Human Resources: Leveraging CliftonStrengths' Global Reach

Vivian Alfred, Vice President, Human Resources at Endress + Hauser -- and a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach -- was our guest on a recent Called to Coach. Vivian shared how, after getting certified in 2018, he has used CliftonStrengths along with his unique coaching approach to help his team in India develop and flourish in their careers. He spoke of how his management team has embraced CliftonStrengths and how strengths has spread across the global organization of Endress + Hauser to places as varied as Switzerland, China, Russia and South Africa.

Below is a full transcript of the conversation, including time stamps. Full audio and video are posted above.

Jim Collison 0:00

I am Jim Collison and live from the Gallup Studios here in Omaha, Nebraska, and our offices in India, this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on November 20, 2019.

Jim Collison 0:22

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, we'd love to have you log into our chat room available for you. If you're on our live page, there's just a link to the YouTube page where that chat room is available for us just log in and you can post your comments there. If you're listening after the fact, you can send us your questions -- email those to us: coaching@gallup.com. Tanvi Ahluwalia is our host today. I hope I got close on that one.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 0:58

Absolutely. Perfect.

Jim Collison 0:59

She works as a senior consultant here at Gallup and first time on Called to Coach, which is why I struggled a little bit. But Tanvi, welcome to Called to Coach. Great to have you here.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 1:09

Thank you. Thank you very much, Jim. Thank you.

Jim Collison 1:12

Great to have you. Let's take a second introduce, why don't you take a second, Tanvi, since you're new to Called to Coach, just introduce yourself a little bit. And then let's introduce our guest.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 1:20

Yes. Wonderful, great. Well, I'm a senior consultant with Gallup. And very interestingly, the guest over here, Vivian and I, we we joined our respective companies in the same month and the same year, in May 2012. Well, I work extensively with Fortune 500 companies in India and also with some in the Middle East. And, you know, and I do a lot of work around executing our Gallup science and I also and extensively around strength and leadership and managerial development. And I've also now started managing business for our North Region in India. And I'm very excited to be a part of our fabulous Called to Coach series, and I'm happy to welcome our guest, Vivian Alfred. Well, Vivian, a very warm, very warm welcome to Called to Coach today.

Vivian Alfred 2:06

Thank you, Tanvi. Thank you, Jim.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 2:09

Wonderful. I'm going to take a minute to introduce you but you -- yeah.

Vivian Alfred 2:16

No, you could go ahead to introduce.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 2:18

Wonderful. I'm going to introduce Vivian for all of us here joining us live and also for this recording. Vivian is the Vice President, Human Resources at Endress + Hauser. And he's had about 17 years of experience in human resources and 5 years as a journalist. Vivian also has extensive expertise in the area and focuses on leadership development, employee engagement, career planning, psychometrics and neurolinguistic programming, which is very, very interesting. He also has successfully developed Discover Your Power Framework to empower individuals, teams and organizations to help meet their full potential. So during the course of our conversation today, we'd also love to hear a bit about that, too. So, Vivian, let's let's get started. Let's Let's hear about how your journey has been since the time you certified as a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach.

Vivian Alfred 3:15

Well, I got certified just in 2018. And you know, since then, it has been it has been quite an interesting it has been quite an interesting journey. Well, strengths as such as -- the StrengthsFinder as such is not is not something that is that is new to me now. It's something that I've known since 2006. Now, that's when I actually got exposed to strengths. So can I talk a little bit about my history if I may?

Tanvi Ahluwalia 3:43

You must. Yes, please, we'd love to hear.

Vivian Alfred 3:46

So it this was a U.S. company where I had joined in 2006. And, and, you know, the day I started, the first day that I started and and my CEO there mentioned, you know, in the welcome that you know, we're going to have something for you and just wanted to understand if you you have ever understood the Gallup StrengthsFinder [CliftonStrengths]. So I said, Well, I have read I mean I must have read the book but nothing that I've gone deeper into it but it's it's something of interest to me. So that's when I got the Gallup 2.0 book there in the office for all of us. We had the links and and we we did the StrengthsFinder so that was the first time that we had actually got into it, but after that we did not go much deeper. Though I read the book, I found it very interesting. I had I had had you know understood something about about myself. Well, if you asked me to recollect my Top 5 in from 2006, I don't recollect. Because that's that's not handy.

