How to Feel More Energized at Work: Season 3 Wrap

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

Bringing energy and motivation to work. Engagement. Recognition. Feeling seen, heard and valued. Jim Collison and Dr. Jaclynn Robinson have brought these perspectives and more to Season 3 of The CliftonStrengths Podcast. In this Season 3 Wrap, Jim and Jaclynn discuss how you -- whether you're an individual contributor or a manager -- can leverage your unique talents to increase your own energy and motivation at work, and the beneficial effects this can have on your work life.

When we think of basic needs in the workplace, ... What would I need to be energized as ... an individual contributor and a manager, to make sure that I've got that clarity or that sense of purpose?

Jaclynn Robinson, 17:40

How do we feel energized by building partnerships and finding purpose in [our] roles? Where are those partnerships, and where are you finding purpose in the roles that you have? ... [T]hose are all really great questions to turn back on yourself.

Jim Collison, 35:02

When I see individuals in the workplace that show recognition to one another ... it turbos their workload, their productivity, their ideas, the bonds they build.

Jaclynn Robinson, 24:20

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is The CliftonStrengths Podcast, Season 3, recorded on March 29, 2024.

Jim Collison 0:19
In this CliftonStrengths Podcast series, we'll look at how to feel more energized and motivated at work one theme at a time, and today's actually the Season Wrap. If you're listening live, love to you have to join us in our chat room for this session. (For most of the season, we didn't follow the chat room, but for this one, we will, so put your comments there in chat.) If you have questions after the fact, you can send, you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Dr. Jaclynn Robinson has joined me all season for this. She works as a Senior Learning and Development Consultant, joined me for Seasons 1 and 2, and now we have 3 in the books, of The CliftonStrengths Podcast, where we looked at Wellbeing at Work, the CliftonStrengths role-based reports for Season 2. And Jaclynn, always great to spend a Friday with you. I've always looked forward to this. Welcome back!

Jaclynn Robinson 1:01
Yes, likewise. This is great. Happy Friday. Happy Fri-yay!

Jim Collison 1:07
Happy Friday to you -- Good Friday, for those who celebrate that.

Jaclynn Robinson 1:11
It is Good Friday!

Jim Collison 1:12
As we record this. For, for most folks, they'll listen to it, it'll be past. But happy -- for those joining us live, Happy Good Friday to you, if you celebrate that. We, we're doing a season wrap and we've made it -- by the way, congratulations for getting all the way to the end. This is more work than you think -- anybody, if you think you're going to do 34 of these things, 34 seems like a pretty achievable number. But it takes a lot more work than you think. And listen, you carry --

Jaclynn Robinson 1:40
Sounds great talking about it, doesn't it? And then you put it in action.

Bringing Motivation and Energy to Work: Season 3 Prep

Jim Collison 1:44
Well, listen -- full transparency, you carry the burden of this every single week. I get to show up with a list of questions; you spend some time putting some notes together for this. For folks that are, maybe have gone through the series, can you, would you spend a minute just talking about your prep process? What, what did you do this season? And maybe it changed over time. But what did you do to prep for this season, as we would do two of these at a time when we recorded them live?

Jaclynn Robinson 2:15
Yeah, I prep, I spend about an hour -- on average, an hour to put the, the show notes together, thinking about each of the themes in relation to the questions that we want to, you know, drive in our conversation. Some I struggle with -- it takes me a moment. So it might stretch into that hour-and-a-half mark, because I really have to think about what it, what would give that theme energy in the, you know, case with this podcast. And I'll give a shout-out to my, to my Gallup friends as well and those around me, even outside of Gallup, that lead with some of these themes, to say, What does this look like to you? And they will give me some really good and rich ideas. So it's certainly not just my, my brain that is, you know, coming through in a lot of these show notes, but when I struggle, I'll go to other folks too, and say, "This is what I'm thinking. Does this sound relevant to you? Does this sound right? How does it show up?" And they might tweak it a little bit and give me some new ideas? Yeah.

Jim Collison 3:23
We, the theme of the season was bringing motivation and energy kind of to work. Did that process of doing the notes -- How was it beneficial for you? And then, did it bring energy or did it take it away? And it's OK either way, but it just kind of wondering, How did that part feel versus maybe the actual part of doing it feel?

