Current Workforce Challenges: Resiliency

Gallup Called to Coach Webcast Series -- Season 10, Episode 43.

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

The current moment is a great time to take stock of your resiliency. How has the pandemic affected it, and what challenges do you face in maintaining or improving it as work and life move toward a new normal? Dr. Jaclynn Robinson rejoins the webcast in the third part of a series on workforce challenges to help you gain a better understanding of resiliency and how you can apply your talents and strengths to promote your resiliency. She shares some key questions you can ask yourself and discusses the role of life purpose and wellbeing in resiliency. Join us and bring renewed vigor to your own resiliency -- and the resiliency of those you coach and care about. And as a bonus, learn about a new CliftonStrengths Podcast series that launches in January 2023.

I really see [resiliency] as a way of being able to have hope and a sense of stability for your present moment but also what's to come in the future.

Jaclynn Robinson, 2:15

What is one of your strengths that you can grasp onto right now that can serve as a life jacket? And what is it about that theme that can support you?

Jaclynn Robinson, 6:59

The sense of purpose or mission you have in life can be a good North Star. So ... gut check yourself. How do you feel? Because if you feel great, you feel energized, ... that's a sign that you're ... leaning into your strengths.

Jaclynn Robinson, 23:52

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on October 17, 2022.

Meet Our Guest on This Episode

Jim Collison 0:17
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 and you don't see the chat room, there's a link for it right above me there. Click on that; it'll take you to the YouTube instance. Sign in and join us in chat. If you're listening after the fact and you still have questions, you can always send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app to Called to Coach or there on YouTube, over in the corner there. Subscribe -- this is the live channel -- subscribe to that on either one, so you never miss an episode. Dr. Jaclynn Robinson is our host today. She works as a Learning and Development Consultant here with me at Gallup and was the host of Season 1, and we'll have an announcement at the end of this today about the future -- we're excited about that. But thanks for coming to Called to Coach, and welcome back!

Jaclynn Robinson 1:12
Thank you, sir. Hey, team, good to see everybody again!

Defining Resiliency

Jim Collison 1:15
Good to have you here as well. We are in Part 3 of a 3-part series, if you missed it before. We've been spending some time talking about challenges in the workplace. We spent some time talking about burnout. We spent some time talking about inclusion last month. Now we're talking about resiliency. And we've, we threw around this word about a year ago, I think, as we were talking about this. And it's kind of fallen back, I think. I'm not hearing that word resiliency as much as I was before. And yet, Jaclynn, I find myself in a situation today where I need to rethink my own resiliency. Because it's, it's not a one-and-done right? It's not a, it's not, Hey, oh yeah, OK, we won the war! Right? It's not that kind of thing; we have to constantly be thinking about this. Let's get going a little bit on this. Talk to me a little bit. When we say resiliency, what do we mean by that?

Jaclynn Robinson 2:13
Such a good question! I really see it as a way of being able to have hope and a sense of stability for your present moment but also what's to come in the future. And really a safety blanket that helps support you against adversity that you're going through in the here and the now or in the upcoming future. And I feel like we've just been going down this path the last 3 years, where we've had to, we've had to try to have this sense of resiliency for so long. And then, yeah, when people started getting more into, I guess, their, I'd say the new way of working, because I know a lot have gone hybrid, or they're back on site. It just felt like it was OK, let's go right back to the way things were before. I think mentally everyone's like, No, I don't know if I can do that as much. So we're seeing that resiliency, I feel, play out again, where people are going, OK, what do I do? Because it's not working -- what I used to do isn't working anymore. And I can't just go through life like we haven't just had the last 3 years happen to us. So what can I put into place to feel like I have this sense of stability and can overcome, you know, problems in the here and now.

Jim Collison 3:21
I feel like we may be seeing an echo of stress in, in all cultures globally, as I think we feel like there was this sense of we want to just get back to normal. And, and I think in that, sometimes, people can just say, Well just tough it out or just work harder or just, you know, we start telling ourselves or telling those that we're working with or organizations like, Well, you have to kind of work through it. And I don't know if that's enough. Can you, I mean, if we think about that, how is this, if we are if this thing is a bouncing effect -- in other words, we go through periods of it -- how can, how can we or should we think differently about resiliency than "Just tough it out!"? Like "Just get better!" type deal?

