Listening to People: Key to Building a Strengths-Based Culture

Gallup Called to Coach Webcast Series -- Season 10, Episode 7.

Below are audio and video plus a transcript of the conversation, including time stamps.

How can you turn someone who resists or is skeptical of CliftonStrengths into a strengths advocate and champion? A big part of it is learning to truly listen to them and understand their unique life filters. Emily Wong shows us how listening and enlisting the persuasive power of strengths can bring buy-in from leaders and employees alike, as we seek to build and sustain strengths-based cultures in our organizations. Join Emily, head of Organizational Development and Learning and Development at Alliance Bank in Malaysia, as she takes us on her journey to build a culture of strengths at Alliance.

It's not what you know; it is actually about the things that you didn't know that you actually had in you.

Emily Wong, 43:43

The most powerful thing is to give people a chance, to understand them, exactly why they are so closed to some of the things that they need to do or they need to learn.

Emily Wong, 28:59

Strengths help people discover their talents and open pathways to possibilities beyond what they think they are capable of.

Emily Wong, 49:23

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on February 10, 2022.

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. There's just a link right above us there. Take us to YouTube; sign in and join us in chat. If you have questions after the fact, you can always send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to subscribe to Called to Coach on your favorite podcast app, or right there on YouTube, just by clicking the Subscribe button. Saurav Atri is our host today. Saurav is the Regional Leadership Coach and Workplace Consultant for Gallup in our Singapore office. And Saurav, it's always a great day when I get to spend it with you on Called to Coach. Welcome back!

Saurav Atri 1:01
Thank you so much, Jim. And it's always good to be back on Called to Coach with you. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening, whichever part of the world you're in. My name is Saurav Atri. And I am just privileged to be here today, you know, especially with the guest we have. Let me set her up. Now, Jim, this is something which I've been really listen, hearing from leaders in Asia Pacific and also around the world, where they ask, How do we sustain a strengths-based culture? How do we make any initiative go on for many years and not let it fizzle out? So we said, Let's go and interview somebody who's done just that, having trained over 1,700 people; led initiatives across an organization which has reduced attrition, especially over the last 6 years (and you know how tough the last 2 years has been), from double digits to single digits through the initiatives they've run; sustained engagement.

Meet Our Guest on This Episode

Saurav Atri 2:02
So let's welcome and it's a privilege for me to introduce to you all, Emily Wong, who's a Career People Developer. She currently heads the Organizational Development and Learning and Development for Alliance Bank, based in Malaysia. And prior to joining Alliance, she has also worked with some of the top learning institutions in Australia; a large media company in Singapore; as well as several other financial institutions. And as an HR Practitioner, she has also worked tirelessly and successfully to transform HR as a strategic business partner. And I've been working very closely with Emily, and I've seen how she has transformed the growth of Alliance Bank, an initiative that is now sort of is like the bloodline of the organization. It flows through it, whoever I speak with -- and I've sort of also interacted with many leaders in the organization -- they all embrace strengths. She herself is an Accelerated Strengths Coach, or a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, and an Instructional Systems Designer. She's also graduated with a bachelor's degree in social sciences from Flinders University of South Australia and holds a postgraduate diploma of education from ONTESL and Bahasa Indonesia as well. Emily, it's so good to have you here. Welcome! We would love to have you start sharing your Top 5 themes. And also tell us about your journey at Alliance Bank and how you've built this amazing strengths-based culture at Alliance.

Emily Wong 3:37
Thank you, Saurav. Before I start to introduce how we started this journey, let me actually just qualify that the opinions that I express here are basically purely my own opinions, yeah, and I don't speak on behalf of the company that I work with. Right. So my Top 5 strengths are Relator, Self-Assurance, Maximizer, Deliberative and Strategic. So having these Top 5 strengths in me, I basically am actually a very fast-paced person. I see big pictures very, very quickly. And I'm very, very self-assured in whatever I do. The big pictures that form in my head, I just go ahead and do it very, very quickly. So, so, and I've built very, very deep relationships with people around me so that you know, I get them to, to buy in to the visions or to the strategies, to the pictures that I see in my head, and I get them excited to work with me.

Emily Wong 4:36
So that's how I actually create this, this, this, this strengths movement, if you can say, in, amongst the people, the groups that I work with. And they share this vision with me. Together with Maximizer, I always tell the team that, you know, good enough is not good enough. We have to bring good to great, right. So how can we convert good to great? And that's the Maximizer in me working with the teams together. So as much as people see me as someone who suffers no fools because of what I believe in and what I want to drive to do, having strengths in me actually helped me understand that it is important, it is very, very important to also understand the other individuals that are around me, who are actually wired very, very differently.