Jaclynn Robinson 3:42
Yeah, it, it's interesting, because the energy from even writing the notes came the day before the first half of our podcast series. The last half, I got the most energy writing my notes the morning of -- because doing it the night before, even, just didn't feel, I just didn't have that mental space to feel like I could, you know, really think it through the way that I wanted to. So it's interesting just how the energy alone, in terms of writing the notes, showed up. But in the overall life cycle, personally and professionally, I noticed that I was, I think, much more attuned to energy and where was it going and flowing for me? You know, where do I need to shore up certain responsibilities or tasks in my overall life? Where do I want to lean in more? And I remember you were saying, saying that as well. You were finding more energy -- certainly we both had more energy after as well, even just talking about it. But day to day, I could see it showing up in my life.

Looking at Motivation and Energy Through an Engagement Lens

Jim Collison 4:51
Well, and I think from an engagement perspective, let's just, I mean, talking about, I mean the goal of this -- we really came at this series from an engagement lens. We wanted to -- it started that way initially, and then we kind of morphed it into this energized and being motivated at work, which is an engagement factor, right. And, and midway through the season, I was noticing this -- for both of us, this energy. That we get done, and, like, we were, like I was buzzed -- if you can use that term, right? The endorphins were so high for me going through this. And listen, I've done -- this is, you know, 6 Theme Thursdays, and now 9 -- so that's, or 3 of these. So it's 9 seasons I've done of this style of podcasting. And none of those brought the kind of energy we had when we were talking about bringing energy, right. Kind of interesting in that sense.

Jim Collison 5:51
And not that those other 8 seasons are not valuable; they have their own, they kind of have their own place, you know. I think about that first season of wellbeing, when you and I talked about that, and talking about leadership and management last year really helped me to consider my own leading. Like I kind of, right, thought through those -- my own selling in that, as we looked at those role-based reports. But this season in particular, we'd get to the end, and we'd both be -- you can speak for yourself. But I was always, I was always coming off like, I could do more of this. Now we didn't -- although one time, we did do three. I don't know, your thoughts? Did, how did you feel coming off this? And what do you, what, what do you attribute that to? I mean, what, what are the engagement factors -- If we were to kind of dissect it a little bit and say, What was it about the workflow? Let's just treat this not like a podcast for a second, but treat it like a workflow. What about this workflow process energized you, do you think?

Jaclynn Robinson 6:50
Ooh -- one, writing. Writing is one of my favorite things to do, so for those listening in, I'll do a lot of content writing for our clients as well. And I'll map, you know, their CliftonStrengths to competencies in the workplace or, or what -- that's just one of the, one of the writing projects I'll do pretty frequently. So writing alone, even writing those notes, I love. It gives me energy, anytime I can, I can write content. Our partnership in the workplace gives me a lot of energy. And then we're talking about how to create energy in the workplace or be more cognizant of the energy you have in the workplace. And that brings me energy. So for me, plus, it was a Friday. Let's just, let's just throw that out --

Jim Collison 7:35
Fri-yay!

Jaclynn Robinson 7:35
The Fri-yay! So you take all those three -- working with you, writing show notes, talking about energy at work -- and you put it on a Friday, when you're, you know, going into the, the weekend, it was just super energizing for me, because it did check all of my own strengths boxes, and my hobbies and interest boxes. It was a good mapping of both of those for me.

Jim Collison 8:00
Well, I may be mapping to some engagement pieces, right: I get the opportunity to do what I do best every day. You talk about your writing, like you love to do that, because you're really good at it. Right?

Jaclynn Robinson 8:09
Love writing!

Jim Collison 8:10
And so that energizes you. I think we would, and maybe for coaches, for you listening, as you're working with managers or working with people in this space, we intentionally set up 30 minutes ahead of time. That was our time. This was our time to connect. It wasn't structured; it just, and we needed that -- just for what we were doing, we needed that connect time to chat and talk and kind of get centered for the day; to get centered for the moment -- to maybe get some of that engagement, you know, that Q10 [from Gallup's Q^12® employee engagement survey] -- Best friend at work. I could tell you anything. You know, I could, I could, you could come in and say, "I'm really struggling with this," right, type thing. And it wasn't show prep time, although we would prep during it -- OK, we're gonna do this; we're gonna talk about that; these are the things -- we'd do a little bit of that. But intentionally, you know, it was, well, and not just kind of the Best friend question, but, you know, kind of thinking about development, right, for both of us, to be able to develop in a peer-to-peer relationship and say, I'm struggling with this; I need to grow in this area. Maybe more, maybe more, I get to do more of that than you do. But that has been, yeah, I just think about covering some of those engagement questions, and thinking of, because it, it met some of those engagement needs. I don't know, would you, what, what else would you add to that? Would you add anything to that?