Jaclynn Robinson 4:14
That might even just amount to What do I, what am I going through in the here and now, and what does my body need? I think that's a question we could always just ask ourselves is, you know, anytime we're depleted, What does my body need right now? And it speaks to us, you know: You need sleep, or you need to eat, or you need to go for a walk. And we just have to be a little bit more in tune to it. But once we know what that callout is, whether it's sleep or food or taking a walk or connecting with a person, then from that strengths-based approach, what strength is going to be most supportive in helping us with that given, you know, solution that's kind of calling out to us or crying out to us? So I think it's just constant checking in; we have to just constantly check in. But that's been hard for people because they've just been told, you know, Get back to work and go, go, go. And so Lisa's point in chat, We've been depleted, and we can't go back to normal. So we need a moment to really just, you know, process and think about what we need in the here and now. And we need to continue to have those check-ins available to us; accountability partners, maybe, to support us.

Which of Your Strengths Is a Life Jacket That Can Help You Take Action?

Jim Collison 5:22
So that's a question a coach could ask, right is, thinking, somebody going through this, What kind of theme or what strength could you be using right now to help prop you up? Let's, let's do a, let's kind of think through that. And let me invite the chat room to answer that question. Like, What are you leaning into or what could you be leaning into when you think about your own resiliency? For a second, let's, let's frame this up today for ourselves. Let's not think about -- coaches who are listening, you can take these questions, think about them and redeploy them in your own coaching for what you're doing. But I think for today's purposes, let's spend a little time individually thinking about this. So Jaclynn, is it just as easy as thinking about OK, so what does my, what does my Arranger-Maximizer need to be doing in this time? Like I find, I find great satisfaction or great, being energized and re, and fixing things or cleaning things up or creating new things. Is it stuff like that to really start figuring out what's going on inside of me and then start addressing it with some of those themes?

Jaclynn Robinson 6:32
That's a good question. I think if you've got heightened self-awareness, you can target what those talent themes are sometimes that are being overused or that want to be used a little bit more -- that sense of wellbeing. I even, if I think about a question that I would probably start off with, first and foremost, if someone's going through a hard time and is looking for that sign of resilience, and how do I start to get a grip on this? I would ask, What is one of your strengths that you can grasp onto right now that can serve as a life jacket? And what is it about that theme that can support you? So that might be, I think, sometimes a little bit easier of a route to go than when you're already in a rut, trying to guess what theme is under that rut -- if that makes sense. Instead, it's, OK. I know I'm in a rut. I need a life jacket. What theme is going to be my life jacket in this present moment? And how is it going to support me?

Jim Collison 7:32
Getting some comments in from the chat room. Theresa says, I lean into my purpose. Why am I really doing this? What's the meaning of this for me, right? You were talking about that introspection. Michael Brown says, I'm with you, Lisa! I have to do a check-in with myself in the, in the "new world," in quotes, in the 5 elements of wellbeing. And I think that's an important, right, that's a, maybe an important, that's like pulling the oil dipstick on an engine, you know, of pulling that out --

Jaclynn Robinson 8:00
Ooh! I like that visual!

Jim Collison 8:01
Like, Hey, where are we with this kind of thing? Thinking about that -- he's, that seems to be helping him. Jess says, In the past, I focused my strengths investment from a professional lens, but where I felt most resiliency has been feeding into my strengths personally. And we've spent some time, both you and I, last season in, in the wellbeing series; Maika and I in the Season 6, thinking about it's, sometimes it's hard to separate those two, right? And I think we tried to in the past, and for some people, that doesn't go so well. And so maybe focusing on home or focusing on things outside of the workplace has a benefit to the same things in the workplace. Right. Any comments on that?

Jaclynn Robinson 8:45
Oh, I love that. I love that. We know what impacts us personally impacts us professionally, and vice versa. So I like that piece of digging deep from that personal level -- and the purposeful piece that we heard about too.

Jim Collison 9:02
What else can we do, as you think about these questions that you have? What, what would be another question we could ask?

Jaclynn Robinson 9:09
Yeah. So first, if, going back to that one. So we have, What is one of your strengths that you can grasp on to right now that can serve as a life jacket? And then once you have that life jacket on, with that strength in mind, now that you've got that form of stability, What action at this exact moment can alleviate some of the strain? So you're no longer feeling like you're drowning in the sense of, you know, What should I do? I don't know what my next step looks like. You've got your life jacket on enough where you're starting to get those stress levels down, maybe more of that clarity mentally to go, OK, What's the first step I can take to get through this? And then I would even, you know, have you all think about -- going back to wellbeing, which some of you mentioned in chat, What wellbeing means have been sidelined? Is there at least one of those that you can focus on to take back your sense of power and control? So step by step, we can start to, you know, really start to alleviate some of that strain that you might be feeling to rebuild that sense of resiliency.