Vivian Alfred 4:48

But I recollect that, you know, more or less whatever was captured then is something what I still have it on my Top 5 even today. So so that's when it all started. We did it for our management team; we did it for some of our senior people, only the StrengthsFinder, we just took the reports and that's about it. So each of them read their reports and said, OK, this is something good, this is something lively, but we did not go beyond that. But from there on, when I joined here in Endress + Hauser in 2012, you know, I said, at some point in time, I need to really go deeper into this. And, and and see how this can really, you know, sort of help people, you know, guide them maybe in their leadership development or maybe in in career development, etc.

Vivian Alfred 5:32

So here in Endress + Hauser, I'm heading Human Resources, I am having a charge into this profile. So responsible for all all activities from L&D to strategic human resources, employee engagement. OK. And, OK, also a bit of IR is also included into the profile but it's I would say more than 95 percentage of my profile is completely in Human Resources. The legal part of the profile -- I also have a legal person reporting in to me; that's the 5% of IR which is there in addition but otherwise it's it's primarily the 95% of that is firmly into into HR.

Vivian Alfred 6:13

So Endress + Hauser is a process automation company. And it's, it's a Swiss German company. It's a headquartered in Switzerland in Reinach. Here in India, we are headquartered here in Mumbai. We have around 10 regional offices across across India. Around 250 people, around -- that is what we have here in India. On the sales center side -- so we have two factions, one is the sales center and one is a production center. So the sales center is here and headquartered in Mumbai, for which I'm heading here. And then we also have a production center in Ahmedabad, which has 3 manufacturing facilities, and that has another 250 odd people.

Vivian Alfred 6:53

So overall, we have 500 people in India and, well, after getting myself certified in 2018, after getting myself certified, I wanted to sort of use this tool in a way that how I can help my people in sales, marketing, maybe across all all all all functions of how we could in a sort of develop them into in their roles. So, career management was one of the focus; leadership development was another focus that we were talking about, we were also seeing how effectively we can help them, you know, flourish in their current roles. So all those things, you know, was was something which became a part of my journey since the StrengthsFinder started.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 7:39

That's great. That's wonderful to hear. I'd love to hear a little bit more about going a step -- maybe going a little deeper into this to say, you know, if you could share some examples of how you integrated strengths into into Endress + Hauser. I know you spoke about, you know, helping them flourish in their career. So some examples will be great.

Vivian Alfred 8:00

Yeah, so, you know, it was 2017 and in 2017 there was a changeover in in our in our top management. So, so, of course, I had I had gone for the course in 2017 the Accelerated Strengths Coaching course here in in Mumbai. And so, after coming back from the course, of course, we had a new Managing Director, but the new managing director was you know, actually from -- I mean it was a succession planning from internal -- internal succession planning. So, he was primarily earlier the head of sales for for India and we, we got him to, you know, head the organization.

Vivian Alfred 8:42

OK, why I'm bringing this point is, you know, after after my course, I, I went ahead and did the StrengthsFinder with with this candidate, you know, the internal candidate also. So who, who eventually became the manager who eventually is now the Managing Director for Endress + Hauser India. So, you know, so so when I did that, and you know, he's -- he saw his report and then, you know, I sort of chatted with him on that. And he really felt this was something remarkably useful. And he actually saw his mirror image. And he said, You know, this is what I am and I mean, I can't believe it. This is this is exactly what it talks about. And this is how I -- this is how I interact with people. This is how I, I build relationships. This is how I connect.

Vivian Alfred 9:29

And, well, from there it was it was much easier because the MD [Managing Director] himself had bought in at that stage while he was the succession planning ladder. So after after he become -- after he became the new Managing Director, it became all the more easier for me to start, you know, implementing the StrengthsFinder here in India. We started with the MD; then we moved on to the management team. And now it's become a kind of a practice in Endress + Hauser in India.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 10:00

That's great. So does this work across levels, Vivian, the StrengthsFinder in terms of conversations on how they leverage -- people leverage strengths in this organization?

