Jim Collison:
[0:00] Welcome to Season 4 of The CliftonStrengths Podcast, where we'll dive deep into how CliftonStrengths themes build powerful partnerships and help teams thrive. I'm Jim Collison, Gallup's CliftonStrengths Community Manager.
Jillian White:
[0:11] And I'm Jillian White, Gallup's Subject Matter Expert on Culture and Leadership and our Lead Subject Matter Expert on CliftonStrengths.
Jim Collison:
[0:18] Today's theme is Communication. We'll explore what this theme brings, what it needs and how you can use it to foster collaboration. Jillian, welcome!
Jillian White:
[0:26] Why, thank you, Jim. How appropriate that we are talking about Communication and telling stories about it today!
Jim Collison:
[0:32] And doing it at the same time. That's awesome. Also great. Let's give a general overview of it as we get started. What's this look like?
Jillian White:
[0:41] Yeah. So just a reminder, those of you who have Communication high or are working with somebody who has Communication, at the heart of that Communication strength is a motivation to get across your message. These are people, they tend to be good conversationalists. They tend to be comfortable putting thoughts into words. They're often good presenters. They're often good storytellers. They have this ability to use their words, their stories to land a message. That's what's at the heart of it. You know, I like to choose an image for just bringing the strength to life. And I was thinking about using a microphone, but then I rethought about this. And I think at the heart of Communication, because it likes to land a message, you need to be able to see the audience. So I want us to just imagine that you've got a storyteller around a campfire telling a really good story, and everyone is leaning in to hear every word. It's an Influencing strength. It can get other people on board and pull people in and land a message, because of that ability to communicate. So it needs that audience, and that shows up when you look at that Communication.
Jim Collison:
[1:51] I think sometimes we think of it a little too heavy in the side of always, the, it always coming out of this part of our body — pointing to my mouth.
Jillian White:
[2:01] By the way, I was going to say, for people listening in to the podcast, Jim's pointing to his mouth right now.
Jim Collison:
[2:05] I didn't get to that point. But it also can come, I think it can also come — and I've met folks high Communication who are writers, right? — in that form where it can come out in a way that influences people through their words, however that might happen. Don used to have a saying, I think — now, this could be secondhand, and it may not be true. But he used to say, "Let's eat about this." And he loved to get people together for meals to talk through meetings. That was one of the things, he just loved that context of that. And I always see Communication through that, sometimes through that lens of that desire to get us together. I often say, "That email should have been a meeting," because, you know, we do 1,000 emails when we could have just talked it out in 5 minutes. So that's, you hear that through my Communication theme, for sure.
Jillian White:
[2:54] Jim, you might be having some new hashtags for all of our different strengths. I think for Activator, you have, #Ialreadystarted as one of your hashtags. For Communication, maybe it's #thatemailshouldhavebeenameeting as the catchphrase. But I do think you bring up an interesting point with Communication, because, like every other strength, we're looking at it in isolation in this podcast. But it's always, always helpful to look at what other strengths are around it. I was thinking about this when we did Arranger. What do you like to arrange? Look at what strengths are around it. If it's Relationship Building, you like building, you know, you like arranging relationships. If it's, you know, tangible things, you're going to see that show up.
Jillian White:
[3:34] Same thing with Communication. Remember, the heart of Communication is getting a message across. How do you communicate? Look at what other strengths you have around it. If there's more of an Intellection side to that Communication, it might be more thoughtful in written words, right? If there's more of a Woo and Positivity, it might be more verbal processing out loud with people. But you'll get an idea of how someone communicates by looking at what strengths are around it.
Jim Collison:
[4:01] Love that. We have a tool for you to do that. We'll talk about that here in just a second, as we come back around to Theme Dynamics. But first, before we do that, we also have a new tool in Gallup Access on the Community tab on your Strengths Dashboard that has some comparison. You can share your themes with someone else. They can, you can compare the two together. And then there's a section there, "I bring and I need." Let's practice that a little bit, because I think this tells a lot about it. When we think about Communication, what does it really bring?