Jim Collison 10:13
Back in the spring, I committed to just getting out the door, 3-mile loop every day, and found great success in that consistently. For me, listen, one of those, it was hard to get started. But once I got going, it couldn't stop. Like, then I started to be like, Well, I can't miss my walk today. I can't, I can't. It started getting colder, started getting darker. I need to find a new pattern in that, right. For me, it's all about finding these patterns that I can repeat for success. I need -- I'm, so this is one of the crazy things about this. I don't know if anybody else feels this way. I'm so adaptable, that if I take Adaptability to everything, like there's some things, Adaptability can't, is not appreciated by in life, right? Like your budget is better, the way you spend your money. Consistency helps a little bit in that area, right?

Jim Collison 11:09
So I find those routines, those patterns help me, they give me a bedrock foundation for my wellbeing in the midst of all this other chaos, which is fine. I love chaos. But I've got to have a few things centered. Right? It can't all be Adaptability all the time. Right. So, and so, you know, for me, having, nailing down some of that wellbeing first, I gotta get my physical act -- we did some, I did some watch events with people where we competed and those kinds of things. I found -- does that, is that what you mean by that, when you think about what wellbeing needs have been sidelined and getting back to it?

Jaclynn Robinson 11:48
Yes. Yes. And for some, it might be that you used to, you know, have a lot of family time, and now work has taken over. And so that sense of social wellbeing isn't being well fed. Or you were more involved in your community pre-COVID. COVID happened; everything shut down. And you were involved virtually. I know a lot of community events just went virtual. So a lot of times, too, we've just kind of forgotten what we used to do that gave us that sense of home and familiarity and, you know, really helped us just feel stable. And when you're stable, it's a lot easier to get through, you know, any types of adversity. You kind of have that built-in resiliency factor in place. So it is kind of recalling a little bit of the past: What did I used to do? What do I want to do more of, in terms of my, my elements of wellbeing? Because maybe I didn't do it pre-COVID. But now I'm having some Aha! moments as a result of COVID. And this is what I want to start getting involved in. How's it going with you and your wellbeing, Jim, with your walks? Are you still consistent with those?

Jim Collison 12:54
The last week -- it's funny; I was, I was telling you preshow, I really struggled over the weekend. Just not, I just didn't feel very good. And not like sickness feeling good; just kind of like disheveled -- if I can use that -- like personally disheveled. Well, I missed those, I missed all the walks last week. And that, actually, now that we're talking about it, if I start looking back, that was a precursor to the weekend's kind of dishevelment of thinking like Oh, yeah, I did, I missed the, when I would normally be -- and the problem was is the walk, the reason (that's not the right word), the mode at which I was walking changed. So I used to get out, it was light. I walked through the cemetery. It's very peaceful; it was time for me to think. Well, it's been getting darker, and walking through the cemetery in pitch dark -- not that I'm, not that I'm worried about the dead; I'm more worried about the living. And I, I kind of got a little, I kind of got a little, I was like, Ah. And so I needed to find -- and listen, changing routes; I could easily just change routes, which is what I needed to do. But that habit had become so ingrained in me, it kind of threw me off a little bit. And I think for, for some individuals -- and even, even though I have this high, high Adaptability, when I do find a pattern that works, when it gets thrown off, it's, it's, it can be really bad.

Jaclynn Robinson 14:19
Wow! There it is! I'm curious. What -- oh, I didn't mean to cut you off there. What were you --

Jim Collison 14:25
No, keep going. Go ahead.

Which Themes Help You Create Stability?

Jaclynn Robinson 14:26
-- going to say? I was curious, because you have so many themes that are flexible in nature. What themes help you create stability? What is it that appreciates that sense of consistency?

Jim Collison 14:37
That's, that's an incredible question. And coaches, you should, you should write that question down! Because as I think through, you know, I have all this Influence up front with Relationship Building 6 through 10. And I don't have a lot of those. I can use Maximizer in some ways to kind of create more of something, but that, you know, that's a good question! Where does that stability come from? I'm not sure I know. I'm gonna have to, I'm gonna have to spend some time reflecting on that. Maybe I'll get some, some postshow coaching from you on it, as I kind of think through it. But Lisa had asked a good question in chat. She says, Is resiliency about regaining power and control? Or is it maybe for some about letting go of the need to control? Could be a little bit of both. Maybe returning to self-trust? Right? I don't know, Jaclynn, what do you think?

Jaclynn Robinson 15:29
Magical dust of both! I love that! Because there is this piece too of needing to let go of that, that need of control. I love that self-trust. But for some, when you feel that wave of panic or anxiety, feeling like you have a sense of power, because usually that panic is sometimes that loss of control or loss of what is within the span of your control, you just feel so shaken. So maybe it is, maybe it's even layers too, as we kind of think through that. Because once you trust yourself, you trust yourself enough to get through it. And you're starting to create what you can do within your own locus of control.