A Beginning for CliftonStrengths at Alliance Bank

Emily Wong 5:34
So how did strengths start at Alliance Bank? This is how it started in 2012. When I first joined Alliance Bank, I was asked, I was tasked by the then-CEO to look for something which was impactful, which was easy to use, which would bring a difference to people's lives, as well as the work that they do. So I set out to look for a tool. And there are many, many tools that I've come across in the years, in doing HR in the years in training and development. I met someone called Chee Tung and Vibhas from Gallup. And they came to talk to me, and they talked to me about strengths. And I thought to myself, "There is nothing to lose, but to just embark on this -- test out the tool and see how it is."

Emily Wong 6:23
So before I actually introduced the tool to the organization, I did a test myself. And when the test results came out, I was in total denial of, of the reports that came to me, because as an HR practitioner, as a learning and development person, Harmony cannot be one of my bottom strengths; Harmony cannot be one of my bottom strengths! I was actually very upset. And I said to myself, "I've spent so much time looking for a tool, I can't possibly go to my boss and tell him that, you know, I've wasted 3 weeks of his time, 3 weeks of my time, you know, working on something that's not going to work."

Emily Wong 7:01
Now, what came about from that report was that I went home, I took that report, and I told my husband that this report is so useless, it's so useless that it's not going to work and I'm going to lose my job. Because, you know, I was, I actually was convincing, and in the process of convincing my big boss that this was going to work. And I started talking about the report itself. The man, right, after many years of marriage, he learned to be quiet. And he was listening and listening and listening. And I said, "Say something to me."

Emily Wong 7:38
And he said, "Do you know something? Everything that the report says, it's correct; that's so you -- that is so you!" And I was, I actually became very, very silent. And I said, "What do you mean, 'So you,'? Harmony is one of my bottom strengths; it cannot be!" And he said this: "You emasculate people when you're under stress." And that was an awakening for me. And that was an awakening for me. It was so powerful. I couldn't sleep the whole night. I went through the report again. And the next day I called up Vibhas. I called Vibhas, and I said, "Vibhas, you have to go through this report with me again. I've got many questions to ask you. Please help me understand me better. Because I need, I need to understand me for me to be able to translate the impact of this tool, how useful is this tool for the talents in Alliance Bank, for the talents that we're going to use this tool on."

Emily Wong 8:44
So Vibhas spent an hour and a half with me going through my report with me and voila, strengths transformed me. I am, I have become a better person today myself, not that I'm perfect; I'm still learning how to deal with myself. Because when it's under stress, when I am under stress, I still become a little bit more edgy. The Command comes out from No. 6. And, you know, people get really very, very scared of me. So I learned how to deal with that. So then with this tool, I went to my then-CEO and told him, These are the benefits of the tool. This is how the tool works. This is how it is. And I shared my report with him.

Emily Wong 9:24
And he smiled. He looked at me and he just smiled. And he said, "Emily, that's so you." And I thought, "Oh my God, all these people can see me except me. Oh my God, you know, and it took this tool, you know, 70 over questions to tell me who I am. And I've been living with myself all these years without realizing who I am. I took that tool and I asked, and I asked the then-CEO and I said, "Would you like to do this yourself?" And he said, "Why not?" He took it, and he said, "Let's go with it. Let's go with it. How are you going to use this?" And I said, "If you trust me, if you trust me, I am going to put in a framework that will enable all of us in Alliance Bank to look at things positively. Let's turn our culture into a positive culture. Let's look at strengths culture, instead of saying, 'What is wrong with people?' Instead of looking at what's wrong with people, let's go, let's look at what's good with people. Let's look at positive psychology, developing them from the positive angle, so that they can continuously excel at what they do." And that was the beginning of strengths.

Weaving Strengths Into New Programs

Emily Wong 10:42
So we use that assessment to look at the potential of our High Potential talents first. And then that was followed by just rolling out Alliance Impactful Managers Program, which is actually the Great Managers Program from Gallup. We actually adapted that to suit the needs of Alliance Bank. And I worked together with Vibhas, Chee Tung and Robyn Reilly, right, to actually package the program to teach it. And I got a group of trainers, a group of managers, actually line managers who were very excited about this, too, because they heard about what this could do, how this could help them accelerate performance in what, in their respective departments. So we did that. And we rolled out the program in 2014.

Emily Wong 11:36
So it took me 2 years to roll that out. And when the program rolled out, we had a lot of naysayers. It's like, you know, I also had line managers who were saying that, you know, Well, we've been through many, many different programs; we have used many, many different tools. I'm so experienced in my work already, you don't need to tell me what I can do or what I can't do; you don't need to tell me who I am, because I know who I am. Right. So, and I, and I happened to also coach one of the most difficult managers, because he was actually selected to come for the Alliance Impactful Managers class. We thought, we thought if we could convert him, we thought, if we could change him, we thought, if we could get him on our side, he will become our great champion and an accelerator in helping us drive this.