Jaclynn Robinson 9:39
I'd add in the strengths piece, because it was engaging. And then we were mapping, you know, strengths and engagement, and it fed the Relator^® for me. One -- I still love that we use the term feed. Like, it feeds a theme. It was nutritious to be able to have those 30 minutes before, you know, we dove into the conversation, just to connect one on one. But this is also, this also very much feeds Relator, because our, I love the community that we have. It feels very intimate. I don't know if those on, on chat agree, but it just feels like we're very connected. Yeah. Lisa, it's, like, nourishing.

Jim Collison 10:21
Yeah. And everybody, you know, everybody comes -- she also says, Which of your strengths finds writing alone energizing? (Asking for a friend.) Like that. What would you, what would you say to that?

Jaclynn Robinson 10:35
I would say it's the Strategic Thinking Domain that I lead with, to be able to have time to process and think. And then from a work perspective, I like writing sometimes first, because it's the, the Discipline^® and the Maximizer^® that it feeds, to be able to get my thoughts on paper and prepare ahead. But certainly the Strategic Thinking, if I had to claim a theme overall, it's that domain that's such a lens on my life to have the time to process and write. I was an English writing minor. Yeah, I just -- well, not English writing, but English, 19th Century English Lit minor. So I wrote a lot of papers.

Jim Collison 11:17
Wow! Just in that subject alone --

Jaclynn Robinson 11:20
I love words and writing.

Knowing Someone Cares

Jim Collison 11:21
In that subject alone, you've forgotten more than I'll ever know. So I just want you to, want to be very clear about that. That is super smart on you. Ralph, you asked me a question. I'll get to it here in just a second. Holly makes a comment. She says, I love this community! And have missed it so much this season! And I think that engagement question we have about Someone cares about me. Right? And that we, I think, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I'm going to, I'm going to say what I've heard -- I'm going to do what I've done all season, and repeat back to you something you just said, and said, "This is what I heard." But to me, the fact that people will show up live, which takes a lot of effort. It, to me, I don't know if I've ever put this in words why I crave it so much. But you wouldn't be here if you didn't care about me. Or you didn't care about us. Maybe you don't -- maybe you don't care about me; you just care about Jaclynn, but -- a little insecurity talking there. I, I'm joking. And yet, there's always, in everything we do, there's always Impostor Syndrome, right? We always kind of think, yeah, I don't deserve it. I didn't get it. But in a moment here, as we're talking about it and reflecting on it, I can genuinely say that ticks the box for me. And I think this is what I heard you say in this, Someone cares about me. Not sure I've ever said it that way, but I think that would fit, right, Do you think? Any thoughts? Would you add anything to that?

Jaclynn Robinson 12:46
I really liked that! I feel like it's a caring community. And that's, that, now mentioning what you just, you know, verbalized or said, I can see how that feeds the Relator, too, because, you know, as Relators, we love trust and authenticity and something that's genuine, well-nourished -- I want to go back to that word I saw in chat. And that's what it feels like when you, you feel that sense of care within this community itself, and it's very authentic.

Jim Collison 13:19
Well, and there may be a sense -- I hear the chat room kind of talking to each other now behind the scenes about this -- of that same engagement question: They come to be in community because someone in the chat cares about them as a person because they're willing to have this dialogue in the chat. And by the way, so I don't do this exercise today to celebrate what we've accomplished here, although we are -- that does that. But as you're listening to this, whether you're listening live, or you're listening in the podcast, or you're catching this on YouTube, I want you to think about what you're doing now that brings energy and motivation to work, and think -- and have this conversation like Jaclynn and I are right now to say, Hey, what is it that we're doing? What is it that I'm doing? Don't, don't -- you don't have to copy us, in the sense of what we do from -- you don't have to start a podcast. But you could look at your own work, the things that you're doing, and those that you work with, take these principles and say, Hey, how does this, you know, how does this engagement factor -- this is what you just did a second ago -- I like doing this. It feeds this theme -- in your case, a domain -- and it fulfills this engagement question. Right?