Jim Collison 16:13
Well, and I think this gets down to the individual level. There's no, like, I like control, or I don't like control. You know. Nate makes a really good comment that I think, he says, Checking in with myself doesn't work for me. I "hired" a friend to be my accountability partner. (Sometimes that's what a coach is. It's just a "hired" friend, right?) I have to give him an update every Saturday by 10 a.m. It's helped me achieve goals I've wanted, which I think is a great, that's self-awareness, right, of like, Yeah, no, that system doesn't work for me. Where for a lot of people, checking in on themselves, just fine. Right?

Jaclynn Robinson 16:50
And then Lisa had brought up earlier too, checking in can be work sometimes. It's like, yes! And so if it feels like that's work, because you're like, I'm just tired of being tired, there's accountability partners. And coaches can be so helpful to just give you that additional pep talk or help you see how far you've come or help you rethink how you can get to that next step, to Nate's point.

Jim Collison 17:13
Yeah. Pam makes an interesting comment. She says, Strengths that are outwardly focused can be hard to use as a life jacket, because we don't bring that life jacket for ourselves. Right. And again, for some, maybe, for, I think that's that awareness of it. You would think -- I have high Woo and high Communication -- when things are a little, and I've kind of noticed it this weekend, when things are a little off, those go a little sideways on me. And generally they're, they're not maybe a life jacket, but a warm, comfortable blanket that I feel comfortable in. You know, it's just like, Oh, this is just gonna, this is gonna be so great. And this weekend, yeah, like, maybe I'll just go hide. I don't want to be around people; I'm messing people things up. Like I should just go, I should just go away, take a vacation by myself.

Jaclynn Robinson 18:04
And that's good self-awareness, too. We can certainly burn ourselves out and lose that sense of resiliency if we're overusing our themes externally and not feeding ourselves internally.

Jim Collison 18:18
Yeah, I like that. Jaclynn, what other questions could -- you've got a few more of these. What other questions should we be asking?

Who Is a Good Support System for You?

Jaclynn Robinson 18:22
So we've already talked about accountability partners. So another question we could ask folks is, Who's a good support system for you? In the here and now, who is that good support system for you? And then, Who else can you consider for support? So is it a neighbor, a therapist, a, you know, best friend at work, a family member, a friend, a cousin? But who else do you have within your community that you can go to for support or an ear or thought partnership, etc.? Any thoughts there?

Jim Collison 18:52
Yeah, I think this is where strengths really helps. Like, not that it didn't help in these other things. But anytime you're creating these systems, these people systems, and in this case, it's a support system, right, of looking at the, at the other person and saying -- and this is, I'm admitting I don't do enough of this; I, I kind of think I can do it intuitively. And so I just don't purposely ask for someone's Top 5 when we're doing, when we're, you know, we're doing these kinds of things. But I think getting that team map, even if it's just two people, and being intentional about, "Hey, you're you work in this way. I need this. I'll bring this," sounds like an exercise that we have -- Bring & Need. Right? We've spent some time doing that. And I think that's particularly important in these, building the support systems, right? Regardless, if it's one person or a group of people. I don't know, what else do you think?

Jaclynn Robinson 19:48
I agree. I've got one person -- well, a few in my team map, if I think about my, who would be on my team map. And one leads high in Harmony; that's my 34th theme. And so that's such a good pairing. And he really helps me see how I'm feeding Achiever very often. So he can kind of talk me off that plank, if Achiever is like, You haven't done enough today! There's more to do! So he'll kind of walk me back and give me that pep talk I need and that additional boost and help me find balance. I think some of that is maybe coming from his Harmony, where he can just, through his own pep talks with me, give me a sense of balance. So yeah, you know, those, those partnerships and friendships and family members that have strengths can be so supportive.

Jim Collison 20:39
Lisa had asked, you mentioned "team map." And so did I. When we say teams, what do we mean by that?

Jaclynn Robinson 20:44
Yes. So I think we were actually blending two terms in our excitement: Team Grid -- for those that use the Team Grid -- that can be highly applicable in the workplace. And, you know, now that we're thinking about personal lives, too, I've always seen it used at work. But Team Grid would be really interesting to have, just personally as well. What friends do you want to put on your Team Grid? What family members do you want to put on your Team Grid? And then social map is what we would think about whenever you are considering the ecosystem you're in. So you're in the middle of it; Who's your mentor? Who's your export -- expert? Who's your family friend? You know, Who is a role model for you? So the social map is just who is in that network that you should be socializing with? And then you really start to narrow it down. What's the frequency of these socializations? What do I want to be discussing with them, etc.?

What Activities Energize You?

