How to Improve Your Wellbeing With Harmony®

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

Your CliftonStrengths^® can empower the 5 elements of your wellbeing -- career, social, financial, community and physical. But how does this happen if you are struggling in one or more of these elements? If you have Harmony, Appendix 1 of Gallup's Wellbeing at Work book has Strengths Insights and Action Items that can move you from struggling to thriving as you apply your Harmony talent to fuel your wellbeing. Join Jaclynn Robinson and Jim Collison on this CliftonStrengths Podcast to discover how.

When different perspectives are vocalized, and no path forward seems likely ... partners can count on your natural ability to find that common goal or purpose among them and keep everyone progressing forward.

Jaclynn Robinson, 1:37

Don't hesitate to get that time in to decompress, because when you're in harmony with yourself, you're all the better at creating harmony among groups.

Jaclynn Robinson, 9:36

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and welcome to the CliftonStrengths Podcast. On this podcast, we'll be covering topics such as wellbeing, teamwork, professional development and more. Now enjoy this episode.

Jim Collison 0:14
In this CliftonStrengths Podcast, we'll look at the Strengths Insight and Action Planning items from Appendix 1 in the Gallup book Wellbeing at Work one theme at a time, and today's theme is Harmony. If you're listening live, love to have you join us in the chat room. And if you're listening after the fact, via the podcast, YouTube, you can always send us your questions: coaching@gallup.com. Dr. Jaclynn Robinson is our host today. She works as a Gallup Learning and Development Consultant and was the primary contributor to Appendix 1 in the back of the Wellbeing at Work book. And Jaclynn, always great to be with you. And welcome back!

Jaclynn Robinson 0:46
Thank you, sir. Let's do this!

What's the definition of Harmony?

Jim Collison 0:48
Let's get, let's dig in. Today we're spending a little time on Harmony. Let's just start with that definition.

Jaclynn Robinson 0:54
Yes, people that lead with Harmony look for consensus; they don't enjoy conflict. Rather, they seek areas of agreement.

Jim Collison 1:02
It's, I think Harmony is really misunderstood. So I think today's going to be a great opportunity to flesh some of these things out. So I'm excited about it. Let's talk a little bit, how does it relate to you? And then maybe how does it relate to others?

Jaclynn Robinson 1:15
So if you lead with Harmony, you likely find that you can spot an obstacle or a potential path to conflict that will impede on your workflow before it even occurs or maybe even before others see it. And this awareness, combined with intentional communication to respective partners or your manager, that can help you get ahead of it before it even begins. How it relates to others: I'd say when different perspectives are vocalized, and no path forward seems likely -- everyone's kind of, you know, connecting in their own language, but no one's really coming together -- partners can count on your natural ability to find that common goal or purpose among them and keep everyone progressing forward. So really adept at finding consensus and moving forward with productivity. I think that's a big part of it.

Jim Collison 2:02
I think it's been misrepresented in some ways as, Let's get together and hold hands and light candles.

Jaclynn Robinson 2:09
Yes, around a campfire with some s'mores.

Jim Collison 2:11
Right. Yes. Not -- those things don't necessarily lead to successful outcomes, I think, in the way you just described it, as a, as someone who, with relationships, can remove barriers. Can maybe see them in advance, like, we're gonna have some conflict coming here; let's do some things to communicate really, really well. Or let's overcommunicate or let's do some creative communication. All of a sudden, that doesn't sound so soft. Like that doesn't sound so, like, kumbaya, right. That's, we, that's a phrase we say here in the United States, when, when we're thinking about this idea of, you know, peace, love -- peace and love. So, I really like, I think I want to encourage folks to kind of think of this as a powerful success factor in the mitigation sometimes of conflict, especially with people. Because where two or more gathered, there is conflict, right? We just always have it. And I think it's a, I think it's a powerful superpower, in anticipating it, managing it, and then even post-, postmanagement of that, how do we move forward? Anything else you want to add before we, we move on, on that?