Emily Wong 12:29
So in the coaching session with me, he was sitting there just telling me to shut up -- basically, he was just telling me to shut up. "I know what I'm doing. I know what I am. I know who I am; just shut up and tell, and let me tell you what I can do, who I am, what I'm good at." So I basically shut up. I basically shut up. And at the end of the one-hour session, I asked him, "So now that you have actually told me all about yourself, how do you think now you could actually use the, these, the strengths, the talents that you have actually shared with me, bring it to your team, bring it to your department, and help the team members excel at what they do?"

Emily Wong 13:16
He stared at me; he stared at me. And he said this: "Don't teach a grandmother how to suck eggs." Yeah, that's a very old saying. And I said, "Look, I'm not teaching you how to suck eggs. But I would really, really want you to come and share your wisdom in the class, in the class, right? Where you have got 20 over other managers in there. Come and share this wisdom with the class. And then, you know, we can all learn from you." He turned up for class, he turned up for class. So for the first 2 hours, he was literally having his arms folded, he was just glaring at me. It was like, Don't waste my time.

Emily Wong 13:55
And he put up his hand and he said, "Can I say something? You've been talking about strengths. Everybody is talking about strengths in class. I just want to say something. This is who I am. And someone else in class says, 'Do you know what? This is exactly you -- this is your Significance at work.'" And it took another fellow participant to tell him, "This is your Significance at work. You just want people to understand your impact, the impact that you have actually at work, the impact that you have in your team. Now how do you now use Significance to help your people grow?" He turned around, and he looked at everyone, and he looked at me and he sat down. And he was very quiet.

Emily Wong 14:38
He came up to me during the tea break, that time we could still have face-to-face classes, came up to me during tea break and he said, "You know, I was just an idiot. I was just an idiot, trying to disconnect you from what you're doing. I can see who I am now. I was just trying to fight; I was just trying to fight this because I was scared, I was scared to see myself. And I realize that I was not using myself from the positive side; I was using myself from the negative side. And I was threatening my team members, I was actually very hard on my team members. I wasn't engaging them; I was literally telling them, 'If you don't do this, this is the punishment that you will get.' Right? So I wasn't, I wasn't using the best of myself."

Emily Wong 15:42
Towards the end of the class, he actually said, stood up in front of the class and shared with the whole class, "These are my Top 5. And being significant, I want to leave a legacy of being the greatest manager. And this is what I'm going to do." And that was a Wow!, lightbulb, Aha! moment for me. And that excites me, because it is like, you know, I converted this person -- no, I didn't convert him; he actually saw the light! I didn't have to do anything. He actually was in a group of class participants who actually talked to one another, helped each other, discussed this, and the lightbulb moment was created. So when the lightbulb moment was created, that was when learning and impact has taken place. And I am very, very excited about creating this Aha! moment.

Creating Aha! Moments, Buy-In for Employees, Leaders

Emily Wong 16:41
So when I create these Aha! moments, I make heroes out of these people. I make heroes out of them. I tell their stories to every other class that I go to. Yeah, I tell their stories to every other class that I go to. Because why? Because these are real stories. These are real-life people who have actually changed. And then he came back, this same individual came back to me, and he you said, "You know something? My people are telling me now that I want to stay; we want to stay because of you." And I thought, wow, this is so exciting! This is so exciting! It is the power of positive psychology, the power of positive vibes actually, just permeating. You don't have to say very much; walk the talk. Action speaks louder than words. That's what people say. Right. And that creates that momentum; that creates that big, huge movement -- if we can call that a movement, right. And very soon, very soon, people hear about it.

Emily Wong 17:45
So very soon, even the people, managers, who say, "I am just too busy to come for your classes," ask us, "When is your next class? Because I want to sign up for the class." Because why? Because there are team members who come for the class, goes back and tells or shares what they've learned in class. And this is the power of actually creating that, that energy, that synergy that believes that it works. So very soon we have that vacuum. So -- not vacuum; we have that mass of people wanting to do it. So from 2014, we had Alliance Impactful Managers. Then we went on to the more junior people where we actually adapted Alliance Impactful Managers for the more junior people, and we call it Working With Strengths. So that, those classes started. So the numbers actually grew.

Emily Wong 18:48
And when the classes were going on, we then decided that the Hypos, the High Potential talents in Alliance Bank, needed to be also trained in this. So we then decided that strengths could also be woven into another framework that I was working on. And that framework is Alliance Bank Leadership Excellence. So in the Alliance Bank Leadership Excellence Academy that we formed -- also together with Vibhas, we came up with this idea -- we then created structured programs for different levels of talents in Alliance Bank itself, right.

Emily Wong 19:28
So we had entry-level pipeline program. It's a structured program, a 12-month full-time program. We had the Alliance Managers Program, which is actually a structured program for working adults, existing staff, yeah, that they can come for the program. It's structured over a 10-month period. So they take time off work to come for classes, leadership classes, as well as the Alliance Leaders Program for the senior vice presidents and the very senior vice presidents in Alliance Bank itself. So these leadership programs were actually woven together, the modules for each of these different programs were woven together to make sure that we grow strengths leadership amongst the potentials, the High Potentials in Alliance Bank itself. And that is actually a very exciting journey for, for us.