Jim Collison 21:45
What other, what other, as we think about these questions, what else can we be asking ourselves?

Jaclynn Robinson 21:51
What activities energize you? And then how can you build more of this into your week? So what a great way to ground ourselves, when it feels like our head is spinning. What energizes me? And how do I get more of that in my life? And once we feel like we're in that flow, and our wellbeing starts to amplify, we know this from our discussions, your strengths amplify, your engagement amplifies. And then you feel like you really do have more of a grasp on just what's, what's happening in your day-to-day and your ability to overcome that.

Jim Collison 22:25
How do you think -- I've always wondered, as I think about this, these, this these activities that energize us. Sometimes I feel like that can be a temporary emotion, right? We do something, like I, as soon as, in the last couple of months, everyone has been racing to do vacations, right?

Jaclynn Robinson 22:47
Yes! We've talked about this.

Jim Collison 22:52
Almost unreasonably, in some -- that's, that's me speaking from my perspective, you know. But we've, it's like, I gotta I gotta do it. I gotta have it now. And, you know, sometimes I wonder, is that really, like, is that really doing anything? Are we just doing that because we thought we needed it? Or are we really doing the things we need? And listen, I'm not here to judge anybody on, on vacations or taking time off. People -- everyone needs to do that, right. But when do you think, How do you know -- I guess this would be a question -- How do you know when you're in an activity that energizes you longer than just during the activity? And maybe it's OK if it's just during the activity. But how do you, how would you know that? What signs should, would you be looking for, do you think?

Resiliency and Wellbeing

Jaclynn Robinson 23:40
I'm gonna go back to good old wellbeing. You feel that sense of wellbeing. You feel like you are doing something more purposeful, for some folks -- even going back to the comment earlier, how that, the sense of purpose or mission you have in life can be a good North Star. So it's always that gut check is what I tell people -- gut check yourself. How do you feel? Because if you feel great, you feel energized, you're working with ease, excellence, enjoyment, you know, notate that, because that's a sign that you're, one, leaning into your strengths, but you're finding something that excites you inside.

Jaclynn Robinson 24:15
I'll usually recommend people have a journal that they keep for 30 days, because that tends to encompass everything that you typically do day to day, if you have something that you're tracking for 30 days. And then you're just listing throughout the day, what are you doing, scale of 1 to 5? "5" is "Loved it." Where would you rate yourself? And then any additional notes -- your mood or who you were working with, etc. And then over time, you can look at that, and you'll start to see some patterns or themes show up as to what's giving you a lot of energy and what isn't. And sometimes it is outside of the workplace that you're finding that energy, and quite a few folks have that Aha! moment of Ooh, do I need to shift the role that I have in the organization? Do I need to do something different? Because I'm actually finding my hobbies and interests, I'm thriving in more than maybe what my day to day looks like.

Temporary Energy vs. Long-Term Fulfillment

Jim Collison 25:11
How important do you think, in this, in retrospection -- introspection -- these "spections" that we're spending time in, right? How important do you think is a question to ask ourselves, Is this situation I'm in, is it, is it near term? Is it short? You know, is it, or is it going to be, is it going to be, is this changing forever type thing? In understanding the depth at which this change takes place and keeping perspective. What do you think?

Jaclynn Robinson 25:43
Oh, you're tapping into one of my favorite questions. Is this a temporary pleasure or long-term fulfillment? Vacation sometimes can be a quick, temporary pleasure, or it can be long-term fulfillment if the vacation is purpose-driven, or that vacation helps you ideate, because you've had a lot, enough time to rest up where your mind is just firing on all cylinders. And it's your creative space or using that to write a book. So even vacations, for a lot of people, you know, kind of amount to a long-term plan. But I love that, Is this a temporary pleasure, or is this long-term fulfillment?

Jim Collison 26:24
Which is OK, right? I mean, I, let's not paint those, I think, as black and white, or good and bad, or evil and good, or whatever you want to, however you want to do that. I don't think it has to be that, that Boolean expression of one or the other. I think there are moments, especially when we think about resiliency, where we need a moment to blow off some steam and a temporary, like, Hey, this isn't gonna be this way all the time. And I'm kind of glad, because it's not sustainable. Right. But we need, sometimes we need those moments, right? I think we need a combination of those, and how we approach that kind of matters on who we are as an individual, right? But I think sometimes we get caught in the trap of thinking it has to be an either/or -- I have to be disciplined or I have to be adaptable. Like, no, Discipline wins every time. Or no, Adaptability wins every time. Well, hey, friends, they don't have to win. This doesn't have to be a winning situation. Right? They can, they can live, I think they can live together in that. I'm, that may be physician healing myself in that statement, by the way.