Jillian White:
[4:30] Yeah. That Communication can bring attention to messages that need to be heard. Remember, that's what it's at the heart of it. They want to get the message across. They're good at that storytelling. They're comfortable with words. What does it bring? If I'm partnering with somebody who has that high Communication, they typically bring processing with words. Even when you use that phrase of, "That shouldn't have been an email; that should have just been a Quick Connect," right? What's at the heart of that? Processing with words. Oftentimes, for Communication, that is external verbal processing. Now, to your point, maybe if you have Intellection or something, It's more processing in written form. But in general, there is an element of those partners bring that ability to process and that ability to then turn those thoughts into a clear message and stories that they can share.
Jim Collison:
[5:21] We often think of Communication only bringing. Like, because of the examples that we're talking about of talking, communicating, writing — whatever that is — it's just bringing all the time. It does have needs, though. So what does it need?
Jillian White:
[5:36] It does. Go back to the image that I gave us for Communication earlier. The reason I didn't pick just the microphone is because the audience isn't as obvious. What does Communication need? if the desire is to land a message, they need someone to get the message. And so, they need an audience. If you're thinking about using that Communication, they need someone on the other side, to actually get that audience. They also need space. It is about words, whether that's written, whether that's verbal, it often tends to be more on that verbal processing side, but they need space to actually use words to process. So when I'm partnering with somebody who's high in Communication, I think about, Pick up the phone, right? They need that chance to just talk it through, typically. They need that chance to somehow process something with words.
Jim Collison:
[6:27] No, that's a, it's a great, I was thinking of, as you were talking about that, I was thinking of partners. Again, this is a partnership exercise, Bring and Need. And have I intentionally thought about my partners who have high Communication? And then, when I do communicate with them, choosing, like, How am I choosing to do that? Am I thinking through that, rather than just a default — What works best for me, right, so to speak? So you've given me a little bit of a challenge there to kind of think, How do I organize my Communication by person that I'm working with? You alluded to this, yeah, you alluded to this just a second ago, when we talked about Theme Dynamics. Of course, in the new Top 5 report, we have your Top 5 with the pairs associated with them and some statements that are with them. If you haven't seen that yet, it's available for everybody. You can download that, check out that report. We're going to talk about the common, what are the common pair with communication? What's commonly found with it?
Jillian White:
[7:21] I just realized you have this combination.
Jim Collison:
[7:24] I do -- [No.] 2 and 4.
Jillian White:
[7:26] So Communication most commonly pairs with Woo. They're both Influencing strengths, right? Communication wants to get the message across; Woo has an ability to kind of charm and pull people in and expand the network. So what does that end up looking like? I actually oftentimes find Woo, Communication and Positivity as a bit of a Influencing or ambassadorship package. These are people who, the way those strengths show up together, they can be that ambassador for a message to a broader audience.
Jim Collison:
[7:57] When we think about this, then, in the context of teams, partnerships, collaborations, How can someone with Communication really fit that in, or the team knowing that work with them?
Jillian White:
[8:11] Yeah. So once again, let's think about our, think about our, our partnerships, how we collaborate with that Communication. Who are those people who are going to just light up that Communication? Remember, it likes to give a message. So consider strengths that you might partner with that are going to bring energy to that message. Maybe you do partner with some of the Woo, Positivity that's going to just help take that message and reach a broader audience, or that Ideation that brings some energy to the ideas. You might also think about partnering with people that help that message land. So Individualization, Empathy — that's going to give you greater insights on your audience and how your message is going to land and how to tailor your message. Those are going to be great things to really fuel that strength of Communication.
Jillian White:
[8:57] Flip side of that, when you think about teaming and partnering, who do you want to be mindful of partnering with that's going to complement you? Remember, the danger of Communication, they do love words. Sometimes they use a lot of words. And so they actually need help streamlining those words and really getting the best words, the main point, the best story to share. Strategic, Analytical, Maximizer — any of those strengths that help you streamline the communication are going to be a helpful partner to it. You might also think about something that brings some thoughtful depth, maybe something like that Intellection that just brings some deeper insights to be able to share as a part of that Communication.