Emily Wong 20:21
Because why? Because when we piloted in 2017 the Alliance Leaders Program, all 15 of them, all 15 of the participants graduated from the program, and all 15 of them are still with us today. Right. So our retention rates are actually really very, very high, in terms of this. So we, we actually spent a lot of time developing people. And we believe that if we develop them positively, and they see the positive side of the value of work that they do, and the value of development that they have, retention is there, engagement is there, excellence in their outputs are there. And many of these people have graduated and moved on into more senior positions, their roles have expanded, they have, you know, some of them have been promoted to higher positions too. Right. So basically, that's our journey.

Saurav Atri 21:22
Wow, Emily, I can see so many golden nuggets that you've just shared in this powerful story that you've given. You know, as I was reflecting on what all you've said, you know, as we talked about, in the 5 steps to build a strengths-based culture, you masterfully architected that first conversation just about getting the sponsor on board, getting the CEO on board. And I saw this, you know, you said, it's a beautiful statement: CliftonStrengths, so that strengths conversation helped you see the light, first for yourself and then for your CEO and then for that manager who stood up and said, "This is me." What an unbelievable journey. I've also noticed that not only will you get, you got the person on board, the CEO, the main sponsor, but as you were running those initiatives in the organization, you started building advocacy through people's stories, make them heroes. What a powerful way of making that possible!

Sustaining a Strengths-Based Culture

Saurav Atri 22:18
And as you start sustaining the organization, you penetrated the whole organization through multilayer, sort of interventions at the entry level with, you know, working with strengths, strengths-based leadership, Alliance Impactful Managers -- a whole journey, basically giving every person the opportunity to discover their strengths. Well, very powerful initiative. What my question to you next is, Emily, how did you sustain it over 8 years? You got these people on board. You got them excited. How did you sustain it?

Emily Wong 22:49
Right. It is very important for us to grow a group of champions, right? So I, what we do, what we did was apart from training people, two things I did: One was identify champions. How do we identify these champions? And I also grew a group of strengths coaches. So I started identifying these people, people who attended Alliance Impactful Managers classes. They became excited about it. They saw the change in themselves; they saw the change in the teams that they led. And I saw how excited they were.

Emily Wong 23:26
So first, I went out and I, I went out, and I asked for volunteers: Who will be excited or who is excited to go on this strengths journey with us, right? So I got volunteers. So it's much easier if you get volunteers, because people don't feel that, you know, you're wringing their arm and twisting their, you know, their, their, their arms to get them on board. So first, I asked for volunteers from the groups of Alliance Impactful Managers that we trained. So from that, I gave them this big picture of what we wanted to do. And the big picture was, Look, we are going, we're going to grow a strengths culture, and we need to work with one another. We need to support one another. I can't do this alone. You and I, we're going to turn this around. We're going to make everybody see the positive in themselves. We, we want to work with people to see and understand that positivity helps us get a long way. There are enough negatives in the world already.

Emily Wong 24:31
So I tell them this: Let's start to make love, not hate. Right. So then they became excited. They became really excited. And I said, so to help us do this, No. 1, you have to be champions to help us drive this. And to help you to be champions in this, I am going to now propose for all of you here to be certified as strengths coaches. Who are on board with me? And everyone put up their hand; everyone put up their hands and say, We want to do this! We want to do this, we want to do this! I was really very, very excited actually. I was really very, very excited because I thought, you know, of all the people that I've identified, when I told them that they have to be certified to do this -- and, on top of that, they have to give their time to coach a lot of frontline managers, a lot of, many, many line managers would not be able to afford the time. But what was very, very enlightening was that they were all willing, they were all willing to share their time with us.

Emily Wong 25:40
So I told them that as we roll out the class, and to create that momentum, to create that mass of on the numbers of people that we need to believe in strengths and to work with strengths, we need to onboard as many people. And to onboard them, we need to run the classes. And to run the classes, we need to coach them. We need to coach our fellow colleagues, and we need your time. Can you tell me if you, if you are, if you are willing to share your time with us? And many of them said "Yes." Some of them said, "I can't give you more than 5 hours a month." We're fine. So we adjusted ourselves. We knew that some of them can, can give 10 hours; some of them are really very, very excited about it. Anytime you call upon them, they are there. And they say, "I will adjust my work to make sure that I get these people coached before they come for classes." Right.

Emily Wong 26:41
So, so that's how I create that, that momentum. That's how I create that, that support system. And our coaches always extend that platform to their coachees to say that the coaching doesn't stop here; the coaching doesn't stop when you go for classes. You can call us any time you want, to talk about you; to talk about how to navigate, right, using you -- your talent, your strengths at work. The door is always open for that conversation. And I'm very, very, I'm very, very lucky that the group of coaches that we have got then are so willing to impart their passion, their belief that, you know, together, we can make a difference.