The Wellbeing-Energy at Work Connection

Jim Collison 14:39
You've, you've taken, you've taken what you do, tied it to strengths, tied it then into engagement. And I think, you know, Season 1, we talked about wellbeing. We would want to add that piece in too, right, to say, Then how is that feeding my wellbeing? Or Am I suffering? Because none of this stuff matters if I'm suffering. So how do I, how do I get my wellbeing in order, so that at least it's receptive, like my, my minus is receptive to that. I don't know -- add, would you add anything to that?

Jaclynn Robinson 15:10
I think that's spot on. I love using the wellbeing as that gut check on, Am I deriving energy from this? Or is it taking away? And then saying, Where is that coming from? Because I'm not engaging the way I'd seek to be in the workplace or even in my personal life. And what themes are at risk here? What are the ones that are suffering, so to speak? Do I need to dial it down? Do I need to dial another theme up? Who do I need to verbalize this with? Because if you're an individual contributor, you might be having that gut check of, My wellbeing feels funky. Oh, I recognize I'm playing in this space; it's not feeding this theme. You might need to go share that out with your manager or matrix manager or, you know, fellow team member that you're working with, so that you can hopefully bring your, your wellbeing and engagement back up to, you know, back up to speed. Yeah.

Jim Collison 16:07
One of the things we changed -- we did differently this year that I haven't done in the past is in the past 8 seasons, we've always given the theme definition. And we actually moved away from that and asked this question: What are ways the, that an individual with this theme can feel more energized by focusing on their basic needs? You, you helped me write these questions -- I think you actually wrote the questions. Let's just be clear.

Jaclynn Robinson 16:38
I could not have gotten there, I don't think, because it was very much a work in progress between the both of us. And then it was like, OK, I think I've got enough direction to put something together --

Basic Needs and Talent Themes

Jim Collison 16:48
Yeah, we spent a bunch of time collaborating. But what I realized is focusing on your basic needs is that basic definition. Like that, to me -- Did you think about that, as you were, as you were preparing to -- of what to say when I asked that question, both for an individual and for a manager, Did you have that in mind? Were you kind of thinking through the definition and then saying, Hey, we all have needs. I think in some areas, our, our basic definitions may fall short. We wanted to bring -- nah, I wouldn't even, that, I want to strike that, because they're written for another purpose. Right. But as we were kind of thinking about basic needs, you know, what, thoughts on that? As you were getting ready for that, did you think, were you thinking about that?

Jaclynn Robinson 17:35
I was thinking about the theme. And then I was thinking about when we think of basic needs in the workplace, do we have that clarity, when it comes to priorities or performance metrics? And do we have any barriers or frustrations that might be getting in the way of that productivity? And then I would think, OK, what would that look like? For this theme, if I were that individual leading with it, What would I need to be energized as, to your point, an individual contributor and a manager, to make sure that I've got that clarity or that sense of purpose? So the strength was in my mind -- the definition of it, of that talent theme, but also the way that we would define basic needs.

Jim Collison 18:19
Yeah, I appreciated that conversation --

Jaclynn Robinson 18:21
As we're using that one as an example.

Jim Collison 18:23
Yeah, I appreciated that conversation coming from that angle. And it took me a couple episodes to really kind of hone that idea, and then listen for those basic needs from you and repeat that back. Right. I just, that's all I do is I just listen, and then repeat back what you said in my own way.

Jaclynn Robinson 18:44
I'm like, yes. You say it so much better.

Jim Collison 18:47
Well, I, but you teach, and then I teach back. Like, that's the --

Jaclynn Robinson 18:51
Oh, that's good!

Helping Employees Feel Seen, Heard and Valued

Jim Collison 18:52
Like, Hey, here's this. And this is what I hear. (I do this with Dean all the time. He, he likes that as well.) Like, Hey, here's what I heard. And speaking of heard, we asked this question about -- and it's been my favorite question all season: How could a manager -- and I think it's in the manager side, but -- How can a manager with this theme build -- No -- help others feel seen, heard and valued as an individual? Right? I mean, I think that's such an important aspect of one. And maybe one is I think about, How do I use these in the, in the -- or How do I go back and use these? Is to hone in on these questions. By the way, for those of you listening to the podcast, if you go to gallup.com and you see the posts, this is where we put the transcripts for this. Our, our friend, Mark Stiemann, has actually broken out the transcripts by these questions. Now it's not perfect, because we didn't always do it perfectly. But he's got, he has headers in the transcripts on this. You can go right in there and search by it, or scroll down, and it kind of breaks it up really, really nicely. So if you're thinking about, Oh, I want to go back and study these themes by questions, you can do that in our transcripts. It's a pretty cool way to do it. What, as you think about those help others feel seen, heard and valued, what does that, I mean, What kind of, what kind of mental picture does that bring up for you? Why is that so important?