Jaclynn Robinson 3:21
No, I think that's great, especially in the world of, where we want people to feel like they, they belong and they're included, and we're global. People are going to have such diverse ideas and opinions and perspectives. This person is that wonderful mediator or negotiator, so to speak, that can help people navigate through those differences and actually find some common ground to move forward. I think it's a beautiful theme.

How does Harmony look when it's thriving vs. struggling?

Jim Collison 3:44
Yeah, and really sometimes, we oftentimes spend or think about this "me versus we" and in the, in the "me" sense of mitigating even self-conflict, of being able to work through their own, kind of their own issues. But I think it's really powerful in the "we" of bringing groups together. And man, never probably a better time. I mean, there's, this is always a good time to use Harmony, but probably never a better time than right now. We're coming off the book Wellbeing at Work, and we're spending some time looking at wellbeing. How does this, how does Harmony look when it's thriving versus struggling in wellbeing?

Jaclynn Robinson 4:22
One thing I thought about with this is, this person thrives when others around them are also thriving, you know, in the sense that everyone feels aligned and is working together towards a common goal. That can feel very healthy and just good to this individual. This transfers over to their personal life too. So when their family and friends are exhibiting low conflict and feel happy by nature or are in a mindset to manage conflict well, this also brings a sense of Harmony and wellbeing to the individual. In terms of struggling though, this person can struggle in an environment with naturally argumentative individuals, you know, who are seeking to bring forth opposition and conflict, as opposed to maybe working through it. And whether it's family, friends or coworkers, that can just be very difficult. They can also struggle in environments where playing devil's advocate or challenging one another's perspective is welcomed, perhaps really frequently -- some, some struggle with those types of environments.

Jim Collison 5:21
We have, we've broken this down by theme, and then by each of the elements in Appendix 1. You spent some time putting those together. Let's kind of give a best practice -- best practice, if I can say that right here -- still a little early in the U.S. -- what would, what, which one have you picked for us today?

Jaclynn Robinson 5:40
Get excited! I chose financial wellbeing. So this person is likely to feel stress when they receive multiple opinions on important decisions they face. Their Harmony is best served when they follow recommendations of one financial expert versus many.

Jim Collison 5:57
But give me an idea what that, when you think, when you're, when you're thinking about that example, flesh that out just a little, a little bit more for me. What does that look like?

Jaclynn Robinson 6:07
This could look like someone that has a financial adviser that they go to, and they keep for years, that just gets them, understands how they want to, you know, lean into their financial wellbeing. What are their short-term and long-term goals? Where it can be a struggle is if they have this financial adviser, and then maybe they've got a family member that's trying to give them advice on where to invest in stocks. And that's maybe different than what their financial adviser, who knows them for years, has been sharing with them. And then they have a friend that's in crypto. It's like, "You know, you have to get into crypto. And this is why." So there's just a lot of conflicting information and advice that's coming to them financially. That can create a little bit of tension of, What path do I follow? Versus having one trusted financial adviser that they can go to that might give them different ideas, but it's coming from, you know, one individual that has their best interests and goals in mind, based on what that person has shared with them.

Jim Collison 7:04
I love that idea. I also love the idea of thinking of like of a corporate board, or maybe even a nonprofit board, where there's always a financial team, right? No more, I mean, I've been on plenty of those boards; all the conflict lives in the financial team. Nobody cares about the other things. They, they work just fine; it's the financial bit. And I think that's a great opportunity for someone with high Harmony to, to, to look ahead, see the potential conflicts, work on the relationships in this, right. And, and there's probably some self-preservation in this as well, because they, in some cases, they work on these so those conflicts don't happen. Of course, they're uncomfortable in those situations, right. So let's mitigate them before they become problems, so we don't have to deal with the conflict, right, that's in it. That's OK. Like that's a self-preservation mode that really satisfies the needs of the team in this case.

For those with Harmony, how can it be used to support others?