Saurav Atri 27:37
Thank you, Emily, for sharing that story. What a powerful way and, and the golden nuggets I have taken away from, from that story is build champions -- you know, create advocacy. And, you know, science also validates that. We've seen -- and this is a study from Locke and Loathe, when you involve people to come up with their own actions, own goals, there's a 56% higher likelihood they'll actually do it. Why? Because they came up with it. So all the people listening in, here's a golden nugget for you from Emily: You want to sustain an organization? Move it from my initiative to our initiative. Get people involved. Get volunteers involved, and tap on that energy to create sustainability in that organization as well. So, and this is not just making an organization or sustain -- an initiative sustainable, it's also about performance.

Overcoming Barriers to Strengths Initiatives

Saurav Atri 28:25
So not only was she able to run this initiative, but also it impacted business results. As I've seen attrition numbers, it dropped from double digits to single-digit growth, and very high levels of engagement as well. Now, Emily, I'm sure people will also want to know, what barriers did you face in this initiative? And how did you overcome some of those challenging, well, whether it was individuals, conversations or just, you know, other barriers? What are your thoughts on that?

Emily Wong 28:53
Barriers. There are always, always barriers that we work with. Yeah? And you know what? The most powerful thing is to give people a chance, to understand them, exactly why they are so closed to some of the things that they need to do or they need to learn. So I always believe that give people a chance to talk first. The barriers -- another, another story that I can tell you is this. I had another branch manager, who actually told me that, you know, "I am the top salesperson. I run, I run my business, and I always get the numbers in. Right? So don't tell me what to do. Don't tell me what to do. But I also have a problem on my hands." And because I listened to him, I said, you know, I just listened to him. And he said, "You know, I'm the top salesperson." So he talks about his sales, he talks about his numbers, he talks about his achievements.

Emily Wong 29:51
So I said, "OK, that's really very good. So how else do you think you can, you want me, or would you like me to help you actually improve or, or help you to excel even better in what you do?" And he thought about it. And he said, "You know, some, you know something, I have recently recruited someone. I have recently recruited someone in my team, and this person is a nonperformer." So I asked, "So how are you helping this person, this nonperformer, excel, improve in the performance? His answer was, "Nonperformance? Don't waste time with them. Work the hell out of them so that they will leave."

Emily Wong 30:32
So the next question I asked was, "But didn't you, you yourself, actually recruit this individual? Why did you select this individual amongst all the people that you have interviewed? Why did you select this individual?" "Oh, well, you know, we are doing interview, I liked her, and I thought, you know, she could do a good job, you know. But when she came in, you know, she just wasn't performing." And I said, "As a manager, what have you put in place to help her excel in what she needs to do?" "Well, I expect salespeople to run sales numbers, and she is not doing any of it."

Emily Wong 31:11
So I asked him for permission: "Can I share with you, can I share with you some of these questions?" And these questions are the 4 Keys to Coaching questions, right? And I said, "Can I share some of these questions with you, which you may find very useful, right? Don't, don't just chuck a person out because in the first month the person is not performing. It could be due to many, many reasons. So can I just share some of these questions, which you may like to use with this person, and see how it goes -- give this person a chance?" And he glared at me: "Don't teach me what to do." I said, "Well, I'm not going to teach you anything what to, anything on how to do your job better. But can I just share these questions with you, just in case, just in case you find them useful, and you would like to use them later?"

Emily Wong 32:04
So I circled a few questions for him, circled a few questions for him and I gave him this 4 Keys to Coaching guide, right. Two weeks later, 2 weeks later, he calls me up. And he said, he said, he used a four-letter word on me. Yeah? And, and it starts with an "F." Right? And I was thinking to myself, "Oh, my God, he is going to really turn me upside down and scold the life out of me." But no, and he said, "You do not play with me like that." I said, "What did I do? What did I do? Tell me, tell me, tell me." "You know, you made me do something that I never thought I would ever do." And I said, "OK, I'm listening. Tell me." "The, so the questions that you circled, I thought, I wanted to prove you wrong. I wanted to prove you wrong. So I used the questions that you circled for me on this nonperformer. But you know, something, Emily, I am, I am seeing results. It's only 2 weeks; I'm seeing results, from a minus 35% in performance, he, she is actually meeting 90% of her targets now! I am so excited! I am so excited! I am so excited!"

Emily Wong 33:22
So, so what is important is, with barriers that are in front of you, first, I think as coaches, as strengths coaches, as strengths leaders, we need to also understand one thing: Everyone is wired very, very differently. They don't see things from the perspective that we see things. But what strengths has actually made me do was to give people that spectrum, that, that perspective of looking at things differently, because it is always, the filters are different from their part of the world. So if we can give them that, that would actually break down a lot of barriers, because you will not come across as defensive; you will come across as somebody who wants to listen to them.

