or Empathy or Positivity or something like that.

Jaclynn Robinson 29:03
That's a good one with that key word of intentionality. What were you thinking, Jim?

Jim Collison 29:08
Ryan, you, and you had said this -- and, and I have just made a living off of this -- is not allowing, you know, there's that saying that, e, "That, that meeting could have been an email." And I've actually turned that: "That email should have been a meeting." And, and when I say "meeting," I really mean a one-on-one, like, I'm just gonna call somebody. And I'll ping them on Teams. We use Teams; there's other ways to get this done. Ping them, "Hey, you got a minute? Like, I want to chat. Actually, I kind of want to see your face or at least hear your voice." Like, and yeah, I could have done this over an email. But I get so much more value by hearing you, at least for me.

Jim Collison 29:45
Now, there is a case where I may be inconveniencing people. Sometimes they're like, "Oh, I could have just done that. You could have just, you know, we could have done that via email." But I have found that, at least for me to be very, very helpful -- and I think for others, I think others as well. I mean, I've, there's been situations where I've taken individuals and I have daily meetings with them, because that's what needs, that's what needs to be done. It's important. It's, that's the way we connect. There's others where that frequency -- I think about my relationship with Mike McDonald, who was very, almost daily before all this started to happen, which has become very, very sporadic. And that's OK. Whenever we meet, we, it's OK, like the relationship can, can, can survive that, that time.

Jim Collison 30:27
So I guess I'd encourage folks, as we think about that, as we think through these domains, and again, as we're going through the series, we're going to be covering these, these same thriving, struggling and, and supporting others. Really want to kind of think through, "OK, where am I at today? What do I need, first, to get stable? And then how do I, how can I turn that in a way to, to support others?" Ryan, I'll be honest, I get more, I've gotten more one-on-one time with you virtually than we ever did when we were in person. Right? I mean, it's just worked out that way, because we've chosen to do it. And that's been good, I think.

Ryan Wolf 31:05
It definitely has so. So that's, that's, it's interesting how relationships have developed because of that way or, or perhaps, you know, the opposite of developed. But I think just being intentional about it is important if that relationship is key to your productivity, your wellbeing or any, any of those 5 elements of wellbeing, so --

Jim Collison 31:29
Yeah.

Jaclynn Robinson 31:29
It's a good point. And you're probably, I imagine -- I think "Harmony," and I think how they have that spidey sense for conflict, whether it's internal or external. And so even just going back earlier, when you were talking about how this is a continuum that we're on with wellbeing; we might be thriving one week and struggling the next. There might be times when the intentionality isn't to, you know, flock towards people or someone or meetings, but to just take a step back, because you just need that, that time to just stabilize and, you know, kind of feed the Empathy at the same, at the same time that might have been carrying the weight of a lot of people's emotions on your shoulder. So yeah, I think it does go back to that keyword of intentionality.

Wellbeing and the Strategic Thinking Domain

Jim Collison 32:13
Let's look through our final domain. And I always feel bad for Strategic Thinking, because it's always, it's, alphabetically, it always goes last. And not, that's not intentional. That's not -- it's like Woo, it's always last. I get it. Strategic Thinkers, and those that have, are high in this domain or, or want to claim this domain. And they're fantastic, because they do a lot of things I can't do. But walk us through, walk us through this, this, this paradigm.

Jaclynn Robinson 32:40
Yeah, so let's think about Strategic Thinking thriving. Need time to reflect and process life's ups and downs. And I would say, particularly over the last couple of years too, they might really be taking some time to process what's been happening in the world, what's next for me, what's, what's happening with my loved ones. But also considering what this new and revised future looks like for themselves. So being informed of what the road ahead looks like and saying, OK, I can see how I can, you know, adapt or change my way to, you know, meet this, this revised way of working or my revised personal life.