Jaclynn Robinson 27:30
Yeah, I was just thinking that, based on what you were sharing earlier.

What Is Your Vision for the Next 3 to 6 Months?

Jim Collison 27:35
Yeah, yeah. Just realized, as I said that, I'm like, oh, yeah, like, Jim, you probably need to apply that to yourself right now. We've got -- Jaclynn, we have a final question. What, as we kind of wrap this up, this conversation today, what, what other question would we have?

Jaclynn Robinson 27:53
OK, so bringing it to the, to the forefront, we've, we've had our talent theme that's been a life jacket. We've figured out the immediate action that we can take. We've thought about the wellbeing need that might be misplaced. Who's a great support system for us? What activities reenergize us to maybe give us that sense of hope and upbeat and excitability again? So now, as hope begins to come back into the fold, back into the forefront, What does your vision for the next 3 to 6 months look like? And how can you allow that to unfold using your talents? So now we can kind of see what that North Star might be, if the North Star was fuzzy for a little bit. OK, it's a little bit more clear. What's the next 3 to 6 months look like?

Jim Collison 28:43
Three to 6 months may be too short for some and too long for others. So I think that's a recommend -- we throw these, we throw these terms out, right, sometimes, and there's people who go into a panic. Like 6 months, like, that's too short! And others are like, 6 months? I'm super bored already. Funny the perspective just on that. So I think even that, yeah, the time frame that works, the time frame that works for you in that setting to, too. What kind of, as you think about you for a second, and you think about some 3 to 6 months, you know, what you would want 3 to 6 months to look like for you, what kind of words come to mind for you? Let's just practice this a little bit, as we think about, like, OK, so 3 to 6 months, let's just say spring for us, so we're talking first or second quarter of 2023. What, if there was one word, maybe one word or one idea for you, what, where would you want to be in that time period, do you think?

Jaclynn Robinson 29:46
I use the word "expansion"? Expansion, because there's a lot of things that I want to expand on in the next 3 to 6 months. And my Harmony friend helps me bring it back down because Futuristic, Achiever, Activator -- we want to go! Discipline and Focus -- I see it, and it's so hard to let go of that sense of what the plan should be. So "expansion" would be my word.

Jim Collison 30:11
Expansion -- I like that!

Jaclynn Robinson 30:13
Yes, expansion.

Jim Collison 30:16
This is, you may have got to the heart of my, my resiliency issue in that. As I was thinking of this question, I was like, I don't know what next year even looks like. Like, I haven't even started -- listen, I focused, the pandemic for me was a focused -- I was at my best for the last 2 1/2 years, while we were going through this. And I know for some of you, you're going to be like, Stop!

Jaclynn Robinson 30:40
You really were.

Jim Collison 30:41
Like that was the, for me, that was a career moment. Like I was focused. I had a problem to work on. We had things to do. My life's completely different now. And I think for a lot of people, I'm gonna say this for me, but I think there's some folks who are listening to this right now, whether live or you're listening on the podcast, where you're in a completely different situation now than you were 3 years ago. Life's completely changed. And you're coming out of this thing, or -- maybe for me, the crisis I'm going into. It's not enough. Right? My, I thrived during the crisis of the pandemic. Now, now what? Like, what am I going to point these talents to now? Like, what, what's next? It's not real clear. It was super clear during the pandemic. Super duper clear what to do. And I think because I'm a firefighter, not a farmer, I run to chaos instead of running away from it. Right. I think that began to, that made priorities for me very, very clear. Well, maybe those priorities are getting a little unclear. Right. And I know for a lot of people, that sounds weird, but there may be a host of people like me who are like, I can't see the future. I don't know. It was really clear for the last couple years. I don't know, any thoughts on, as I say that, Jaclynn, does that invoke any thoughts?

Jaclynn Robinson 32:02
Yeah. That's just, I could see where you're coming from. Because that was a crisis moment. And Adaptability, I always think of as being a firefighter. Like, I want to run to the fire; I want to put it out. But now there is this return to a new normal. And it feels like everything is going back to the way it was, so I can see your perspective of, Where's the fire now? What am I supposed to put out? I'm curious. I always, I've talked a lot about the power of walking and how that helps just get your thoughts into a flow and I, and helps you ideate. Has, now that the walking feels less excitable and energizing for you, How does that play into it? Did you use to walk and think?

Jim Collison 32:59
Yeah, I walk to think.

Jaclynn Robinson 33:00
Was that what was exciting about walking was you'd get to kind of just process your thoughts and think of what next?

Jim Collison 33:07
I'm walking through the cemetery. And there's nothing but me and my thoughts. And it's an hour to myself of thinking through what the day was going to be like. This is interesting. This is some live coaching.