Emily Wong 34:13
And, you know, and when they are ready, just give them, share with them some of these nuggets, some of these questions, some of these techniques that you have been using all this while successfully for yourself, just share with them. Don't push it. Share with them. And when they're ready to use it, they will use it. And when they, when they see the results, it is even more powerful. Because now that guy says, "Hey, it works. Where, when are your next classes, because I want to send more people for your classes?" That's really powerful.

Emily Wong 34:47
And that, again, is a lightbulb moment for me, because it's like wow, strengths is really very powerful for me. Because in my younger days, before I discovered strengths, I would go, like, you know, do it, do it! This is good for you. You have, it is, it is always shoving things down people's throats. And one of the things that people say earlier in my life, or my bosses have always told me this, "You suffer no fools. You suffer no fools." I suffer no fools. And this is actually really very true. Right? So I suffer no fools, from my, from my bosses, from my husband, I emasculate people when I, when I get impatient with them, when they don't see what I see, yeah, and when I'm really very, very, very agitated with people who don't understand this big picture.

Emily Wong 35:40
Strengths actually helps me look at things from different perspectives, understanding that people are wired very differently, breaks down barriers, breaks down barriers, right? Because why? Because now I do not tell people what to do. Instead of telling people what to do, I paint the big picture for them. Instead of telling people, "This is the big picture," I say, "Let me share the big picture with you. What do you think we could do to make this successful? How do you think we can make this successful? And why do you think it is important that this should be successful?" This is how I work with myself and with the team that I work with.

3 Strengths-Based Groups at Alliance Bank

Saurav Atri 36:25
Wow, Emily, you could see such passion and such courage that you led these initiatives where then I really liked how you've sort of, you know, embraced your own strengths as well. And the, I think the golden nugget for me, as you said that, was that strengths creates a new spectrum for people to see and embrace people. And as you're saying that, a thought is coming to my head, that strengths opens minds for people and opens their hearts as well, to accept people for who they are and embrace them for who they are. We've got a question for you, Emily, from George. And he's asking, Are they, are these the groups you created and wove together to create your company's strengths culture, Alliance Impactful managers, High Potential Managers, Alliance Bank Leadership Academy? Can you share back, What are those groups? And how did you make sure that they are working in sync with each other?

Emily Wong 37:22
Right. So there are 3 groups of people: The Alliance Impactful Managers group. From the Alliance Impactful Managers group, not everybody offer or volunteer to be coaches, right? They work with, they work with their team members, right. And some of them -- there are two groups -- some of them are coaches. So the coaches themselves then go and be the champions for us. The other group who have no time because they are doing transformation work and all that, they embrace strengths, they embrace strengths. And what they do is, because they believe that that will actually impact on the quality of work that the people do in their teams, this particular individual is so big on strengths that they actually created a board on the wall, listing down all the different talent themes, the Top 5 talent themes of the different team members. And they have weekly meetings, looking at the wall, right, weekly meetings of the different talent themes that are in the particular team itself. With the projects at hand, they discuss: So how do we best place people? Who wants to take on which project that we're going to run? So these are some of the things that they are doing, right? So this is the Alliance Impactful Managers class.

Emily Wong 38:50
The High Potentials, the High Potentials, through the strengths leadership, I have got several of them who volunteered actually to be strengths coaches, right. And these volunteers, they actually volunteer and give a lot of time talking to people. Anytime that people call them, they will say, "Let me schedule a time with you. And we can talk more about how to work with this part of you more impactfully, more effectively." So that's our High Potential Leaders. And the third one, sorry, I forgot about the third group of people.

Saurav Atri 39:29
They talk about Alliance Bank Leadership Academy, and maybe they're referring to the even the High Potential group that you got as well.

Emily Wong 39:36
Yes, yes, the high, the Alliance Bank Leadership Academy is actually programs that have been designed to develop our High Potentials in the organization itself. So in the programs that we develop, we make sure that strengths leadership, strengths play a big role in, in the modules that we design, right. So anytime, at any time, the coaching itself, the mentoring itself, and many mentors that have been identified for these High Potentials are also strengths coaches, right, or they have been exposed to strengths, and they are not, not new to strengths. So they provide that support for our able Academy participants also. Yeah? So that's how it works.

Successes in Building a Culture of Strengths

Saurav Atri 40:32
Beautiful. Emily, if you can talk about some of the biggest successes in this initiative that you've seen, what were those nuggets of conversation or stories that really stuck with you? What would you say has been the biggest success in this entire journey over the last 8 years, having trained over 1,700 people across this amazing organization and initiative you've built?

Emily Wong 40:53
One thing that comes to mind, and this came from, from one of my team members, and she said this: "You know, Emily, let me summarize this for you, you know, with all the, with all the strengths work that we have done, let me summarize this for you." And I was, it was a Wow! moment for me again, yeah. And it's, and she says this: "It is not the things that you didn't know you knew that change you. It's the things that you didn't know that you actually had in you." And this is really very powerful, right. So that actually links back to strengths. When you actually let people understand who they are, then it becomes really very powerful. And you need to give them that freedom, that leeway, because not everybody learns at my pace. Not everybody understands things at our pace, right.

