How to Improve Your Wellbeing With Woo®

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

You have a way of making people feel warm and welcome. So if they need a boost to their wellbeing ... you have that ability to just infuse this warm, welcoming, happy feeling that gets them energized again.

Jaclynn Robinson, 1:41

So many folks are experiencing social isolation, and they're looking for ways that they can create camaraderie on the team again or build connections on the team. And Woo is just great at that.

Jaclynn Robinson, 5:24

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 0:10
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 Woo. If you're listening live, on our live page, gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/live, there's a link right above me there, take you to the YouTube page. Sign in and join us in the chat room. If you have questions after the fact, you can always 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, and is, the primary contributor to Appendix 1 in the Wellbeing at Work book. And Jaclynn, always great to have you. Welcome back to the last one that we'll be recording!

Jaclynn Robinson 0:52
Thank you! It's our last. Thank you. Good to be here.

Jim Collison 0:55
We'll do a wrap party, so it's not quite over yet. So if you're listening to the podcast, and you're like, "Wrap party?" Yeah, there's one more podcast for you listen to.

Jaclynn Robinson 1:02
Perfect for Woos! Come on, it's a social experience.

What's the definition of Woo?

Jim Collison 1:07
That's right, let's do this thing. So let's get started with the definition.

Jaclynn Robinson 1:11
Yeah, so if you lead with Woo, the Woo theme loves the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with someone.

Jim Collison 1:23
And how does this relate to you and how does it relate to others?

Jaclynn Robinson 1:27
So if you lead with Woo, how it relates to you is that you get so much enjoyment and a boost to your wellbeing when you can spend time socializing with other people -- friends, family or colleagues. The way that this relates to others is you have a way of making people feel warm and welcome. So if they need a boost to their wellbeing -- let's just say they're having a bad day, you have that, you have that ability to just infuse this warm, welcoming, happy feeling that gets them energized again.

Jim Collison 2:00
Woo is 2 for me; should be one. Like during, during the pandemic I had this phase that I went through, and I was like, yeah, actually, my Relator is moving up. But as we're coming back, I'm like, Nah, Woo is still there, still, still leading the way. That welcoming bit -- it's interesting. That's the job I do here. And then, you know, some things, like at our church, I am in the service host, right. I love, I'm seeing things, I love that ability to just say, "Hey, welcome. Glad that you're here. We're so glad to be a part of it." And I genuinely feel that way. I mean, it's great to have a chat room. It's great to be with people. I love to facilitate the conversations in there.

Jim Collison 2:41
I think sometimes we miscategorize that as, and I think from a success standpoint, we miscategorize it as the party. It's the, they love a party. Well, no, no, I mean, yeah, I mean, parties are fine. But it's much, but from a success standpoint, I think its success lies more in Influencing and moving. The welcoming is so that people will come and stay, right? They, for whatever reason, come and stay and be a part of what we're doing here. Because this is important. Come and stay and listen to the podcast; come and stay and be a part of this whatever learning piece we're having. I'm not the expert, but I can gather people and make them feel welcome, so they'll stay. That's, I think that's the success factor in Woo. And it gets miscategorized a lot of times, right?

Jaclynn Robinson 3:27
It does.

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

Jim Collison 3:28
Yeah. Let's, let's spend a little time in, thinking about how does it thrive? And then how does it struggle with wellbeing?

Jaclynn Robinson 3:35
Ooh, yeah. Thriving is when you have someone high in Woo and they're able to connect with people throughout the day, when they're able to make those connections between one person and another person, when they're able to bridge departments together, when they're able to bridge different friend groups together. Struggling is when this person almost feels like they're just kind of shut off from the world. They don't have that opportunity to interact with others. They don't have a way of bringing people together. But it feels more autonomous and almost lone wolf in nature, meaning you're just kind of alone in the world.

Jim Collison 4:19
I have Arranger 1. And those two play together very, very nicely in taking groups and multiple groups and putting them together and, with Maximizer 3 too, putting them in ways they can be effective. Like, or seeing large projects and figuring out how all the pieces fit together for maximum productivity. And then, How am I going to influence people, cause since I can't actually do anything, how can (I never get anything done), how can I influence others to actually get the work done? A pretty great combo that way it works for me. We want to spend a little bit of time in Appendix 1. We've got some ways of tying this directly to wellbeing in a little framework Jaclynn put together for us. So Jaclynn, what do you have for us today with Woo?

Jaclynn Robinson 5:01
I did career wellbeing. So for career wellbeing, this person experiences a boost to their wellbeing when they meet people for the first time. They need to be in a job where they are regularly interacting with many new people. And at this point, with the pandemic over the last couple of years, this is where Woo has had a time to shine, because it's not just new people, it's any people. So many folks are experiencing social isolation, and they're looking for ways that they can create camaraderie on the team again or build connections on the team. And Woo is just great at that.

Jim Collison 5:37
You reminded me of a job that I had before that I don't do much of anymore; I'm kind of missing. I was the host for new people that would be at Gallup. So their first day, they'd come in, and I have a little tour, and I'd walk around showing some stuff, right?

Jaclynn Robinson 5:51
Oh my gosh, that's so perfect for you!

Jim Collison 5:53
Isn't it great? Like I had this thing all set up. We'd walk around, talk about these things. And this is what Gallup does, and here's Don Clifton's Top 5 and all these things. So yeah, I haven't, those, those got moved on. And it's great. We've got other people doing them; it's more scalable that way. But I do kind of miss that role of being the tour guide. You know, another, another 50, of the 50,000 retirement jobs that I kind of think, when I go to retire, maybe I'll be a tour guide, right?