Jaclynn Robinson 33:21
So, that's what I think about with, with thriving is, when they have an idea of what the road ahead looks like, that really helps them in the present sense with development plan that they have for themselves, or continuing education that they're considering or what their personal life might look like, moving ahead. I even would, we haven't talked about the financial wellbeing piece too much. But even thinking about how the economy will impact their short-term and long-term financial goals is something that someone thriving in Strategic Thinking might be considering. And, you know, they can adapt quickly if they feel like they're thriving. But if we go to that struggling piece, this might look like they -- you know, I always go back to Strategic Thinking, and I think about Google Maps.

Jaclynn Robinson 34:07
So if you've got a lot of Strategic Thinking skills, you might have that Destination A in mind, but if you're not sure what Destination B looks like, you don't know where you're flying. And that can be anxiety-ridden; that can create some stress. Because now, all of a sudden, what does the future look like? How should you create milestones and a plan to achieve that future? So it can create a lot of uncertainty for someone. Or if they're, you know, going, going, going, and they don't have that time to process and sort and deliberate information or learn new things, it can be a struggle. So that's what I think about striving versus struggling. And then if we think about how they support individuals and other people, you know, they're, they're the people that bring insight and shared knowledge and pathways where others might not see them. So they can really illuminate that North Star that we're talking about.

Jaclynn Robinson 35:04
The Executers might guide them there. Strategic Thinkers can, you know, be the be the "Why" behind it; this is why we're heading there. They can really create a sense of understanding and stability. But if they are really struggling, then all of a sudden, the team might feel lost. Because that person that has been there to provide insight and knowledge and understanding isn't quite clear of what that, of the why themselves. And so, you know, they don't quite know what's happening or what can be learned from it. And that can be a struggle for everybody. It's kind of sad -- and this is probably my Positivity, but -- when we end on, you know, the, the, What do they bring? And then where can it land wrong for teams? I feel like it's that doom; like we end on the doom. It's like, this is how it can be bad.

Jim Collison 35:54
I think it's, I think it's good to have, I think it's good to have awareness of it all, right, as we think, as we think these. You know, this exercise we've gone through of thriving, struggling and how to support others, inspired by that Appendix Two in the book that gives. And I really want to encourage coaches to dig into that and let it inspire you in some ways. We've got some very prescriptive, kind of a framework to walk this through. We're going to practice this in this new CliftonStrengths wellbeing series that's coming up that we start recording on November 4. But it, I really want them to be inspired by this to think through, How would they use this? Ryan, I imagine this to be a great exercise to, to sit down as a coach with someone and say, "OK, let's think about right now. How are you -- where and how are you thriving?" Like, and what, and what is helping with that, like, either at a specific theme or maybe at a domain level? Right? I think you can drill this down to the theme. Then where are you struggling? Right?

Jim Collison 36:53
And, and then I love the pointing of this, the action of this is, How are you using it to support others? Right, I think this is the key in this is to get it outside of ourselves. And we need some of that internal stuff on ourselves as well. But to get it outside of ourselves, and get it to help, get it kind of helping others in this process of what we're doing. That's a coaching session right there. Like that's a 3-step coaching session to walk folks, folks through. Ryan, what else do you want to add to that?

Introducing Appendix Two: A Guide for Managers

Ryan Wolf 37:23
Well, I'd just say that Appendix One and Two just really go hand in hand. So Appendix Two is the, the Manager Resource Guides, or the Manager Resource Guide. And it's actually, I think it fits well as listed One and Two. It's the second appendix because we know that, really, that strengths, our, really our research shows that just how effective and impactful it is for managers to kind of start wellbeing conversations with strengths in mind.

Ryan Wolf 37:59
So when leaders and coaches can really start with strengths, they, that helps really start with gaining trust and speaking a common language that's really identifiable with, with an employee or with, with someone who they're coaching, to really kind of feel the vibe, to get on the same wavelength with each other first. And then that can help kind of dampen any, any, what might be considered as awkward, when we talk about wellbeing. Certainly there's, you know, talking about finances, talking about physical health is not, is not easy for everybody. But what can, but, but what makes it easier is talking about strengths first. So that way, we've built this trust, we've built this bond. Now we can take it a step further. Jaclynn, do you want to kind of get us, get us going a little more deeply on Appendix Two and kind of what it's, what it's all about?