Emily Wong 41:56
So you need to let people find their way. You let people find their way in their own pace. And that is really very, very powerful. With my own team members, I used to do this, guys, I really -- I'm not really proud of my old self, actually. I would turn, when there are projects, right, when there are projects to run, when there's really very tight, tight line, timelines to meet, I would go very, very hard on the team members. And I always turned around and asked them, you know, "Hello, guys, you know, don't start looking for your running shoes yet -- now! You must actually have your running shoes on already." So it's like, you know, they think that, you know, I'm a real slave driver, I'm a very impatient person, that kind of stuff.

Emily Wong 42:45
But now with strengths, I understand that people, they operate on different platforms, they have their own speed. So with my team now, my, my, my, the team that I've worked with, for the last 10 years, what I've discovered is this: People find their own way to get there. Right? What my role is to paint that big picture and paint it very clearly for them, so that they see that picture that you see in your heads, and allow them to ask questions. Don't tell people what to do. Ask them how they see that picture and why is it important that we as a team need to come together to make sure that the "Whats" are delivered from the picture that has just been drawn for us? That's powerful. And that links back to what was just shared with you earlier. It's not what you know; it is actually about the things that you didn't know that you actually had in you. And that self-discovery is very, very powerful for the individuals also. Right.

Emily Wong 43:57
So when I, when, when I actually now look at projects, when I look at work that we do, I ask for volunteers. Because why? Because I know everyone is actually very, very different. Now the team is, is so gelled; they are so powerfully connected to one another. They, they say, they say this to one another: "I know your high Responsibility irritates me, but never mind. I have high Significance. So let's see how we can work together." So they openly talk to one another like this. They understand that, that, that high Command in another person scares the life out of them. Right? And they come and talk to me, "You know, that Command person, you know that, that high Command in the other individual is really very, very scary. I know I need to actually work with this person. Can you also help me do something? Can you break the ice for me?"

Emily Wong 44:51
Usually, in my previous life, I would say "No, that's your responsibility. You have to work with that person. Go and do that. Go and do it. Go and talk to the person yourself." But now, I will ask the person who came to talk to me to break the ice, "What would you like me to do? How would you like me to help you to do this better? And they go off, and they think about this. And they think, and they go, like, "Aha! You could do this: maybe tell them that, you know, I will come and talk to them, or I will see them about this in a little bit. So if you can set that for me, then it will actually open that door for me, and it's not so scary for me. Can you help me do this?" And I'll do that for them. I'll do that for them. And it builds, and it builds the gel in the team itself.

Emily Wong 45:42
So the team is very, very -- what do you call that? -- they're very glued together, in that sense. They understand each other so well, that you know, even when they tease each other, even when they say cheeky things to one another, they do not change face and say that, you know, "You have said something really rude to me." They would laugh and say, "But that's who I am. But that's why I am," right. So accepting yourself, naming who, who you are, claiming who we are, it's very, very powerful. Because once we can do that, we are able to use who we are to achieve what we are here to do. Right.

S-T-R-E-N-G-T-H-S

Emily Wong 46:28
And so in my team, in my team, we embrace strengths. And in Alliance Bank, we embrace strengths. And what does "strengths" stand for? S-T-R-E-N-G-T-H-S: The first S, we say, Self-reflect. Self-reflect is name, name and claim yourself; be aware of who we are. That's very, very important. And that's the basics of it: be aware of who we are.

Emily Wong 46:56
T: Trust. Trust first. Don't judge people, you know, high Relators, Relators like me, yes, I build deep relationships with people. But I'm also very, very scared to make this, this relationship or to build relationships just simply like that. I would just observe people and I said, OK, this person can be trusted. And I will go and talk to the person, but no. So strengths helped me to Trust this. Trust this means look at the other side of the world. Look at strengths from the other perspective -- that's very, very important. Because why? Because people are wired differently.

Emily Wong 47:37
R: Relate. It helps us to relate better with other people around us. It means we use different approaches for different individuals. High Analytical people used to irritate the life out of me, because they always want to know the "What," right? But now I know this person is a high Analytical person. And I said, Hey, this person, it's really very beneficial to be on my team, because you know why? Because I have lower Analytical. So let this high Analytical person take over the Analytical work in the team. And I will paint the big picture, because I've got the Strategic part in me, right. So, so Relate yeah, relate for R.

Emily Wong 48:23
E: Empathize. Empathize more, because why? Once we understand ourselves, then we'll start to understand others. And when we start to understand others, we empathize better.

Emily Wong 48:39
N: Navigate conflicts and ambiguity. Once we understand how other talents are wired, we understand the differences. And we continuously work together to achieve win-win solutions. It's always win-win. It's not about me coming on top, you know, and, and making other people feel really small. No, it's about us together. Because, because together we can make this really powerful and make things work for the whole team.