Jaclynn Robinson 20:13
It puts me in the mindset of a coach. Coaches can help you feel seen, heard and valued for the strengths you bring; they can help, you know, shape or cultivate areas of opportunity. But people are seeking, you know, that, that -- people want to be valued. And we're seeing it in a lot of our engagement data, where that's an area of opportunity for a lot of managers and their teams. Recognition is lower. They might care about each other; we might see that high in our engagement survey, but recognition is lower. It's like, we care about each other, but we get so caught up in our day to day that we forget to say, "Hey, thank you," or "I value you for X, Y and Z." I think managers can really create that culture of compassion and recognition. So it was important to highlight that in this podcast season that we did -- and specifically by theme, because some managers might be doing this already. And maybe we said something, you know, when we were specific on that topic, and they go, Oh, that's -- I do that all the time. I didn't recognize, you know, until now, when I'm thinking about it. That's how people feel recognized. Or I'm making them feel cared about.

Jaclynn Robinson 21:31
Others, you might be so task-oriented that you have great intentions in mind, but you do forget to recognize individuals on your team. And you hear something, go, Oh, yeah, I can do that. Yeah, that feels like it fits me like a glove. You might hear one of those 5 themes in your Top 5 that we talk through that, that really resonate with you, you can start to bring into the workplace. It supports engagement. It supports morale. It starts to build more camaraderie, when you're creating that culture of recognition and value, because others will start to do it as well. They see you role modeling that behavior or encouraging them to do it with other people, and it builds bonds. So I think that was probably one of my favorites, too, Jim, especially just seeing engagement data and speaking with organizations and managers about it, and seeing how hard-hit that one typically is, especially for remote or hybrid employees. They don't always feel valued or seen.

Recognition: Turbocharger for Engagement

Jim Collison 22:30
Right. We're gonna, I want to take some questions from you guys in chat here in a second; a few have come in. If you want to put some more questions, and you can, as we kind of wrap this thing up. We got a few more minutes. I think another theme, not -- it was never in our questions, but we talked about a lot is this idea of recognition. And I, I have gone on a personal journey over the last couple years of highlighting how important it is. And I think, as I was getting ready to talk about this today, the analogy that I have is recognition is the, is the turbo for, for engagement. It's not the engine, right -- a turbo sits on top of an engine, feeds in air quicker, it allows the engine to have more power, right. You don't use a turbo all the time. And, and I think sometimes we think, in this area of recognition, I mean it, when, when used well and used intentionally, it's very, very, very powerful. I've seen some recognition programs go awry when they become forced or not authentic, or mandatory. Some of those kinds of things. But that has been, that has been, for me, I think the reco-, the, the idea of recognition has been super important in saying, don't go without it. But it's a tool to be used to improve motivation and energy. But it's not the tool, right? I don't know, Jaclynn, would you, how would you respond to that?

Jaclynn Robinson 24:05
I love that as a visual! Just being a visual person, anytime someone can kind of paint that picture, the turbo is a good way of putting it, because it's, it's such a morale booster. And it does -- I think you summed up really well a lot of the context that I was bringing when I see individuals in the workplace that show recognition to one another: morale boost, it turbos their workload, their productivity, their, their ideas, the bonds they build. It expedites that process when there's recognition involved. When there isn't, it almost, that turbo is gone, and it starts to drain the tank, so to speak. So that engine's just, it's petering along because it doesn't have enough fuel in it. So I also see recognition, you know, it could be a turbo, it could be fuel, premium versus, like, unleaded.

Jim Collison 24:57
The analogy starts to break down at some point, right -- they all do. They all do. But an engine that's tuned with, for turbo, you take the turbo off, it's going to actually run worse than it would if you, you know, if it was tuned. Again, that analogy begins to break down there. But it is important, I think, getting back to that idea that that is, that's, it's, in these organizations and these individuals that you're working with, recognition is an important drive in this. Do it, and it done, you know, when it's done out of the right motivations, when it's done earnestly, and for, for -- and Mike McDonald taught me this -- for good work. Like, let's make sure it's for good work that it's done. Right? It can, it can and should be done in that way. So anyways, couple questions -- any, anything? I'm gonna go to some questions, and if you're listening live, you can throw those questions in chat. I always ask you to wrap it for, you know, at the end of each one of these themes, I say wrap it up. Will you wrap up this section for us? I mean, as we think about what we've learned and what we want to talk to the community about, any final thoughts from you on that? And we'll take some questions from the chat room.