Vivian Alfred 10:10

Yes. Yes. So, so, so at least, you know, what we did this as a Step 1, I think at the Level 1, what we did is we did it for the management team. And at the other management team level, we actually helped them, you know, we identify their Top 5; we also eventually did their All 34. So, that, yeah, so that we had we had all those in place. And sort of we also, you know, so that was my Step 1, and then from there, we moved on to, you know, identify, you know, the high potentials across various departments or processes, to whom we also escalated.

Vivian Alfred 10:48

We, we had a, we had one team, which I mean is a Mumbai regional team, the Mumbai sales team, the regional team, where we actually started you know, sort of implementing this StrengthsFinder. We had, we had the entire team go through this. So I would say that was my pilot project where, actually that the StrengthsFinder gained more visibility across all levels. Because what happened was the region was actually in doldrums and it was actually going through a lot of turmoil. There were a lot of organizational changes that happened prior to 2017 and the organization -- the Mumbai sales organization, the sales team, was actually coming up to speed and they had these new incumbents in. So I had a discussion with the with the regional head of Mumbai and, you know, we said, you know, why don't we look at something different of how we could have people more connected to their jobs? How we could, you know, leverage on what they can do best. And he was he was kind of kicked up.

Vivian Alfred 11:49

So I did a StrengthsFinder with him. And from there on, the journey started. He found it immensely valuable; he then started connecting it with his team members, you know, and and and then the region went on to win the Best Region Award in 2018. So 2018 they won the Best Region Award, and the entire team had gone for a junket trip outside with the family. So they were like gung ho, and and that became a kind of a trend -- from there, it became kind of a trend for people to you know, get more inroads. On the other side, the management team was also experiencing a lot of positive things out of the StrengthsFinder, and and then, you know, they started building upon this. What I would add up here is something what I developed here internally was the inner discovery of power. So, so when I said this discovery of power, what we did is had -- OK. POWER stands for -- P stands for Potential; O for Optimal best. And W for what do you Want; your Environment is E; and Red spots is, you know, R. So that is what power is all about.

Vivian Alfred 13:04

So, what I had done at the start was to make it more simplified, you know, for people reading the report and, you know, helping them register into their mindset, into their practice, I adopted this model of POWER and integrated with something called How can you make your customers HAPPY? So, when I say "happy," when I say HAPPY, HAPPY stands for -- H stands for Help; how do you Avoid certain things with the customers? How do you Provide stability, you know, to the customer -- so, how do you Provide a secure base to the customer? How do you Provide inspiration to the customer? And how do you Yield trust? So, how do you produce trust?

Vivian Alfred 13:43

So, all -- these elements, so, how you discover your POWER and how can you make your customers HAPPY? So, these two elements were kind of integrated within the StrengthsFinder piece. So, we had the strengths identified for people, and we just help them identify as a -- say for example, if you have Strategic, how will you use Strategic to Help the customers? How you can use a strategy to Avoid certain discussions or certain you know, confrontations with customers? How you can use that to you know, Provide a secure base to them? How you can use that, you know, to Provide more to inspire your customers more? How do you use that to you know, build that trust between you and the customer?

Vivian Alfred 14:25

So, this this this tool kind of gained a good popularity. So people you know, sort of got connected easily to this thing and again, again, when I say "POWER," in POWER, we said you know, say if you want Strategic, what's the Potential that your strength Strategic has? How do you use this talent theme in a way that can you know, produce best results for people? At your Optimal best, what can you really go ahead and achieve using using Strategic? Then, you know, what is that you Want from the, you know, from the environment? What is that you generally need in order to make your strength more effective? So, which is anyway a part of your, the the Team Cards that we have. Then we -- I also added the element Environment -- what Environment can help you to flourish more, better? So how do you how do you create that Environment for yourself, using that strength of Strategic? And what are those Red spots, so, means, what you have to refrain from in order to have your results accomplished.

Vivian Alfred 15:28

So, so, when we land on this thing, we created the -- we call this kit, we call this as a talent toolkit. So, it was a talent toolkit. So, people could have this as a easy reference material for them to actually go through them and and, you know, start connecting it to their roles and start connecting it to their, to their jobs.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 15:51

That's great. Thank you for sharing, yeah. Go ahead, Vivian.