Jim Collison 7:57
And that team, this financial team, they all have conflict. Seeing those things in advance, and then helping with that, I think that's a, and that's the financial wellbeing of that team, right, of that organization, of those kinds of things. So I think that's great. Jaclynn, you've outlined four others in the back of the book as well. And they're, those are available for resources. Coaches, we'd encourage you to use those with the individuals that you are coaching, because there's just some great conversations to have back there. So Jaclynn, with, with Harmony in mind, how can it be used -- we've talked a lot, a little bit about this already, but how can it be used to support others?

Jaclynn Robinson 8:32
If you're a manager, you're leading a team, you might quickly identify how your team and a team they work cross-functionally with can become better partners to one another. So what are they both working towards that you can point to? And that discussion can break down silos and create greater productivity between and among teams. And if you're on a team, think about what workplace groups or activities are focused on bringing people together or celebrating one another. For example, a team that focuses on wellbeing or community events or is organizing birthday announcements, that's an opportunity for your Harmony to shine. Because you're, you're, you know, celebrating something; you're encouraging wellbeing among people, and that's bringing people together. In terms of an individual, let's say that you -- I usually see someone with Harmony as someone that's more sensitive to maintaining equilibrium and that sense of consensus, within self but also externally -- I'd say you probably know just what it takes to release stress and maintain that sense of balance. So don't hesitate to get that time in to decompress, because when you're in harmony with yourself, you're all the, all the better at creating harmony among groups.

Jim Collison 9:49
Yeah, that ability to look ahead and see that conflict maybe coming, in organizations or in teams you're going to be a part of, and then proactively the success factor, right? Proactively building into those relationships so those conflicts are mitigated in some way or enhanced is, you know, some of us just bang through life like, you know --

Jaclynn Robinson 10:12
Pinball machine or something.

Jim Collison 10:14
Yeah. And so I think a great opportunity there. And even by improving yourself in this one, I think this is one of these where as you do this for yourself, it has a, it has an effect on others around you, because you're mitigating that; you're potentially mitigating those conflicts. So I think super cool.

Jaclynn Robinson 10:31
Yeah, it sure does.

Jim Collison 10:33
Yeah. In Appendix 2, we have a framework that we can be walking through that looks at each of these elements through the framework. And so give, Jaclynn, walk us through that exercise from Appendix 2.

Jaclynn Robinson 10:44
Yes. And I pulled from community wellbeing for this one. So one thing that you could do is Ask Yourself: How can I apply my passions and interests to organizations in my community? Ask Your Team Members: What are some things we can do as a team to show our support for our communities? And then for Taking Action: Establish partnerships with community organizations that share your team's purpose. So I would say, with all of those three, with Harmony, you can point people to how the work you do is aligned with something greater. Everyone's coming together, again, for that higher purpose, that higher mission, and it's contributing to something really great and purposeful.

Jim Collison 11:24
A very simple framework that we've put back there and some great tools to do that: Ask Yourself, Ask Your Team Members, Take Action. It's just a great reminder. I think sometimes the simplest things are the best when we're trying to do these. And a, just a great reminder of sometimes keeping it simple is good in this. And so, Jaclynn, as we think about Harmony and kind of wrap this section, anything else that you want to highlight or that you want to leave folks with as we go?

Jaclynn Robinson 11:55
Probably just the key terms. I think of this in the, these individuals as the negotiators or the mediators. They're really good at being able to manage their conflict. Doesn't mean they're comfortable with it all the time -- or at all -- sometimes, depending on the individual, they just don't like it, but they'll, they'll manage through it. But this is something that they're quite adept at is finding common ground among, you know, different, differences of opinion, differences on teams, so they are a great go-to.

Jim Collison 12:27
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the CliftonStrengths Podcast. Make sure you like and subscribe wherever you listen, so you never miss an episode. And if you're really enjoying this podcast, please leave a review. This helps us promote strengths globally.

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

Gallup^®, CliftonStrengths^® and each of the 34 CliftonStrengths theme names are trademarks of Gallup. Copyright © 2000 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.