Jaclynn Robinson 33:18
Thinking through what the day is going to be like! And now, you don't know what the future looks like. So --

Jim Collison 33:23
I put this big TV on the front of my treadmill. So I have a, for the winter, I have a treadmill in the house, and I use it pretty well. But I put this big TV on it. And I haven't, since I put the TV on it, I haven't walked on it once. And it's because the TV, like you're getting to the point here, I think the TV is distracting to me, because I watch YouTube videos. And yes, I could sit there and leave the TV off. But walking in the same place for an hour is boring. Like that's just boring. I'm not gonna do it. So, yeah, no, I think maybe you've got to the crux of the issue, at least for me, right, of thinking through, like, oh, yeah, maybe I'm not getting that thinking time. And so it's not creating clarity on a daily basis for me of going into these situations and thinking through it. And that's thrown me a little bit off center a little bit. And what I probably just need to do is change my route. I think it's as simple as that. I just, I'm, I'm mourning the fact that I don't -- sounds weird, OK; this, this sentence is gonna sound weird: I'm mourning the fact that I don't get to walk through the cemetery every day, because it is centering for me. It's quiet. It's peaceful. I reflect on a lot of things while I'm in there. It's really good for me. So I'm mourning that a little bit. Ah, now I gotta go find a different route. Now, it's not like I'm locked down in the city. I can do it. Right.

Jim Collison 34:37
But for me that's been different. I imagine there's others who are thinking that exact same thing -- not exactly the same, but in the same sense that like, Oh, things are changing back again. Right? They're changing, and they're not changing back to the same; they're changing to something new. And now I've got to be resilient in this new set of changes, where they got very comfortable with what the changes that were during the pandemic. And now, it's a whole new set. Some of them are very excited about what's for the future, right, and, and are excited about these changes.

Resiliency in Your Coaching, Personal Relationships

Jim Collison 35:11
I think, Jaclynn, we've got some great questions through, that you've outlined here. Let me encourage you to go back on the post that we do for this out of gallup.com has a full transcript. And let me encourage you to go back through that. Mark will spend some time outlining these questions. He's always really good about that. Use it as a resource and a tool. Use those questions -- think through him for both yourself, that's what we encouraged you at the beginning of this program to do is think through it for yourself. Your homework, coaches, or even people who want to be coaches or people who are, just want to work with people -- the challenge for you is, How do we, how do you take these questions, turn them into powerful statements and questions for others, right? How can we use these in our relationships, not just at work, but maybe with family? Jaclynn, would you kind of wrap this for us? Final thoughts on this as we wrap it up?

Jaclynn Robinson 36:03
Yes. You know, Lisa, just brought up a question too, with the, this idea of Stability that I've, I've brought up quite a few times, and Hope. I didn't even, I think subconsciously I just automatically go to the 4 Needs of Followers, because it is something that we can all just take to heart and think about for ourselves, since we need to put our own air mask on first before we can support other people. But Hope, Stability, Compassion and Trust, and Hope and Stability are, it seems like, those elements that have been pretty difficult for people. And they're two elements that can lead to resiliency. So we do hope you liked the, the 6 questions that we had today. And I love what you brought up, Jim: Craft them, massage them, make them your own, based on your own personality, your own coaching style, the audience that you have in front of you. But I always think about those baby steps. Because if someone is feeling less resilient in the moment, having them think big and broad when they can't even see what's right in front of them can be very, very difficult. So that was really the premise behind these 6 questions is, How can we start to baby-step people towards that sense of hope and resiliency?

Jim Collison 37:19
This series that we spent time doing here, you know, about difficulties in the workplace, comes at a good time. Because I think we shouldn't miss, as we're, as we're coming back, we can't miss on these things. Everybody's so anxious to get back to normal. And what we had before is gone. It's gone. It's been ... . And what we have now maybe a version of what we had before, but in a lot of ways, it's very, very different. For some of you, you're celebrating that; for others of you, that's a real disaster. And so we want to recognize that. And hopefully, as we think about burnout and inclusion and now resiliency, you've gotten a great opportunity to think about this. If this is the first in the series you've listened to, you can go back to the other ones. We've named them such on gallup.com. Search either burnout, search inclusion or search this one -- resiliency -- and you'll be able to find those.

