Connectedness®: Developing Your Leadership Skills

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

Explore Gallup's CliftonStrengths^® for Leaders Report and discover its ability to help you maximize the impact of your -- and others' -- unique leadership talents and strengths, in this Season 2 episode of The CliftonStrengths Podcast. Join Jim Collison and Dr. Jaclynn Robinson as they discuss the Connectedness^® theme, its power in a leadership role, how it can help or hinder you as you lead others, and how you can leverage it with the CliftonStrengths for Managers and CliftonStrengths for Sales Reports. Unlock the leadership potential of your Connectedness talent -- because everyone leads something.

This leader of people can help them see not just how their work supports the mission of the company and the customers served, but how their work helps other team members do their work successfully.

Jaclynn Robinson, 9:05

What could be helpful for the leader is to think through or map the connections they see, so that they can become more clear on their talking points.

Jaclynn Robinson, 4:19

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is The CliftonStrengths Podcast, Season 2, recorded on January 17, 2023.

Jim Collison 0:20
In this CliftonStrengths Podcast series, we look at the CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report one theme at a time, and today's theme is Connectedness. If you're listening live, you don't see the chat room, there's a link right above me to it. Love to have you in chat. If you're listening after the fact, and you have questions, you can always send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Dr. Jaclynn Robinson is our host today. She works as a Senior Gallup Learning and Development Consultant and joined me for Season 1 of The CliftonStrengths Podcast, where we looked at Wellbeing at Work each, or one theme at a time. And Jaclynn, always great to have you. Welcome back!

Jaclynn Robinson 0:52
Thank you! Good to be here.

Introducing Connectedness

Jim Collison 0:55
Good to have you. We are spending some -- see, I can learn! -- spending some time thinking about Connectedness. Let's get that, that introduction out of the way.

Jaclynn Robinson 1:05
Yes. If you have Connectedness high, you have faith in the links among all things. You believe that there are few coincidences and that almost every event has meaning.

What Is the Power of Connectedness in a Leadership Role?

Jim Collison 1:16
I love this theme. We spent some time in the midshow talking about it; I'm excited to do it. So let's get right to it. What's the power of this theme in a leadership role?

Jaclynn Robinson 1:26
A leader with this theme can help employees see how each of them contribute to the mission and purpose of the organization. No one team member stands alone, but their work impacts the work of another. And with everyone working together, positive impact is made. That's one of those just common threads that I tend to love about managers or leaders that have this theme high.

How Can Those With Connectedness Lead Others?

Jim Collison 1:45
I think sometimes we, and I spent some time talking about this, I think we think of Connectedness in a historical context or in the context of things happening around us. But I love in the definition when you said no team, no one team member stands alone, right? But rather, their work impacts the work of others, right? It's this, I think of these ping-pong balls in, you know, in a, you know, in a barrel -- I can't think of the right word for it -- it that are bouncing around off each other. Right. And, and knowing that when one person moves, others are influenced or affected by them. And as a leader, understanding those connection points, right, I think that sometimes gets missed in the context of thinking Connectedness -- we only take it from a historical or we only take it from a context, not -- small "c," not big "C," but small "c" context. So thanks for, thanks, that's a new, that's a little bit of a new thought for me, or at least a new emphasis thinking about this. I too sometimes think about the historical impact, but great to think about it in the context of teams and others. So let's, let's talk about others. How can this theme lead others?

Jaclynn Robinson 3:00
Well, during times of change, this leader can help teams remain tethered together. They might offer words of encouragement and wisdom about how the past -- so going back to context, little "c" -- can be a learning experience on how to manage through the present moment. And they can lead them into a more hopeful future. So I feel like they're really good at grounding them on, Hey, we might have seen this before. We'll come through. We're all in it together. So they can really create a lot of Stability and Hope, as we think about the 4 Needs of Followers.

How Could Connectedness Hinder Your Leadership of Others?

Jim Collison 3:29
We'll talk about that here in just a second, so don't give that all away. But the, the I love that idea too of not just, "We've been through it before" -- to go back to what I said before -- but maybe "As a team, we've done this before" or, "As a team, we've seen this problem." "Last year, when we deployed this software, we saw these problems. Let's remember, those are all connected to things, right, or connected to individuals." And so I love that idea, even from a small macro perspective with the team. When we think about the report really talks about helping and then hinders. How could it hinder us or hinder those in the leadership of others?

Jaclynn Robinson 4:10
Yes. Depending on this individual's communication style, at times, it could be hard for other people to follow this leader's thought process. So what could be helpful for the leader is to think through or map the connections they see, so that they can become more clear on their talking points. And there might also be some cases where having information or data to link their thoughts and strategies can be helpful for individuals to see that they, they're, they're grounding their thoughts and connections into something that they can, they can almost touch and taste, so to speak. It's more tangible.

Jim Collison 4:44
I love that idea of mapping. Map it, let's get it mapped out. Let's actually write some things down or whatever you do, right. But strategically or intentionally -- that's probably a better word -- intentionally mapping out those pieces to make sure those relationships or those systems, right. I think Connectedness can be about systems too. Like, "Oh, when this system happens, these things" -- "Wait a minute! They're connected?" "Yes, they are," right. And there may be those, those, those pieces or those processes that help us out. As we think about the 4 Needs of Followers, right -- Hope, Stability, Compassion and Trust -- where do you think this fits in? Where do you think Connectedness fits in? Doesn't have to; we're just kind of speculating on it. But what need does this, does this meet, do you think?

