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CliftonStrengths
Understanding and Investing in Your Command Talent
CliftonStrengths

Understanding and Investing in Your Command Talent

Webcast Details

  • Gallup Theme Thursday Webcast Series
  • Season 4, Command
  • Gain insight into the CliftonStrengths talent theme of Command: how to invest in it, if it's one of your dominant talents, and how to develop it in others.

On this Theme Thursday Season 4 webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace Consultant, talk about Command.

When you think of Command you think about cutting through the noise and getting down to business. They are unintimidated, decisive and socially brave. They can take a stance on things they find important that makes other people follow.

The best of Command is knowing when to take charge, and doing it effortlessly. Serve others by being an advocate with your social courage. Individuals with high Command can help further a cause. They can help others see things in a different way. Command knows when resoluteness is needed, and can almost sense when there's a void of decisiveness that needs to be filled.

Answer that call for a challenge. Look for things that intimidate others. Command gives you the ability to be able to see where other people are not stepping up. How do you know when Command is needed? It could be when you sense fear, or it could be when you sense clarity. Be better at following that feeling. Understand when you need the podium to move the project forward. Ask the question that nobody else has asked that helps provide some clarity.

Look for opportunities to practice your salesmanship. How do you explicitly share that candid ability to shine a light on what's right about people? How do you tell others that they're seen and important? Stand up and tell people what you see and what is great about them. Stand up for the powerless.

Command needs some kind of conflict or confrontation. This could just be the learning curve barrier, or it could be more direct conflict with differing opinion and competitors. Command needs some sort of push back. It needs to create waves. You can create this on your own by inviting honest feedback. Often time individuals with Command, by their very nature, don't invite pushback. Create a space where you are able to let conflict create clarity. Command is not about conflict, it is about decisiveness.

Worry less about the graceful art of subtlety. You're better off when you're offering the beauty of certainty. You don't need to worry about getting a point across by not saying what needs to be said. Lean into what you really mean. What is it you're really trying to say? Get in tune with the candid nature of yourself.

If you are working with someone high in Command, you can expect certainty. Someone with high Command might always sound like they have the answer, but that's how they work through things. Don't be afraid to ask questions or offer pushback. Expect persuasiveness. Look to them at times when decisions need to be made. Give them the opportunity to really own something. Expect opinions. They're going to have them, so ask for their opinion.

Recognize the effect of their assertiveness. Talk about the kind of emotional environment that Command leaves in its wake. Think about the emotional effect that Command has. It makes a noticeable impact. Look for consistency to identify the intersection between Command and values. Look for times when they are consistently stepping up for the same idea. What do they always do well?

To stretch Command get to know the causes and ideas that they find the most important, and then give them a platform to fight for them. Consider people who might need their kind of certainty. How can the individual with Command be a great mentor for someone that needs it?

To partner with someone with Command, offer honesty and clarity. Make time and space to talk through options and opinions. Have an element of trust where you can throw opinions out and offer pushback. The individual with Command will be able to provide some real clarity, and you can provide an opportunity to sharpen that clarity.

If Command is one of your Dominant Themes, invest in it this week through the following challenge items:

  • List all of the things you see yourself leading in the future.
  • Read a book or a magazine that is popular with the audience you are influencing.
  • Name a personal mission that you stand for, and find a way to lend your voice to it.

If Command is not one of your Dominant Themes, invest in it this week through the following challenge items:

  • What themes do you have that give you certainty and resolve?
  • Think about a recent conflict, and go through and list the reasons the other people may have had different viewpoints than you.
  • Think about a future state where you will have to make a critical decision, and how you prepare for that.

Learn more about using CliftonStrengths to help yourself and others succeed:


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