Jaclynn Robinson 38:59
Yeah, sure. So if we think about Appendix Two, gosh, I think you summed it up really well. But I think about that as, you know, it's going to give you a guide of inclusive questions -- I'm all tongue tied today. It's going to give you a guide, inclusive of key questions and action items that can help really just illuminate what that theme is that you are working through, and how that impacts individuals and how that impacts teams. So we really have been trying to keep that structure in place this, this morning -- or for the, those of you that are listening to the recording, whenever you're watching this -- to get a little bit of insight into what Appendix Two looks like.

Jim Collison 39:44
Yeah, and really our, our interpretation of it, right. Our, you and I sat down and, and went through that, and you had a big, your Influencing on this, on these Appendix One and Appendix Two is massive. So it was a privilege for me to be able to sit down with you and say, "Hey, let's interpret this framework. And how do we make it, how do we make it doable from, from a broadcast perspective? How can we talk about this?" And this was our, this was our version of it. One of the things I'm excited about as we dig in, in the webcast, as we're looking, we're taking each individual theme now, working through that and then through one of the elements of wellbeing.

Jim Collison 40:28
So we're going to, each, each week, we're going to pick one of those for that theme. We're not going to do them all; they're all in the book. You can, you can get out there and get them. But we're gonna dig in on one in a 20-minute time frame to really kind of work, help work that through, to provide both information and to kind of hopefully inspire you to work through those, to kind of work through those yourself and with teams. I'm, I'm really excited about it. I don't, you know, I kind of think through -- we did, Tish had made a comment in the chat room; I do want to bring this in. She said, I coach an executive who has Empathy 1 and Harmony 2. She fought against those for probably almost the first year of the pandemic, because this wasn't the time for emotions from the top -- I put those -- they didn't, but I put those in quotes. But when she, when she embraced those, these strengths, she was able to work her team through their commonalities and everyone on board to start moving forward. And so it, it is a great, I mean, I think there's some great opportunities.

Jim Collison 41:30
By the way, Ryan, I think you'd agree with me on this. It's not too late. Right? It's not too late to start the process. Right? I think some people feel, and I'm gonna ask you to comment on this, I think sometimes, people are like, "Well, gosh, it's been 2 years. You know, it's too late." Ryan, what would you say to someone who's like, "Yeah, no, I'm, I'm already too late to the game." What would you say to that?

Ryan Wolf 41:54
Yeah, well, I go back to what Mohamed said when we, when we started this. And it's important to just know where you're at; evaluate the level of wellbeing you have for each particular element; and document that and move forward from that. And identify ways that you can just improve on each element and the collective, the collectivity of your total wellbeing. So, so yeah, the ship has not passed. And there's always opportunities to improve. What I like about Appendix Two, I'm just, I just propped it open here, I'm looking at it, is there's two pages per element of wellbeing. And the framework that you've got, Jaclynn, is a series of, there's, you know, 10 or 20 questions that you can ask yourself about this element.

Ryan Wolf 42:51
So you can ground yourself in your own, let's say, your own physical wellbeing. Then there's 5 or so bullet points, questions that you can ask others. So this is a way to really, to ask just intelligently, and you can just borrow these, these questions and bring them to conversations. So that way, that way, these have been thought through and, and you're bringing questions that are appropriate for workplace and workforce conversations. And then there's action items for and best practices for each element of wellbeing. So I think that's important. And I think a lot of us can maybe identify, OK, yeah, there's, there's 2 or 3 elements of wellbeing that, yeah, it's a home run for me. But there's, there's maybe one or two where it's like, I don't really quite, I'm just not there right now; I don't maybe understand it fully or I'm just, maybe struggling a little bit or just feel like I'm not thriving a lot. So that's where this appendix can kind of really lift the tide for you.