Vivian Alfred 15:57

So, so, similarly, even for the management team, we had, we had developed this thing. And we, you know, they started integrating it with with their team. So from there we also started using this now also for -- recently, I was in Switzerland -- in Zurich, in Reinach, that's our headquarters. We had our HR conference where I was you know, hosting the regional HR meeting. So, all our regional HR heads in the Asia Pacific Region also had the benefit of you know, having this workshop, where I conducted this workshop for them and where I, you know, showed the elements of POWER, how you can use the POWER of your strengths in your roles in human resources.

Vivian Alfred 16:43

OK, so on one part, what your job -- what your job role is, and how you can use your Top 5 -- rather, I would say your Top 12 -- so I went a little more deeper so, which means your dominant talent themes and ahead. Then how do you also use your supporting themes? And what should you sort of, I'm -- the Bottom 10, something which you should not really focus too deep. Rather, you'd start, you know, looking at those which are there at the top -- how you can use them to actually, you know, progress in your role, or to actually succeed in your role. So this is what we had the workshop, and it was pretty good, very quite successful. So I'm also developing a talent toolkit for the HR folks in the region on this. So it's it's been quite an interesting journey. I'm really loving it. It's, it's a lovely experience.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 17:35

That's great. And and I really liked what you said in the beginning that the existing MD is where you know, the bind that you got in early on that really gave you sort of inroads to expand the foray and reach out to more people within the organization. So tell me, Vivian, you know, the sounds like quite an exciting journey. Were there any challenges along the way of execution because you've had more and more people join into the whole strengths movement within your organization? What are any challenges you faced? And, you know, maybe maybe some pushbacks in how you would have handled those for all of us to know?

Vivian Alfred 18:10

Yeah. Of course, as they say, No gains without pains. So, of course, there were some challenges at the initial stage. See, what became easy for me at the start was, you know -- what I leveraged on was, you know, what was easy for me and how how well I can soon sell it to, you know, the people around. So, since I had with the with the with the Managing Director, I then had used this tool first on -- apart from the management team -- with a gentleman, you know, who was who was actually going for another internal succession from my India role to a global role. And he was, you know, he kind of said, you know, "Vivian, I want to experience this, and I want to see how this tool can actually help me to move on to my bigger role at a global level." So, so, that was a very interesting experience because then I started I started coaching with him on the same POWER on the lines of POWER. And so, he was actually heading, you know, one of the regions in India -- one of the sales agent in India. And he's now, you know, responsible for global, you know, sales management at quite a senior level but operating from India.

Vivian Alfred 19:29

So, what happened is while coaching him, he start -- I mean, when I had the test, I had All 34 with him. He really found it, you know, he said this is this is sort of connecting very well to what I -- what I am. Now how do I start translating this you know, when I'm when I'm interacting with, say, this global community or when I'm interacting with the people in my fraternity? And so, so when I started connecting his -- so he had -- his Top 5, of course, was Strategic. He had Relator; he had Learner; he had Maximizer; and he had -- OK, so, so four are coming to my mind. So this is what he had, and you know, so he immediately started saying that, you know, when I started connecting how you can use your Relator to effectively build that kind of deep and close trustworthy relationships, you know, how you can actually use your Learner to actually start connecting with, you know, this new role; and how you can pull out those, you know, key pieces to build your to build your castle.

Vivian Alfred 20:45

And then again, his Maximizer -- how we could make it more finish how we could you know, how we need to move it to more, kind of a better quality in your expression, a better quality in your delivery. When he started seeing this and he said OK, Let me know start practically putting this in a puzzle together. And it happened. He went ahead and he got selected out of out of out of, you know, there were around 18 to 20 applicants, you know, who had applied for this role. And he was unanimously selected for the role and he's now doing pretty well.

Vivian Alfred 21:20

So, so that became a kind of a good experience because he started then sharing his experience with others. And there they, you know, that's how the Mumbai Region came into play. And Mumbai Region then said, you know, OK, how, how effectively can we see now this tool that can help us move from, you know, losers to winners? Something from a kind of a disintegrated to a well-integrated team. And, again, for Mumbai team, it was a success. So this is where, you know, some of the things that really, you know, went by very well. Then we hired -- we had, you know, I had one of my colleague, a German colleague, Mr. Jurgen Eckert, and he wanted to do something where he just took up the role of global mentoring team for India. He was responsible also for India on this new role, and he wanted to get more connected to his his direct reports in direct reports he had in India. So he said, You know, Vivian, how effectively can I see using this tool to sort of bring, bring, bring about a stronger interpersonal collaboration?