Emily Wong 49:11
G: Go from good to great. Good enough is not good enough; it should be great. I think that's the Maximizer in me talking also. Right? Right? Strengths help people discover their talents and open pathways to possibilities beyond what they think they are capable of. And that relates to the quote that I just shared with you too.

Emily Wong 49:35
T: Transform. Transform ourselves. And when we can transform ourselves, we can transform the teams that we work with. And when the team's transformed themselves, this forms the organizations that they are in. And that is very powerful. Because strengths-based organizations look at human-centric approaches. Human-centric approaches goes back to this: hand to heart. We touch here first. We don't talk about the "What"; we talk about the "Why"; we talk about "How." And I always say this: Once we've got this right, everything else falls in place. And that's Transform: Transform self, Transform teams, and Transform the organization through human-centric approaches.

Emily Wong 50:25
H: Humanize. Humanize leadership. Leadership is an art. Leadership is an art. Humanize leaderships. We have too many robots, yeah, we have too many robots running organizations and stuff like that. And people forget that their fellow colleague is another human being, flesh and blood, right, and they've got feelings. So Humanize. It is an act of transference. Leadership is an act of transference. And great leaders are great managers, both at personal and organizational levels, they are both at personal and organizational levels. And it all starts and ends in the mind. And it is extremely important to work on how we are within ourselves. Because if we can manage ourselves better, we then, we then create a better working environment and better relationships with people around us.

Emily Wong 51:27
And the last S: Succeed. Strengths help us to Succeed better. It gives us better advantage when we empower people to experience what they would not have imagined is possible or what they are capable of. So to Succeed better, as strengths leaders, we empower people. And that is why embracing strengths is so important to each and every one of us.

Believe in Yourself, Understand Your Whys, Create Champions

Saurav Atri 51:58
Wow! Just wow, Emily! We have been on the receiving end of your gifts and your passions. Such a great way of expanding this acronym of STRENGTHS. Folks, if you haven't documented it, Jim has put it in the chat. Do have a look at that. And I love how you've sort of woven this entire journey within Alliance Bank as well. Emily, for people who are listening in, who are trying to replicate what you've just done with the Alliance over the last 8 years and succeeded better, what's gonna be your advice for them from this wisdom that you've acquired over these years?

Emily Wong 52:37
Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Believe that we are here for a greater purpose. I mean, that's how I see things, right. I ask myself, Why am I in this position? Why, why did my boss take me out of Learning and Development and put me in HR Transformation in my previous, in my previous life, in the older organization? And when you are in that position, apply ourselves. Use the better part of ourselves. And when you use the better part of ourselves, we can always, always create that momentum, create the energy to make that difference.

Emily Wong 53:17
"Why" is very important. So when you start believing in yourself, you also need to understand why -- the big picture. "Why" is very understand. Share "Why" with your team; share "Whys" with the people around you. That's very, very important. And lastly, create heroes and champions. Create heroes and champions. Right? Not forgetting to get the buy-in from the top. That's also equally important. Right. So before I go, I just need to also share this with you.

Emily Wong 53:52
My colleague Evelyn Chong wrote this to me: "Leave people better than you found them." And this is exactly what strengths is all about. This is exactly what working with strengths is all about. Yeah? You leave people better than when you found them. And I find this really very applicable, very meaningful. And I try to look to see how I can help people grow, how I can actually leave people in a better position, in a better place than when we initially started with.

Saurav Atri 54:30
Leave people better than how you found them. Emily, you have left us better today from when we found you. So thank you for sharing this wisdom, this experience, this passion, and just opening our eyes that, you know, even in spite of all the hardships, all the detractors, all the people who were against you, you turned your biggest detractors to become your biggest advocates. That's the power of strengths. You can turn people around. You can make them be better than you found them. Jim -- thank you, Emily for this wonderful sharing. Jim, back to you to bring this home.

Jim Collison 55:06
Emily, in the preshow, you said you were a little nervous.

Emily Wong 55:09
Yes, I was.

Jim Collison 55:10
Couldn't see any of it. You did a great job. Thank you for coming. I'm glad you've overcome your shyness, and you were able to just really give us some great material. So I appreciate it. I don't think you're shy anywhere you go. So thanks for sharing those moments with us, and I think some great, some great nuggets. A couple reminders -- we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we have available now in Gallup Access. Head out to gallup.com/cliftonstrengths, and lots of resources available for you out there. For coaching, master coaching or to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach just like Emily is, you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. We'll route that to the right persons for some more information. That email address is great for any questions you have. Again, it's coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to find us on any social platform just by searching "CliftonStrengths." And we want to thank you for joining us today. If you found this useful, we'd ask that you'd share it. Emily, thanks for coming. Saurav, great to see you. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

Emily Wong's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Relator, Self-Assurance, Maximizer, Deliberative and Strategic.