How to Improve Your Wellbeing With Individualization®

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 Individualization, 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 Individualization talent to fuel your wellbeing. Join Jaclynn Robinson and Jim Collison on this CliftonStrengths Podcast to discover how.

This person is inclined to appreciate a customized approach to their health and wellness. So they will thrive when a nutritionist or a personal trainer designs a program for their specific goals.

Jaclynn Robinson, 4:57

If you're a manager, ... someone high in Individualization is really great at matching talent to task, based on that person's unique experiences, education, talents or skills. So continue to maximize on that and lean into it.

Jaclynn Robinson, 7:23

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 0:09
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 Individualization. If you're listening live, love to have you join us in our chat. There's just a link right above me there. Or if you're listening to the recorded version, or as a podcast, you can send us an email: 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 Wellbeing at Work book. And Jaclynn, always great to be with you. Welcome back!

Jaclynn Robinson 0:45
Hi, sir. Thank you.

What's the definition of Individualization?

Jim Collison 0:47
We are talking about Individualization today. Let's start with that, that standard definition.

Jaclynn Robinson 0:52
All right. People that lead with Individualization are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how different people can work together productively.

Jim Collison 1:04
This is an area I love to do -- to do and to do well. It's like putting, I think Arranger kind of helps out with that, because it loves putting lots of people in lots of processes. I love to do that. Let's talk a little bit, though, how does that relate to you? And then how does that relate to others?

Jaclynn Robinson 1:20
How it relates to you: So as someone who's less interested in a standardized approach, you might live your life open to new experiences that stimulate your mind and give you a rush of enthusiasm, when you can really just customize. How it relates to others: You tend to be adept at recognizing the characteristics of a person or even a project, and people find you to be quite relatable, because of that personal touch that you can -- that personal or, I would even say, customized touch that you can put on people or projects.

Jim Collison 1:51
Personalized or customized, I think, are the key words. You get this recognition that's been individualized to you, and it just makes you feel like a million bucks.

Jaclynn Robinson 2:01
So genuine -- you just feel seen.

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

Jim Collison 2:03
I think Individualization can be the champion of recognition. This is an area that where, like, add those two together, and a superpower is enhanced. We'll talk maybe a little bit about more about that as we go along. But we're spending time thinking about it from a wellbeing perspective. And so what does this theme look like when it's thriving versus maybe when it's struggling?

Jaclynn Robinson 2:23
When I think about thriving, particularly from the personal perspective, when given the opportunity to customize, you know, personal -- their personal and professional life, and are valued by others for their ability to find the right person for the job. Those are just a couple of key elements that I think would make someone high in Individualization just feel alive. Struggling might be the opposite. When you're instead faced with a more standardized one-size-fits-all approach to, one, that person's overall life. But additionally, when the workplace requests that everyone be treated the same or there's no wiggle room to modify based on that person, team or department that you're interacting with, it might feel like your world is just getting smaller.

Jim Collison 3:10
COVID kind of upset the applecart for both those that went hybrid or went completely at home or had to stay at work, right? All those workplaces changed. And I think Individualization, at the corporate level, those that got it right, thrived, and those maybe that didn't -- I mean, the whole thing changed. And I think those that were, that had the ability to think through it from an individual because it was, all things were new.

Jaclynn Robinson 3:35
That's a really good perspective. And now with return to work, we're seeing that -- if we're not really customizing to the culture of the organization the people, where some might want remote; some might want to work on site. Some, you know, like a hybrid approach. We're seeing that a bit now. If an organization wants to take a standardized approach, and everyone's back in or everyone's remote, some people in the organization are really struggling with that.

Jim Collison 4:00
And I think, whether that's our coaches or our embedded coaches, I think about those coaches in organizations that are working maybe with their managers and struggling -- Are, are we coming back? Are we staying? I mean, even, again, even some of the businesses that never, never did the work-at-home thing, their environments have changed. I was pulling into a restaurant just last night doing a pickup order. And I noticed I hadn't been there in 2 years, right. I was noticing their To Go section had expanded to handle, right, that changed for them, right. Their seating had changed on the inside. Well, what does that mean for the workers? Right? And how can we individualize and, you know, in those cases, to meet the needs of what's going on there? So there's been changes everywhere. As we think about this in the context of wellbeing, we can look through the lens of maybe one of the wellbeing elements. You have that outline in the book; let's take one of those and work it through.

Jaclynn Robinson 4:55
For this, I chose physical wellbeing. This person is inclined to appreciate a customized approach to their health and wellness. So they will thrive when a nutritionist or a personal trainer designs a program for their specific goals. Definitely [not] that one-size-fits-all approach.