Jaclynn Robinson 6:20
Tour guide, store greeter, church greeter? Yeah.

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

Jim Collison 6:24
That's right. Yeah, just permanent greeter anywhere. We have 4 other elements and examples of, for the other elements of wellbeing available there for you as a resource in the back of the book. Check it out in Appendix 1. We also have a, a framework we've been talking about all season about how does this relate to others? So as you think about supporting others, how can Woo support others?

Jaclynn Robinson 6:46
Yes, if you are a manager or leading a team, you can help make connections across the organization when an employee is seeking a thought partner or an employee is seeking a partner to support them with a project. Again, you have, because you have that awareness of who is sitting where and what roles they play, really good at making those connections for your employees. And if you are a team member, team members have done this really well over the last couple of years that lead with Woo, where they're looking for opportunities to create social events or experiences for the team, whether it's an on-site, or whether it's hybrid, they want to be able to kind of pull people together for a common goal or purpose. And it might just be socializing; it might be, let's connect together, let's make it engaging. And let's talk through a goal or a priority we might have.

Jaclynn Robinson 7:37
And then if you are an individual, I've seen many folks with Woo, again, now that we're getting into this return-to-work phase, get really excited about return to work, in the sense that if it's hybrid, there's going to be some social experiences where you can meet in person and connect with each other. And that just really brings things to life. What else would you add, as an individual high in Woo, Jim, that supports you in your wellbeing?

Jim Collison 8:07
Giving an example. Just the other day, I've got some friends that I wanted to make sure that they would be at work when I was there. Like, it's been a little struggle to get everybody to come back on the same day, so to speak. So I said, Hey, buy you some Starbucks, your favorite Starbucks coffee, if you just, you know, meet me here at 8:30 or whatever. And so I took the order of a couple folks I wanted to spend some time with and made sure I had coffee available. Right, just that opportunity, give them an opportunity or a reason kind of to be there for it. So for me, that meets that individual wellbeing need of, of, of that, of being, again being, to kind of being together and influencing them in a way. For me, I know we're trying to encourage more time together. And so from an organizational standpoint, that meets the need of the Influencer -- that's like, OK, I've got, in a very personable way, I've got two people to come back and feel more comfortable coming back. And so just providing that, that kind of that, again, that that, it's almost like a host job. When we come back, I'm gonna --

Jaclynn Robinson 8:07
Warm and welcome!

Jim Collison 8:11
I'm gonna host a little party, let's sit and talk, right, kind of deal. And to make --

Jaclynn Robinson 9:10
That's brilliant! That's, and I love that you just brought that up, because for any managers that might be listening in, or coaches, if you've got someone with Woo on your team, that might be a way that they can feel more encouraged to come on site too, if no one else is on site, as, well, might I suggest you, you know, just ask your other folks if they can come in or -- I just love that. It's a good example, because there's a lot of leeriness for some still of getting into the workplace. But if they have someone like you that's a friend, saying, "Oh, yeah, come in! Let's have some coffee together!" It starts to ease them into that.

Jim Collison 9:57
And remember, it's not winning from a Competition standpoint. It's not that I, that I win. It's that, it's this, I like, it's, it's Influencing to, to move them in a positive direction, right? I win when I influence them, right? I think sometimes that's miscategorized too, is that winning, I oftentimes get, people say, "Where's Competition for you?" And I'm like, "No, it's all Woo." And I don't care if we win or not; I just want them to be there. Like, I just want them to be a part of what we're doing. I just want to influence those groups to be a part of something, right, whatever, kind of whatever that is. So in Appendix 2, we have a framework to work through. Let's walk through that framework with Woo. Jaclynn, what do you have for us?

Jaclynn Robinson 10:43
Ask Yourself: How can I spend more time with a friend or colleague today? Ask Your Team Members: How do we show our support for each other's wellbeing? And Take Action: Mix social time with physical activity. For example, take a long walk with a friend so you can motivate each other to be healthy. And I've seen that in the workplace as well, where you might have someone high in Woo that's encouraging people to come together, and they do walking meetings, or they'll go play tennis on the weekends or have a yoga session.

Jim Collison 11:11
I have drug people along to Corporate Cup events, or Trek up the Tower, right, or these wellbeing events where we can, you know, we can be together and be active. And it just fits, again, it just fits that Influencing role of Hey, let's, let's all meet here. Now once we get there, I'm worthless. But the getting them there --

Jaclynn Robinson 11:33
You got them there.

Jim Collison 11:34
I need some, I need a Strategic or Discipline partner to actually carry through the thing that I got them there for. But, so, as we kind of close this up, Jaclynn, any other final thoughts that you have or encouragement that you'd have around Woo?

Jaclynn Robinson 11:49
I think Woo is, has a natural, a natural just attraction to social wellbeing. They hear social wellbeing, and one of our recommendations is to spend 6 hours a day socializing with people -- family, friends, colleagues. Woo just gets it. They go, Yeah, why wouldn't we? We recognize that when you enhance social wellbeing, that can also enhance other elements of our life. One, one person mentioned in chat, just they're great community builders. So whenever you have this social wellbeing in place, you feel a sense of community. To your point, it might be a physical activity. So now we're tapping into physical wellbeing. It might be, I'm bringing the sense of community into the workplace. So we're checking the box on social and career wellbeing and increasing productivity.

Jaclynn Robinson 12:39
There's a lot to be said about Woo. And to your point, sometimes folks might just say, Oh, they just, you know, want to win people over. No, they're really good. They recognize the value of social wellbeing, and they encourage it. And that ends up having a cascade effect on other elements of people's lives. So there's an intentionality behind it too.

Jim Collison 13:01
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.