Jaclynn Robinson 26:13
Yeah. This was a, this was just a very energizing season for us both. And even after, you know, the recording, Jim and I would connect for a couple of minutes and say, "Oh! It's great! That felt good!" It was truly energizing. And I think talking about engagement in strengths kept it very top-of-mind for the both of us -- hopefully, for, for everyone listening in to say, Yeah, where's my energy going? And is it really feeding me, or is it depleting me? And what do I need to do about it to rectify the situation? So that, that I would say is the biggest takeaway -- even managers or individual contributors, you know, because you've got a leader. So in either of those aspects, when we're discussing individual contributors or managers, regardless of the role you have, you might have heard something in there, you know, one little nugget that will help you, you know, experience more energy in the workplace.

Jaclynn Robinson 27:17
And I just want to tie it up with the recognition piece too, because you had mentioned, Mike said, "Good work." And you might have some folks in the workplace or some, some of you listening in and are still struggling to figure out, I know that this isn't feeding me, but I don't know what's next for me; I don't know what's going to come next. And pay attention to the recognition that you are receiving -- when people are saying, "You do that really well!" or "Great job there!" or "How did you do that?" Because that's probably going to give you some really good clues as to where you have talent and strength. So maybe you don't know what you want to do. But that's going to be a really good starting point to say, I'm hearing people say I do this well. What are maybe some outlets where I can play with this or experiment with, you know, this particular task or responsibility or role? Are there more opportunities to do this in a particular role in the workforce? Is this driving me towards a specific hobby or interest? So that's what I would close with. Hopefully, just our season provided some opportunities for discovery of what's really going to give you, you energy -- and engagement.

Jim Collison 28:28
And that is why you get paid to do what you do. That's, that is well said. Well said, and I think a great way to, to, you know, think about wrapping the season together and doing it that way. A couple questions have come in. You can continue to throw those in chat if you want. Ralph says, Jim, you just show up: Is this how Woo works? Make the work of others look great? Or what, what strengths would you attribute to this, even -- attribute this to, even to feel satisfied for it? I don't know if that's Woo. I, you know, you guys have heard me say, It's my job to make other people big, a big deal in that for me. There's a lot of Influencing in that, and I, now I can influence others. Well, part of it is, I don't, I don't have the background or the education to do what the hosts -- the guests, the guests and guest hosts of the show get to do. I mean, it is Dr. Jaclynn Robinson.

Jaclynn Robinson 29:30
I feel like you do.

Jim Collison 29:31
And you've had a lot of -- I've had a lot of life education, right. I've had a lot of life go under the bridge. I just want, I know there, the power in this is I know there are people who are a lot smarter than me who have, who bring a different set of, of life experiences and such. And I, listen, I do this for me -- to be honest. Because I learn -- no, but I do these, I mean, listen, I started as a technology manager here at Gallup. My, I got the privilege of, of doing these podcast things before anybody knew what they really were. And all of a sudden, I realized, Hey, I can learn a lot. And this is kind of fun, right? It was just a matter of, of skating to the puck, as they say. I saw the opportunity and began to skate to the puck. And so, regardless of what it is, sure, it's definitely driven by Woo, because I want to win other people over. But I am best -- I say this all the time -- I am best in partnerships. And I think that's just a Power of 2 combo that, for me, works out really well. I need another person or I go off the rails. And Jaclynn, you have been a great partner to me in that. And, you know, you and I have developed this awesome relationship that allows us to do this, and, I think, and to do it well. And so thanks for your, thanks for your partnership in that. I appreciate it.

Jaclynn Robinson 30:58
Thank you! Yeah, it's so fun doing it in partnership. I don't know if I'd ever want to be a solo podcast.

Jim Collison 31:06
Some people are really good at it. It's a thing, and you can do it. It's not for me.

Jaclynn Robinson 31:11
Incredible at it.