Jim Collison 5:11
Well, what I love about this example, though, as you think about physical wellbeing, in the sense that there are some common -- as humans, there are some common things about us that are correct. Like, because I like bacon, doesn't mean, like, Well, I'm gonna individualize and go on the bacon diet, right? Probably not the smartest thing to do. But, but, but as, I always think of like Ryan Wolf, who's kind of helped us kick off this series. His job is to is to individualize all the things he knows about me as an individual and help me, lead me in ways of taking those standardized approaches to things and putting an individual's spin on it. Right. I think that's the magic, right --

Jaclynn Robinson 5:58
Which I love. It's like you love bacon. Maybe you can't have the Applewood Smoked Bacon; let's move you to turkey bacon. We're still customizing to you. Health is something everyone in the world has got to focus on. Let's just make health something that's customizable, based on your likes.

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

Jim Collison 6:16
Well, or using it as, using it as a recognition or a reward and saying, Well, OK, let's, we'll take it down to once a week or every other week. And it's a reward for this kind of activity. Right? Listen, we have personal trainers all around the world right now freaking out that I'm saying these things. It's just an example. It's just an example. So make it, make that work. But I think in this Individualization world, it's taking some of the things that are standard and then individualizing them for people to get the best productivity out of them that we possibly can. As we think about Individualization -- and by the way, there's 4 other of those elements out there in the book. Make sure you get, coaches, great tool for you to use in there Gallup at Work. Jaclynn, when we think about Individualization -- as hard to say is it is to spell -- how can we use this (it's the longest one, by the way), how can we use it to support others?

Jaclynn Robinson 7:12
Well, if you're a manager, or you're leading a team, someone high in Individualization is really great at matching talent to task, based on that person's unique experiences, education, talents or skills. So continue to maximize on that and lean into it. If you're on a team, clients and customers love how this person sees them for who they are. So I find those with Individualization are a great voice and champion for them, and can help others see their unique traits and characteristics too. And then as an individual, as someone that loves a customized plan, you probably don't shy away from trying out something new that seems relevant to a current fitness, workplace or personal goal. And I think just that joie de, that joie de vive that those high in Individualization have for customizing based on themselves, the event, the experience, the environment allows other people to kind of see the world in 4D as well.

Jim Collison 8:07
I always, I always appreciate those high, with those with high Individualization in finding the best thinking about me, and then finding the best parts of those things and say, "Hey, have you thought about this? Have you thought about taking this and doing it this way instead?" Or some of those kinds of things. So that's, that's, that's always helpful to me. In Appendix 2, we have a framework that we like to work through. Again, coaches, individuals, embedded coaches, you can take this and use this framework, but, but, and it's very simple to use. Jaclynn, walk us through it for Individualization.

Jaclynn Robinson 8:24
So for this I selected from physical wellbeing -- just kept the trend going. But Ask Yourself: Where do I need help making progress in my physical wellbeing efforts? Maybe drilling that down will help you when you do talk to a personal trainer or nutritionist so they already have a path that they can start to craft for you. Ask Your Team Members: How can we support each other's physical wellbeing? Everyone's going to be on their own plan; let's champion one another. And Take Action: Get at least 20 minutes of physical activity each day. So as a master customizer, there's ways that you can make each day feel new and customized to you in just 20 minutes. New hiking trail; new, you know, trail you're using on your, your bike, if you have a stationary bike program you're using; new juicing routine. I see it all the time with those high in Individualization; they always find ways to just put some variety and make it a little spicy.

Jim Collison 9:17
When I was managing some teams at Gallup, there was always a race event, a running race. So what we'd do is like, you know, we'd have a corporate team that we'd put together. And, and I would always try to encourage my team to join us. And one of the one, of the members couldn't -- that they wouldn't do those things on Sunday. And that's great; I honored that. So I said, "Hey, how about you and I get together on Saturday, and we'll walk that distance just together?" And at first, he was like, "Really?" I'm like, "Yeah. I mean, why wouldn't we? I need the fitness, and it'd be great to spend some time with you." I think a really good example of taking a standard approach, like, you know, the corporate event as a standard approach, right? Everybody at the same time doing the same thing. And then for someone who can't do that, say, OK, let's think of an alternative. And I'll do that with you as an example. We've done that now 10 years in a row, I think, we've done that each, each year. Every time it comes up, I get an email from him and he says, "Are you willing to walk with me on Saturday?" "Yeah. Yeah." So it's, it's super fun that we did -- I just, and it's my best example. Yeah.

Jim Collison 10:49
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.