Jim Collison:
[9:43] I raised my hand because I'm guilty. And I always think, "I should have stopped talking 5 minutes ago." That's, you know, that's what I should have done. As we kind of bring this in for a landing, we got some tips for leaders and teams and individuals. Let's talk about the leaders first. How can leaders recognize and really kind of harness Communication in their teams or in their organizations?
Jillian White:
[10:02] Yeah. If you're a leader of a team, leader inside of an organization, how do you spot people that have this talent? Look for your people who aren't afraid to speak in front of people, your people who are a bit chatty on the team, even. They're typically the ones that, when there's silence, they're the one who breaks the silence, so that they like to use words. Leverage their ability to craft strong storylines.
Jillian White:
[10:25] Jim, I have a real example around this. I was just working with an executive leadership team that's really high Executing strengths, with some sprinkled Competition and a couple other Influencing ones in there. They are heads down, working on their goals for this year, right? And when we looked at their strengths as a team, we said, OK, this is powerful. You're going to come out of here with some really crystal clear things you want to focus on for the year. How are you planning on getting the entire rest of the company on board with that? And that's where we said, Ooh, there's one person on your team who has strong Communication talent. Leverage that person to think about the messaging around these goals for the year and how you get that across to your people. So leverage those people to get the message across. Use them and arm them with your most important messages that need to get out to key audience groups.
Jim Collison:
[11:17] I love that message of leaders intentionally looking at their team's strengths, and then saying, and then looking at their performance and lining these things up, right? Now, oftentimes in the group settings, in team settings, we may not have a leader to do that. I often think of project teams, right? They just kind of work. So Communication, what should teams know about Communication, take advantage of some of those superpowers that Communication brings?
Jillian White:
[11:42] Yeah, remember, they love a good story. They love good words. They're usually, they want to process with words. So they're going to appreciate, I'll call it a "talk it out" approach. That might be talk it out verbally. That might be talk it out with words, you know, in some other forum. But remember to bring that to your partners who have high Communication. They need that. They're really going to value that from you, when you give space to actually process something. Remember to use their Communication strategically. I can think of a partner that I work with who, if we know the main point we want to land in a session together, she can tell incredibly strategic stories that help land that point. And her ability to pull people in with those stories, leverage those folks to align what you know you need to get across with a group, and have them bring the stories and the way to communicate it that gets that message to land with your audience groups.
Jim Collison:
[12:37] And then, finally, as we think of individuals — and you can be thinking about me as you're giving this advice — what are some final thoughts to amplify this theme in your current partnerships or teams?
Jillian White:
[12:47] I actually think you're a great example of this, Jim. Because if somebody has high Communication, think about how you can use that. In this section, I like to think, How can you help others with your strength? Think about what you've done with this podcast. You have helped to give a voice to other people. And I think that Communication, it's an Influencing strength. It gives a voice to people that need it. It helps other people express their thoughts clearly and in a compelling way. And what a gift to be able to bring that Communication arm to one of your partners and say, "What's the message you want to get across? Let me help you make it land." That's an incredible gift for somebody with high Communication.
Jim Collison:
[13:29] Yeah, it's been the most fun part of the job is amplifying someone else's message, right? Doesn't have to be mine; it can be someone else's to help amplify. Jillian, thanks for being on the other end of that to help me do that. I appreciate it.
Jillian White:
[13:41] You bet. It's fun to do together.
Jim Collison:
[13:43] With that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we have available for you inside Gallup Access. If you head out to the Resource tab, put in "Communication," and all the resources, including the podcasts, are available for you there. Download, take a look at, listen to, whatever. Continue to learn and grow, so you can do that today. If you are listening live, stay around for a little bit of a postshow. If you're listening to the podcast version or there on YouTube, we have more resources for you. Just hit "Next," and we'll see you in about 10 seconds. For those coming out live, thanks for coming out. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.
Jillian White's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Input, Learner, Belief and Responsibility.