Solopreneurs and Wellbeing

Jim Collison 31:12
It's not a "me" thing. You will never -- I shouldn't say "never." Yeah, because I've done a few of these alone. They're not fun. I don't, I get done, and I'm exhausted. I am just exhausted. Heather asks a great question. She says -- and I'm gonna change your question a little bit, Heather, to make it more generic for everybody, but -- What advice or thoughts do you have about relearning how to manage your wellbeing as a solopreneur? Right, as we think of that, her Top 5: Strategic^®, Maximizer, Arranger^®, Activator^®, Relator. Let's lift that question up, Jaclynn, a little bit: For anybody, as you think about being a solopreneur and relearning how to manage your wellbeing, what are your thoughts on that?

Jaclynn Robinson 31:54
Well, what they always say is, make sure you keep a schedule for yourself, because you can work harder as a solopreneur, one, because it doesn't always feel like work, but two, you're trying to build a business, but if you don't take that time and create structure and say, I want to do a 9 to 5, or I'm going to work 9 to 12, take a couple hours off, come back, work 2 to 5, you can just drain the life cells out of yourself. Because you'll put a lot of, a lot of pressure on yourself, and you have all these different burgeoning ideas, and you want to explore all of them. I can probably hear that with Arranger and Activator too, where it's like, "Oh, this is a great idea! Let's go there." But it's really making sure that you're creating a more of a structured schedule for yourself, so that there's no gray space, and you're draining yourself of your wellbeing.

Jaclynn Robinson 32:48
But then, you know what, I think about our strengths coaching courses, where we say, even if you're an individual contributor, and you move up to a manager position, your strengths are going to behave different. And so even as a solopreneur, when you're moving from workplace to your own kind of position and company, they're going to work different. And so it might be just taking some time for reflection to say, How might they work for me, in this particular role? What's going to be best? And kind of shedding that snake skin, you know, that you had from the past.

Jim Collison 33:27
Shedding that snake skin --

Jaclynn Robinson 33:29
Shedding -- and it's the great time, right? It's, it's spring, it's the equinox, we're planting new seeds. And so maybe it's starting to think about what, what new ways you want to use your strengths. What are the seeds you're going to plant with each of your strengths, where it's going to be very different than the role it was?

Jim Collison 33:52
Yeah, well, and, and, to Heather's point, you know, thinking about your Top 5, and then how, what are my needs? And maybe even as we think about the questions we went through, you know, we talked about, How do I, how do I gain energy by focusing on my basic needs? With my Top 5, what are my basic needs? How does that, how would that display itself for me? This is where -- and I use that word fall short, and it's a few, you know, a few minutes back. I used that, and I felt bad about it when I said it, because I didn't want to diminish all the work that we've done on that. But they're there as guides for you to think in your own, OK, I start here. Now I've got this unique Top 5 that I'm building into. And we alluded to this all season, like, Hey, these are some thoughts of what we think. But ultimately, you've got to work through this with your own, with your own themes, right? And so are they, what am I, what are my, excuse me, what are my basic needs? How do I feel more energized by focusing on individual strengths and development? We spent a lot of time thinking about, How are we developing ourselves? And then, How do we feel energized by building partnerships and finding purpose in their roles? Where are those partnerships, Heather, and where are you finding purpose in the roles that you have? I think those are all really great questions to turn back on yourself.

Jaclynn Robinson 35:16
Well said!

Jim Collison 35:17
Right, and say, we've outlined a structure. Did we intend to do that? Probably not. But will it work? Yes, as I'm thinking through this, right. And then, go into the manager questions. How, how do I want to feel seen, heard and valued? Right? What are my own values in this? And are those, are my own values being represented in the things that I'm doing? And have I put myself in a situation where those values are being honored in some way? How do I build trust, inspire and deepen team collaborations with those around me? I think those are all great coaching questions to ask yourself -- or, coaches, get a coach! Start working through these things, right, every coach, even coaches need coaches.

Jaclynn Robinson 36:02
We sure do.

Jim Collison 36:02
And so, you know, I think that's a great opportunity to -- the other benefit for me in doing all these things is I get free coaching, which is pretty great. Just today, we started our precall like, Jaclynn, I need some coaching! I don't know, what else would you add to that, Jaclynn?

Jaclynn Robinson 36:19
I love that you were able to apply that for -- I didn't, it's, obviously, it's still morning for me. Because applying the framework we've had all season to solopreneurship is actually a really great idea. And from there, you'd be able to decipher, What's drudgery? What is development? And what do I love to do? What's that desired, you know, state that I want to continue to play in? And if there's something that's drudgery, but you have to do it as a part of your solopreneurship, might you be able to delegate that out then, with those partnerships? As you were mentioning -- What are the partnerships that, you know, feed me? Is there someone in that external network that you can delegate that particular responsibility to?