Jaclynn Robinson 5:34
Ooh, I think it clearly checks all the boxes. I know they all do. But they, they offer Stability in helping them see that no one team member stands alone; we're all in this together. They can, they can offer context of how whatever is happening, it's going to be OK; they're going to be able to move through it. And that creates that sense of Hope. People Trust in them, oftentimes, because they're saying, "Hey, we've been here before," especially if they can ground it in some type of data or facts or map it. So I just see it checking all of the boxes. But initially, what comes to mind is that Stability piece and that, that Hope piece.

How Can You Use Connectedness as You Lead, Together With the Managers and Sales Reports?

Jim Collison 6:21
Yeah, I, and I lean on the Hope side. I think that's how I, when I'm trying to conjure this, I'm trying to put the pieces together to see, See! See, there's hope! This has happened before, and everything was going to be OK. Or, Everything wasn't OK, so we're going to do something different because of it, right, in that case. So I love that. I love this idea, We didn't intentionally start the series with this thought, but I love bringing in these 4 Needs of Followers, and then filtering, maybe force-filtering it through that. So I think it's a great exercise. We also have been spending the season thinking about these, these themes in the context of the two other reports that we have, role-based reports: CliftonStrengths for Sales and CliftonStrengths for Managers. As we think about these report dynamics and putting together these action items or these thoughts from CliftonStrengths for Leaders and the Clifton Strengths for Sales, in this case, Jaclynn, what, what could we possibly do as we put those two together?

Jaclynn Robinson 7:23
This was fun to think about, you know, comparing these two. So if you've got a leader with Connectedness high, because they can see connections where others might not, they can meet with their team to consider present market offerings or sales strategies, and anticipated market offerings or conditions that are being discussed in their industry. So they can help them just really kind of connect the dots. What is being offered? What might be coming down the pipeline in the future? And then they can think about how they can build a pathway in the present moment that serves their customers now and moves them into the future. So they can make all those really cool connections.

Jim Collison 8:04
Yeah, and we're in a time, I think there's a lot of connections, as we think about what's going on as we're recording this in early 2023. There's a lot of connective, or a lot of connections between what's happening now and what happened maybe 30 or 40 years ago. And so you start, when you, if you start doing that Connectedness exercise, and leaders who could do that really well and are well-versed in the historical context of this can really, in this case, Hey, these things were popular then; we may be able to make, you know, connect the dots. And that may circle back around and be needed again. So I love that. What about, what about the manager? CliftonStrengths for Managers, CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report -- success factors jammed together, report dynamics™ -- what do we get from that?

Jaclynn Robinson 8:54
Well, a leader with Connectedness that manages people can help each team member see the impact they make. So people want to know that there's a purpose to their role. We talk about that a lot. It's not just about a paycheck anymore; it's about purpose. This leader of people can help them see not just how their work supports the mission of the company and the customers served, but how their work helps other team members do their work successfully. That can help them see that everything is interconnected.

Jim Collison 9:22
Gonna ask for your final thoughts here for a second. But as we think about that, these are available, you can do this too. In each one of those role-based reports is a section on Action Items. There's Helps, Hinders and Action Items. You can do it with all three; be creative in that. I just, it's been fun now to have, in the last 18 months, we've put together these 3 reports with just dynamite loads of information. If you have high Connectedness, maybe you can put all the connections together between the, between the three -- Wait a minute! Available for you now. Jaclynn, any final thoughts on Connectedness?

Jaclynn Robinson 10:03
Jeez, I'm just trying to think. I mean, there's so many, it's just, let me just say, drilling it down into one sentence, but because people are looking for that sense of purpose and value, if you do have Connectedness, what a wonderful time to really step into it and let yourself shine with that theme. Because you can help people see how what they're doing isn't just -- what's the word I'm looking for? -- it's not just siloed in nature, but they, there is that ripple effect. Lisa, I just saw your comment, and that, that helped me. There's a ripple effect with everything you're doing. Every action creates a reaction. But if we show them the positive actions they're having that are creating positive reactions, it might just continue to build Hope and reinforce the value on that person. And a lot of people are hurting right now. So go forward --

Jim Collison 10:53
Yeah, never been a better time to open the Superman -- get your, put your cape on and, and, and use your superpowers. I think we all, we need every ounce of, of positive superpowers that, that we -- and everybody, everybody has them. That's the great part about them. How are you deploying those four? 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. Go to the menu, upper left, and then choose -- and it's different on the phone, but choose Resources. Then type in "Connectedness," and all the resources we have for Connectedness is available there. You can, well, you can go back to last season's wellbeing work, if you want to do that. You can go back to the 6 seasons of Theme Thursday that we have. It's all there. It's easy to find. All done by theme. You can share that with others. Lots of great materials that are there, and we'd love to have you do it. So check it out today. Stay up to date with all the webcasts by following us at gallup.eventbrite.com. Join us on any social platform by searching "CliftonStrengths," and we want to thank you for joining us today. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app. It's just "The CliftonStrengths Podcast." Not hard to remember or not very original, but it's out there for you. The CliftonStrengths Podcast -- get subscribed today. Want to thank you for listening. If you're listening live, stay around for some postshow. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

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

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