Introducing a New CliftonStrengths Podcast Series for 2023

Jim Collison 38:11
Jaclynn, we're excited to announce the, the new series for 2023. And what's exciting about it is we're getting, you can join us live. Well, I guess if this is at the end of 2023, and you're hearing this, we've already recorded them all. But starting, starting November 1, Jaclynn and I are back together, talking about leadership. There's gonna be a lot of focus on leadership over the next 6 months at Gallup -- and both internally in the new Leadership Report that's coming out and also some offerings for organizations around leadership. We'll have some things coming out the first part of 2023. But we'll spend some time talking about leadership, one theme at a time. We're gonna start recording those November 1. Head out to gallup.eventbrite.com right now. Create an account. Follow us there, so you can join us for the live recordings. Then we'll clean them up, throw them in the CliftonStrengths channel for the podcast channel and make those available January 1. And we'll have a whole series, all 34, and we're calling it Season 2 of The CliftonStrengths Podcast. We're pretty excited. Jaclynn, as you think about what you're hoping for in this series as we think about leadership, what are your, what are your hopes and dreams going -- that's a big statement for just a podcast.

Jaclynn Robinson 39:28
I know. I'm so excited for it, though! And coming off of this topic on resiliency, if we go to the workplace and we're seeing, we've, I think we've even teased out in the last couple of episodes how managers are the most burned out population right now. So focusing on the leadership, which is going to have that role in supporting them through it, supporting their wellbeing, helping them, you know, feel like they have this sense of stability, I think this is going to be such a good season to go into. One, for the leader just to think about their own role, their own leadership style, how they influence, how they manage their own responsibilities. But whenever we are coaching leaders, we can also help them think about how they can use those themes to influence the managers that are really burned out right now. Because we need them! Managers, going back to that 70% of variance in employee engagement, we need them, and they've really carried the load of employees and leadership needs in these last few years. So, you know, that's just recently come to mind, but I'm really excited we're focusing on leadership.

Jim Collison 40:42
Me too, going into the year. And a lot of folks have, have asked, How does this fit into the Manager Report? And how does this fit into the Sales Report, we're gonna talk a little bit about it. Like all three of them come together. If you change the term "sales" to "influence," which I do all the time, I think we should have called it the Influencer Report, because all the YouTube influencers, and it would have been a good thing to do. But anyways, if you think about all three of those things -- managing, influencing and leading -- those are all, and they, listen, they all blend; they're like circles that come together in some spots. But they all have distinct functions. And we're going to spend a little time talking about that here in Season 2. So I'm pretty pumped about it.

Jim Collison 41:22
You can join us for the live recordings. We're going to kick off the live -- we didn't plan it this way; this is kind of just the way it worked out -- but our very first recording is November 1, 2022, and if you want to join us for the kind of the kickoff for the season. And then I've been posting the, the weekly events as they come up. Our schedule is all over the place, so I can't necessarily post one for them all, because we need the flexibility of being able to, I mean, over 4 months, it's really hard to hold every single one of those to the same date. So we're moving things around, kind of based on schedule. So yes, you have to sign up for every single one if you want to join us live. You don't have to, but join us live. It's way more fun. We have a pre- and postshow we'll record too. It's kind of an event we record two sessions in one, so if you come for one hour, you get both. You get to hear how we make them -- yeah, you get to hear the postshow, the pre- and the postshow will be back for the -- and the midshow will be back as well, which is always super fun. And we'd love to have you join us for that hour. Head out to gallup.eventbrite.com right now. Got the first couple ones out there. Sign up for those, and I'll let you know, we'll send you email reminders and all that other good stuff. Well, Jaclynn --

Jaclynn Robinson 42:27
We're kind of going out of order, by the way. We didn't bring that up to the group. So we're not starting --

Jim Collison 42:33
I didn't want to cause any anxiety for anybody.

Jaclynn Robinson 42:34
-- with Achiever this time. We're, we're doing a little different. For those that like the Adaptability piece, we're coming for you.

Jim Collison 42:43
Yeah, we mixed them all up, so they're not -- and you're be like, what order is this in? Well, you have to figure that out as we, as we move forward. So, well, with that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we do have available now in Gallup Access. Head out to gallup.com/cliftonstrengths. For coaching, master coaching or to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. We'll get somebody to call you back and talk you through that. I mentioned this already, but stay up to date on all the Gallup webcasts. We have a bunch -- I mean, not just that series, but we have a whole bunch on how to use the Leadership Report coming up as well. They're all posted right now on Eventbrite. So go to gallup.eventbrite.com. You will for sure want to join us for the 2023 Gallup at Work Summit. It's going to be in person -- let me say that again: It's going to be in person. Yeah, it's going to be in person. It's going to be live. We have a virtual option as well; I'm really glad they're bringing the virtual option. Prices are on the site if you want to check it out: gallupatwork.com. And don't forget to join us in our Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/calledtocoach. And you can find us on any social platform just by searching "CliftonStrengths." I want to thank you for joining us today. We will do some postshow. If you're listening live -- thanks for those who did -- we'll do some postshow. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

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.