Vivian Alfred 22:28

And I should appreciate lot, you know, two people out here who were, you know, quite instrumental in also spreading the StrengthsFinder outside India to other regions. So one is my colleague, the the corporate HR director, Mr. Ronnie Hani, based in Reinach, Switzerland. He was, he kind of actually saw my passion towards this. He actually saw how these things were working. He himself underwent the StrengthsFinder on his own, and then he experienced these changes and he started spreading that, you know, these around the global headquarters too. And the other gentleman was, you know, Mr. Tony Jacobson, who is who is also a StrengthsFinder fan. And he is he was responsible for -- he is responsible for Asia Pacific. And he's the Regional Sales Director for the Asia Pacific Region. So he was another gentleman who also kind of promoted this thing, you know, within the region in -- also in Asia Pacific. So that's how, you know, this tool is now getting a lot of prominence. And it's it's really interesting experience for all of us.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 23:33

Wonderful, that sounds great. What would you say now, is really your next steps in in building this, you know, this entire strengths movement that you've started? What are some of the things that you're working on for, say, 2020 to expand your entire strengths, but not just in India, but also Switzerland?

Vivian Alfred 23:54

Okay, so, well, I'm focusing on, you know, couple of things that I would say where we are, we are actually in the forthcoming May -- that is in May 2020 -- we are going to have a regional HR meeting, which is Asia Pacific regional meeting. And I'm going to be sharing how you integrate StrengthsFinder into into performance management systems. So how this can be integrated to your your performance management dialogues, or maybe into the process itself. So that's going to be an interesting integration. And we would, I mean, if at all, this becomes a success in the Asia Pacific region, that would become a global benchmark too. So that is one of the biggest focus that we are having.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 24:46

Yeah, that sounds exciting. And that's definitely a lot of conversations that that we also keep hearing in the market and, you know, also with our clients as well. Great. So Vivian, also for us to understand better, are there any tools that, you know, are your go-to tools during your conversations internally that you picked up from the certification course? Because we, we always hear coaches say that, you know, this is a particular tool like a team prayer or some sort of the theme cards, what are your go-to tools for, you know, to leverage during conversations in your coaching?

Vivian Alfred 25:22

So, of course, the theme cards is one of them. And, and, and, and mostly, you know, I actually read through all the Called to Coach sessions that we have -- the different themes that come on the Theme Thursday. So, also we had the Monday theme earlier, you know, how do you how do you how do you sort of connect -- how do you bring more productivity with these teams? So I constantly read these things and these things, actually, I would say I embrace quite a lot. Because they they make a big, big difference. And these items or these texts or this material, this material which which, which has helped me also to, you know, develop this framework and and and make it more successful here. So, I should give thanks to the entire Gallup team for you know having that thing for having that access. It's it's quite it's quite an interesting thing. It's -- a lot to learn there.

Jim Collison 26:28

Vivian, I want to say, Thank you. I didn't pay you to say that. But thanks for saying that. Mastery -- Mastery Monday is what you were thinking of on the blog post that we do also. So I'll just butt in and say thanks. I appreciate that when people listen to those. Thanks.

Vivian Alfred 26:41

Thank you, Jim, thanks a lot.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 26:45

Yeah, so great.

Vivian Alfred 26:46

So so so that so that's how, that's how it has been. And, you know, I'm also I'm kind of also, you know, integrating this with the DISC. You know, so integrating the StrengthsFinder with DISC -- being a certified DISC profiling user, also integrated with DISC. It's, it's something that I'm kind of coming out with something new. And maybe that will also, you know, show a different course for people; it'll chart a different career planner, different growth plan for people. And well, probably once it's completely ready, I will no have another Called to Coach session and share it with all of us.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 27:37

We'd love to hear on that, of course. Absolutely. So any advice, Vivian, that you you would have on the idea of strengths for our existing coaches and also maybe for our budding coaches who are looking at becoming Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches? Do you have any advice for them on do's and don'ts?