Jaclynn Robinson 43:55
I love that you mentioned that too. And it's such a fantastic appendix to influence your wellbeing and/or the wellbeing of other people. So if you're starting to get a pulse on what theme or domain might feel a bit off, Appendix One can support you, and then you can really deep dive and start asking yourself some of those self-reflective questions, or questions of others in Appendix Two. I'm glad you brought that up. And it also brings up financial wellbeing. A lot of managers might have a difficult time asking those questions of their employees, but we, we know if their financial wellbeing is off, that impacts how they show up in the workplace. So there's some really good nuggets in there for managers or leaders that might want to ask some of those questions but in a way that doesn't feel invasive. So I'd even call out that one.

Jim Collison 44:42
You know, when we interviewed Jim Harter, he kind of said this is a sequel to It's the Manager. Like it's never been clearer to me, as we're starting to work through these items now, the, the concepts that came in It's the Manager, and now as we think about OK, how do we, how do we actively apply those to people's wellbeing? We know if, you know, strengths and engagement are really, you know, two peas in a pod. But the third, almost the, the foundation for it all, is wellbeing. If you're struggling in one of those areas, it's going to be tough to be thriving in the other two; you're just, it's going to be hard. And so I think this is a great opportunity to follow that up with some great information. I think some folks have read through the book but never made it to the, to the appendix, right, they never made it to the end. And that's really the meat of what, of what we have available for you that is there.

A New Wellbeing Series

Jim Collison 45:33
Let me, let me spend a little bit of time, Holly had asked this question about the series that is coming up: Will the new series be on a set day and time? Want to make sure to schedule it and get it on our calendar. We want you to do that as well. So I have already started posting these; they're ready and available for you. In fact, the first session, How to Use the Series, Jaclynn and I are going to spend some time working through this. It's a little bit of what we've covered here, but some, some additional information as well. Kicks off November 4. And so if you want to join us live: gallup.eventbrite.com. We already have about 250 registered for that; we'd love to have you join us as well. That'll kick off the series.

Jim Collison 46:11
And then I'd love to say it's going to be regular, but Jaclynn, you're busy. And it's tough. It was tough to get a regular day. We're going to get as close to a Thursday, I think Thursdays and Fridays is kind of where we're landing on that. But they'll always be out in advance. Again, you can head out to, we're gonna shoot for the same time. It wasn't always possible, but, but we're pretty darn close. gallup.eventbrite.com is the schedule. You can follow us there. As I'm posting new ones, you'll get notifications that they're out there and you can sign up for it. Put them on your calendar -- that's the important part of registering for them is that you can email a reminder from me, saying, "Hey, we're, we're 2 days away"; "we're 2 hours away"; and "we're 10 minutes away," to make sure you are there.

Jim Collison 46:56
Ryan, well, let me, and let me say one more thing with the series. Live recordings, we're going to do two sessions each hour. So very similar to what we did with Theme Thursday. So you can join us for two. Then we'll start publishing those early January in a brand new podcast channel, originally called "CliftonStrengths." I know. Huge shocker. Huge shocker: CliftonStrengths; we have a brand new CliftonStrengths channel. You're like, didn't you have that before? No, we didn't. We don't have a podcast channel called "CliftonStrengths"; we will now. So we'll be publishing those out there. And we're excited to get that content. Jaclynn and I'll be recording those throughout the spring. And we'd love to have you join us live. If you can't, if not, we'll have them edited and produced for you in a podcast channel and on YouTube and available in the CliftonStrengths channel. We're excited. Ryan, let me throw it back to you.