Jim Collison 37:03
Yeah. Yeah. Listen, don't let any of those questions be above or below you. I mean, I think of the questions of How can I, you know, I've been, even in our precall, I was talking about, I'm struggling right now with being heard, right, in some regards. And, and so I can't, I shouldn't dismiss that. In fact, you called me on it -- I tried to dismiss it, and you --

Jaclynn Robinson 37:32
So group, I asked, "When are you going to, you know, set up those conversations?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "No, that's not -- that's an escape route right there." Yeah. I don't know. Escape route.

Jim Collison 37:46
You totally called me on it. You totally called me. This was, like, half an hour ago, 45 minutes. It's fresh. It's still very fresh. Still very fresh in my mind. And so thanks for being a partner for me on that. But that is that, don't, don't run away from those questions. I think they're very valuable. I, that helped, that does help me pinpoint, like, what's my, what's my disengagement right now? Well, it may be a lack of, I feel like I'm not being heard. OK. Now that we've identified that, what can, how can we, how can we approach that in a positive way to then start working with my partners? And I think this is kind of what we said: How can I tell my partners, Hey, I don't, there's some things that are triggering me. And I don't feel like you've heard that. And if you didn't, it's not your fault. I might need to tell you, Hey, this is a trigger for me. And I'm going to tell you that, and then I want you to hold me accountable for it -- to say, OK, Jim, you've, you've identified it as a trigger, but we have to push forward. You can't keep going back to the past and saying, "But we've already done this." That was a while ago. Maybe today is different, right?

Jim Collison 39:04
And I need that accountability from you, partner, whoever, whoever that is, and I have several partners that I need to, I need to have this conversation with and, and say, I need, I need to be honest and open with you about that. And that will, that will help me. I don't want them to change, by the way. I think what they're doing is valid. I'm the one who needs to, the being heard needs to say, Hey, look, I'm struggling with some bitterness over some discussions, decisions that were made years ago. I need to change. Those are, that's my problem, not yours. And I don't want you to adapt to me; I need to get through this. But I also want you to know it's, how it's affecting me, right, in that setting. And you just would not let me off the hook. It was super --

Jaclynn Robinson 39:56
That was funny, though. "I don't know." That's not gonna cut it today!

Jim Collison 40:03
It was awesome.

Jaclynn Robinson 40:03
It's not a SMART goal.

Jim Collison 40:06
Jim, it's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. Yeah, well, Jaclynn, thanks again for your work over the last, you know, 6 months, as we put this together, we'll, Season 4, which we will anticipate coming up at some point in time, you might be listening, if you're listening live, it's gonna be a ways away. If you're listening to the recorded version of this, it may already have been there. We've got -- Ken had given us a suggestion, DEI a topic, and we'll consider topics as we go forward for 2025. And we want to thank you guys for coming out today.

Jaclynn Robinson 40:44
I really appreciate everyone that's, that's continued to come out. As Jim said, we shot three, three themes by ourself to catch up for our health. And it just wasn't as fun. We got through them pretty quick. We had energy at the end, but it wasn't engaging the way this is, because we didn't have you all. So you genuinely make the experience what it is. So we appreciate you coming out. And I'm glad, I was noticing in some of the comments that having the stability of a day and a time has been helpful. We know we had to kind of shape-shift a little bit in our second season because of work schedules, but our hope is to continue to have that, that stability, because we know it makes it a lot easier.

Jim Collison 41:33
Yeah, let me wrap this up really quick, so, while the voice is still good. With that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we do have available in Gallup Access -- you choked me up there -- visit my.gallup.com. For coaching, master coaching, or if you want to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com, and we'll get back to you as well. We mentioned the Summit. By the time you hear this on the recorded version of it, it's over. Sorry. We had a great time! It was awesome! Jaclynn, you were awesome! Thank you for partnering with me. It was so great. If you're listening live, there's still a chance to get registered. We have both virtual and in-person options, and we'd love to see you either there, or Jaclynn and I are hosting the virtual, kind of the virtual Summit piece, and we'd love to see you there. gallupatwork.com, regardless of when you're listening to this. We'll have more information for you there as well. Stay up to date with all our future webcasts by following us on Facebook or on LinkedIn. You can search "CliftonStrengths" anywhere. And if you enjoyed this today, share it, Like it, Subscribe to it -- all those things that you need to do. Thanks for coming out today. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

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

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