Vivian Alfred 27:56

Well, on the do's, I would I would, I would, especially on the do's, you know, you need to, you know, connect yourself completely to it -- just just trust this piece. This is this is the most fabulous tool and it's it's the it's the greatest finding of the century, I feel, when it comes to you know, bringing of something about strengths, come something about talent teams -- this is the greatest finding of the century. So you just trust this piece. Go with it. I mean, you can you can learn, you can learn quite a lot. Just learn, read a lot. You know, start connecting whatever you're reading, start connecting it with real-time situations with real-life situations. And, well, you need to have your first sponsor. And I mean, your first sponsor, your first sponsor needs to be very strong. So you have to, I mean, the moment you start using the tool and moment you start showing the results to to someone at the first, you've made it! After that it's just a journey ahead. So ...

Tanvi Ahluwalia 28:55

Agreed. Always works. Yeah, top bottom. Yeah, top to bottom. Yes, Jim.

Jim Collison 29:00

Vivian, we we often get questions -- you mentioned a little of this; maybe you could dig in some. We often get questions about ROI. And with the with the work that you do and the connection they have to HR, are you guys actively tracking the ROI, the benefit on this in a way that you can justify it year over year? Can you talk -- can you talk a little bit about that?

Vivian Alfred 29:24

Yes, I mean, so o when it comes to justifying the ROI, you know, we, we have the connecting the strengths piece, you know, to saying how you can use this to maximize your goals or achieve the goals that has been set, achieve the goals or targets that's been set for the year. So that when we see that success happening, that itself becomes a kind of return on investment for us because when we see people using that, applying that and actually, you know, speaking about it well and and translating that into into success. So, that's our result for us.

Vivian Alfred 30:03

So, like I was I was sharing the example of the Mumbai Region is, you know, so, if you -- a region which was in doldrums and you know, you had you had this leader who, who then took over and the Regional Sales Leader, of course, he was also dynamic, but then how he could, you know, start connecting with his strengths piece. And then when he started connecting his strengths piece, how he started connecting with his team; how he started connecting with his customers; and how he started developing, how he started connecting with the business, you know. This is something this was very interesting even for me to see how it's actually working. There's actually -- it was actually, it was just actually working, it was just flowing. And and he could feel it, and he said, you know, Vivian, I see everything just happening. So from there when it started moving for -- to the entire team and the team started winning and getting the award. It is an ROI.

Jim Collison 30:56

So you kind of justify or you look for these awards, or or they can be a result, right, for what you're trying to do?

Vivian Alfred 31:03

Yeah, yeah. So, it should be something tangible. Very recently, I had a, I had I had I had a coaching session with a colleague, you know, and so, he was he was he was actually I would, I would put him in a in just a single word, maybe he was actually depressed at what he was doing. He was not happy with what he was doing. And so, when I ran the StrengthsFinder, and I started having the conversation, I used the POWER and how can you make -- how can you make your customers HAPPY?

Vivian Alfred 31:30

When I started connecting these tools, and, and, and and building the conversation with him, he suddenly saw a light in the tunnel. He said, you know, Now I see the role that I am in is something -- he actually saw a different role where he will -- he found more value. You know, he started connecting himself to the new role. And he said, You know, I find great value in this new role. And the management himself -- the management itself, including the MD and the head of sales, were quite taken aback because they did not realize a man who was stationed in Bangalore -- he's more than 50 years old -- you know, and he, it was difficult for him to, you know, sort of change his mindset. And he's moving from one -- he's really moving from one location to the other, just by understanding how his strengths can, you know, make a big difference. And he he is he's now adopted a new role, and he's happy about it. He's very happy about it. And I'm personally glad and you know, I must say thanks again to Gallup because this is something what is a game-changer for people. It is it's, it's, that's why I said, you know, it makes people flourish their lives. So that was an interesting experience and I loved it.

Jim Collison 32:46

Vivian, what about -- and you mentioned Switzerland and you know, you're a multinational company? Have you seen it work differently in the different offices globally? Has it taken a similar feel in each of the offices? Can you expand on that a little bit as what does that look like maybe from a global implementation standpoint?