Ryan Wolf 47:48
Yeah, appreciate it. So I think this is a great way for, for, Jim, you and I to wrap up our series here and then to, to bring in Jaclynn to kind of wrap this here and to launch the next one. And I would just remind listeners just how, how diverse and how, how, you know, just deep and vast the topic of wellbeing is and, and how significant it is to, to, to people, to workplaces, to, to, leaders, to coaches. And, you know, we've just, I think, you know, there's a, there's a chapter in the Wellbeing at Work book called, "Strengths Make Wellbeing Work." And integrating these two sciences and practices together just has so much power for amplifying. We've got a lot of great research on employee engagement and wellbeing and how when those are really ticking well for individuals and groups and, and organizations, some, some KPIs and business outcomes can really, really improve. But when we add strengths to that equation, they, they just amplify even more.

Ryan Wolf 49:05
So there's great data on that. You'll feel it as you, as you learn, and then take the learning from Jaclynn and Jim, and then practice it going forward. So I'm excited about the next steps we're taking here on this journey. So thanks for having me here. Jim, Jaclynn, thank you. Appreciate you being on here today.

Jim Collison 49:27
Yeah, Ryan, thanks for your leadership on this. I'm excited. We're kind of thinking about how to figure out a way to get you back here in the spring, and -- spring here in the United States. I always forget that when, I always leave our Southern Hemisphere friends out when I refer to the seasons. But as we think about it, we'll say first, second quarter of next year. We're excited to get you back for that. Jaclynn, one more thought: If you were to inspire someone to come out and join us for this series that we're kicking off here on November 4, 2021, what would you, how would you inspire them? Give us a couple sentences of, of, of invitation so they'll come out and join us.

Jaclynn Robinson 50:05
Yeah, it's gonna be great. I mean, as we just think about themes, the Aha! moments that might come as we talk about thriving versus struggling per theme, and ways that you support people when you're thriving and also when you're, the ways that it can hinder people when you're struggling can be really valuable in your personal, professional life. So if you're kind of going, "Something feels off in me. What is that?" Join us! We'll discover that together. There might be some things you go, "I feel like I'm thriving." Join us! We can maximize on that. So yeah, we look really forward to seeing you over the next few weeks, few months, actually, that we're going to be doing this.

Jim Collison 50:47
It will take us a while. It's funny, when you think about 34 themes, you always kind of think, "Oh, that won't be hard." That's 34. And you got to work, that's 34 hours, or, well, in this case, 17 hours. But, but all the work yeah, all the work that goes into it. And I always get, I always get kind of lulled into complacency when I start these, when I start doing a series like this. And I think, "Oh, it won't be that hard." 34 is a lot to get through. So we appreciate you coming out to be with us and you coming out to be a part of it.

Jim Collison 51:19
And, and so with that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we do have available now in Gallup Access, and even more resources are coming. I have a whole bunch of stuff on my plate. We're moving Talent Mindfulness -- the entire series, both seasons -- will be moving into Access here at the first of the year, I hope. I got to get a lot of work done to get that -- I need to, I need to start leaning on my Executing theme. I only have one; need to start leaning on that a little bit more to get those kinds of things done. Of course, head out to gallup.com/cliftonstrengths. Log in there, and you get access to all those tools that are available inside that. For coaching, master coaching, or if you want to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, we can help you with that as well. Send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. I mentioned this earlier, but if you want to subscribe to us on Eventbrite: gallup.eventbrite.com. Create an account; follow us. You'll get a notification from me every time we publish something new. In fact, I'll be doing one of those today for December. And so get out there, get, get it followed and join us for those. You can follow us on any social platform just by searching "CliftonStrengths." And we want to thank you for joining us today. If you found this helpful, we, it really helps us when you share this. Like I can only do so much. I only have so much Arranger. Like I only have so much Influencing that can go around; it really helps when you share it. So take this link; share it with some friends. We appreciate you coming out today. If you're joining us live, thanks for doing that. We'll see you back for the November 4 series. And if you can't tell, we're pretty excited about it. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

Ryan Wolf's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Discipline, Achiever, Futuristic, Activator and Harmony.

Jaclynn Robinson's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Strategic, Maximizer, Positivity and Relator.