Vivian Alfred 33:06

OK. Well, from a global implementation standpoint, I think we have to, you know, we have to really develop this across all the countries, but it's it's kind of gained a lot of prominence in the Asia Pacific region, including South Africa. So for example, let me tell you, in South Africa, we have all of the employees who have undergone the StrengthsFinder and all of them have undergone and it's quite successful there too. And the MD, the Managing Director to the Regional Director there has quite embraced the tool. In Switzerland, you know, it is it's, it's still in bits and pieces. It's not kind of come at one place at everyone going for it. But you know, more or less people have just experiencing it and seeing it but it's, it's, I think the -- it has to it has to become it has become more ingrained to that part of the world, in Europe.

Jim Collison 34:02

Tanvi, as you've you've you work out of our Delhi office, and you see a lot of international work around the world doing this too. What have you seen as organizations are trying to roll this out around the globe? It's easy when it's one -- I shouldn't say, it's probably not easy in one country even there, but talk a little bit about some best practices. What have you seen work well as organizations push that out globally?

Tanvi Ahluwalia 34:27

Yeah, that's a great question. I think because of strengths being such a fabulous common language, it's it's a way to help people understand how they can be the best version of themselves. It's not trying to replicate and I don't want to be more of Vivian, I don't want to be more of Jim, I want to be the best version of myself -- of Tanvi -- and that's, that's something that I've seen work, whether it's in India, China, Europe, America -- doesn't really matter. It's a global, you know, unique understanding where everybody wants -- and people want, you want to be seen, you want to be heard. And and what best to have those tools in your arsenal, that that make you articulate that if you're hearing things like, Oh, I've always been good with numbers, or I've always been good with people. What does it mean? How do I dial it up? How do I dial it down? So to some of your question, it's, it's, it's that common language that that, you know, flourishes globally. And it's not just in one region where I in my experience of 7 years at Gallup have seen a lot of success and one not; it's, it's been really quite uniform in terms of being stable.

Jim Collison 35:38

Vivian, you mentioned it's been working in South Africa, and of course, the South African culture and the Indian culture maybe aren't the same. Is it translating across from a cultural standpoint? Are you getting -- because of the common framework that exists, are you maximizing that common framework, even when in the -- when the cultures may not be exactly the same?

Vivian Alfred 36:00

Yeah, see, I can share this experience when I when I had this regional Asia Pacific session here in Switzerland. We also had the Swiss colleagues attending it, along with the regional HR folks, but then all of them, it's -- this does not have any cultural bias. I feel, I feel the tool doesn't have any cultural bias. It's, it's very, it's very uniform. So people are actually seeing it, you know, naturally happening.

Vivian Alfred 36:29

So, in this team, we also had a Russian colleague, and she was actually, you know, she experienced it for the first time and she was she was actually surprised. She said, you know, everything falls into place. This is how it is. And this is what I am. And this is how I'm actually succeeding. If I really put the right things in the right place, I think I can really go for the most mileage and all of them coherently. In fact, I have asked, you know, I have asked if I could prepare the talent toolkit for all of them. So I will be preparing for all of them the talent toolkit and also maybe for their management teams.

Vivian Alfred 37:06

So when I say Asia Pacific, this doesn't, you know, confine only to India or maybe to Southeast Asia, it also includes South Africa; it includes Australia; includes, of course, China; Russia; you had Kazakhstan. So it's quite a number of countries. And then from there as a next level, the HR director has also asked us to move on to other countries like, you know, Mexico, Canada, that side and also the European countries such as Western Europe. So it's, it's, I'm looking forward to some more interesting challenges.

Jim Collison 37:44

Yeah, sounds like it. Tanvi, I'm out of questions from chat room. I'll go back to you for the next few.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 37:49

Yeah, that's great. Any last thoughts from you, Vivian, that that you'd like to share with with all of us who dialed in and I will be keen to listen on when people dial into Called to Coach. Anything that you'd like to share -- your last parting thoughts?

Vivian Alfred 38:05

Well, you know, before coming to this session, I was I was a little bit, you know, I was I was a little bit nervous, but the moment, you know, Jim came on screen, it was it was, it was, it was so good. It was so good. I mean, it was so -- it's so simple, so, so easy. So, I would only say this. I think, Jim, can we -- the entire team, Maika Leibbrandt, you know, who is also host for Jim, you know, in most of the Called to Coach sessions. Of course, Pooja from India, all of them, and I mean this entire team, please keep going. This is something really -- it is of immense value to all of us. You know, we may not be -- we may be getting an opportunity to voice out such things only during the, you know, live telecast like this, but otherwise, this is a really big game changer. It is -- it really changes lives. It creates a positive change, a positive impression for everyone. So, thank you so much, everyone.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 39:07

Thank you. Thank you for all that you're doing, Vivian, to spread the movement. We really appreciate it. Thank you for sharing.

Vivian Alfred 39:12

Thanks a lot.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 39:14

Thank you. Jim, anything from you?

Jim Collison 39:17

Tanvi, you've -- for your first one, how did you feel on this? Vivian got a chance to, to have his -- it's the first one for you. How do you how do you feel?

Tanvi Ahluwalia 39:26

I loved it. It was, and I'm so glad that to have done my first with -- my first Called to Coach with with somebody as fabulous as Vivian and yeah, and how much that I've learned here. Absolutely.

Jim Collison 39:39

Well, now that you're certified; now that you're a certified Called to Coach host, we should be able to double our India output at this point.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 39:47

Absolutely, I'd love to.

Jim Collison 39:50

Vivian, I also want to say thank you as as well for doing this. We have had a little bit of an extended break from India and it's good to kind of "get back on the horse," as we say so to speak. It's just great to be back and to do this, and Tanvi, thank you for taking the time to fill in for Pooja, who couldn't do that, as well. It's always great for me, it's always great to hear what's going on around the world as we get the opportunity to do that in either Singapore or Sydney, with you guys in India with the work that's coming out of the United States, and we're going to be in Europe here in 2 weeks, doing some interviews and a live Called to Coach from London. So Vivian, you said Europe maybe needs some work. OK! We're going to Europe. We're excited about the certified coaches that are in Europe as well. And we're -- that's kind of my goal, right. I think I own most of the world. I need to own Europe a little bit better. So we'll be doing a live Called to Coach from the Shard in London during an event that is there December 4, and you can register for that as well, if you don't want to come watch us live. I don't know what 4 p.m. UTC is for you guys. I'm sure it's probably middle of the night. But we'd love to have everybody come out and join us for that Called to Coach as well.

Jim Collison 41:04

You guys hang tight. Let me wrap this up. With that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantages of all the resources we have available, now on the new Gallup Access. You can just go to gallup.com/cliftonstrengths is a great place to start. Tons of resources that are available for you out there as well for you. It's a brand new site. If you haven't spent some time on it, you might want to dig in a little bit. Look at all the menus drop down, you may be surprised -- actually the history of CliftonStrengths is now there. And you can go out there and get that available. Again, that's at gallup.com/cliftonstrengths. If you have any questions, you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. You can catch the recorded audio and video of this program as well as all the past ones. They're available on our -- they're available actually as a podcast. So any podcast player, just search Gallup Webcast. If you're on YouTube, and who isn't watching still -- like you're watching this on YouTube right now quite possibly. Head out to youtube.com and search "CliftonStrengths" and you can see our channel that that's available there as well. If you're interested in becoming a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, you can see a complete list of all the courses that are available. Tanvi, do you know, are there any courses coming up in India that you're aware of that you might want to promote?

Tanvi Ahluwalia 41:05

Yeah, there's there are 2 next week -- one in Delhi and one in Mumbai -- that starts from 25th to 29th of November. And we also have another one coming up in Bangalore in December, the week of 16th.

Jim Collison 42:26

And people could still sign up if -- it's pretty close, they could still sign up and come if they want to? Or is it full?

Tanvi Ahluwalia 42:32

If they really want to become a coach. We can definitely have a chat and, yeah.

Jim Collison 42:36

If you're -- maybe you're looking for some future dates; I'm sure those are available as well.

Tanvi Ahluwalia 42:41

Many, yeah.

Jim Collison 42:42

You can head out to our courses page: courses.gallup.com and all the information is available there. If you want to follow us on Facebook, if you want to jump on there, we have about 15 -- about 14,000 people in that group now and you might want to join us there. It's at facebook.com/groups/calledtocoach -- all one word. Want to thank you for joining us tonight or this morning, depending upon where you're at, or any part of the day. Thanks for joining us today. With that, we'll say Goodbye, everybody.

Vivian Alfred's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Maximizer, Strategic, Activator, Individualization and Futuristic.