CliftonStrengths® for Leaders Report: What's Included, How to Use It

Gallup Called to Coach Webcast Series -- Season 11, Episode 2.

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

Now that the CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report is available for coaches and leaders, the obvious questions that arise are, What's in it? and How do I use it? There's no one who can better answer these than the report's lead contributor and writer, longtime Gallup leadership coach Therese Nisbet. Host and CliftonStrengths Portfolio Manager Austin Suellentrop joins Therese to give you a brief tour of the Leaders Report, to spell out the report's intended audience, and to compare and contrast it with the Managers Report and the All 34 Report. Join us and discover how the report equips coaches with extensive tools for coaching leaders and how it can empower leaders to lead more purposefully with their strengths.

The Leader Report ... It's not written just for executives or just for people who are formal leaders of divisions or departments or even teams. It's written to anybody who ... may have the informal role of leader.

Austin Suellentrop, 13:26

As leaders, they don't a lot of times get that feedback, because people talk maybe more about them than to them. And so this is, I think, a report that talks to them.

Therese Nisbet, 34:27

When you, as a coach, think about ... how deep you can go with leaders around that [one] particular strength for them, and just the power of that ... I think that's what's going to be magic ... about ... this Strengths for Leaders.

Therese Nisbet, 11:17

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on November 2, 2022.

Jim Collison 0:17
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 and don't see the chat room, there's a link right above us to it. Sign In. We'd love to have your questions live in chat. If you're listening after the fact or on the podcast or there on YouTube, you can always email us your questions: coaching@gallup.com. And don't forget to subscribe to Called to Coach on your favorite podcast app or right over there on YouTube, so you never miss an episode. Austin Suellentrop is our host today. Austin is the CliftonStrengths Portfolio Manager. And Austin, always great to have you on Called to Coach. Welcome back!

Austin Suellentrop 0:56
Thanks, Jim. Always a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.

Meet Our Guest on This Episode

Jim Collison 0:58
We are excited today as we're launching CliftonStrengths for Leaders. And we have a great guest. Why don't you take a second and introduce her, and then we can get started.

Austin Suellentrop 1:07
Yeah, absolutely. So there's one of the cool things that you've heard me on this setting and other settings talk about one of the biggest perks of working at Gallup is being surrounded by people who are more talented than, than you are right. And it's a sort of unique phenomenon about the Gallup culture. And today's guest is one of those people who I look up to and respect tremendously. Her name is Therese Nisbet. Many of you know Therese, whether you know her directly from hearing her speak on settings like Called to Coach or leading workshops or breakouts at our Summit every year -- or, like, if you were introduced to her the way I was, as part of the course content in GGSC and watching her coach. Therese is one of our senior coaches at Gallup and subject-matter experts who does a tremendous amount of work with leadership teams around the world, focusing primarily on strengths but helping on everything around culture and environment and impact of a leadership team. So Therese is, her impact has reached around the world with every team that she works with. But most recently, her big, big impact has been as a lead contributor and writer on this CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report. So she actually was one of the brilliant minds who took her experience and translated it into those written statements on that report. So we're excited to have Therese with us. Therese, thank you so much for joining us today!

Therese Nisbet 2:25
I, I'm feeling really special, Austin. Thank you!

Austin Suellentrop 2:30
You're quite welcome.

Therese Nisbet 2:31
I'm excited to be here. So this will be fun.

Austin Suellentrop 2:34
It will, for sure. So we, when Jim and I were talking about how we wanted to do this, and we're saying, Well, who can we get to come, come talk? And when we asked Therese to do it, and she jumped at the chance. Jim and I were both like, OK, we're good. We don't have to worry too much about, about how this is gonna go. Because Therese, as you can tell -- those of you listening live or watching live -- incredibly sort of both knowledgeable on the topic but also easy to talk to, easy to have a conversation with. She'll fit right in with the flow that Jim and I usually have in these really formal settings like this.

Why Create a CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report?

Austin Suellentrop 3:05
So I want to start with a, with a question that I'm going to answer that I've already been asked several times, and I know it sort of sets the context for our discussion today, which is, Why did we do this? Why did we build a CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report? And I want to sort of take us back a couple of years to the launch of our first role-based report, which was our CliftonStrengths for Managers Report. We launched that about a year and a half ago, right. And when we did that, it was the first of what we told you would be a suite of reports. And the design and the intent was to answer the question of, Hey, I love strengths. I've got my 34 Report. What do I do next? Right, we get asked that question all the time.

Austin Suellentrop 3:47
And so when we as a team sort of sat back and sort of contemplated that question and thought about what the best answer to it was, we chose the path of making strengths practical, in the most effective and influential roles inside of organizations. So logically, we started with managers. We have a perspective and expertise on management. It's come through in books like It's the Manager, First, Break -- First, Break All the Rules, and all of our work around engagement made sense for us to go there. Then earlier this year, we launched our second report, which was CliftonStrengths for Sales.

Austin Suellentrop 4:21
Again, we have had books out there, Strengths Based Selling, we've been doing selection work and development work for sales organizations around the world for decades. We have a perspective, a way to answer the question, strengths and sales. So our third role-based report now comes to CliftonStrengths for Leaders and understanding the, the unique impact that leaders have, both inside organizations, as well as inside communities -- and not just companies, but the impact that leaders have on people. Right. So Therese, I want to start there with you. Of somebody who's worked with leaders for such a long time and has such a sort of unique set of experiences, could you maybe speak a little bit to the conversations you have with leaders? What's unique about the strengths conversation you have when you're talking with leadership teams?

Therese Nisbet 5:10
You know what I think is always fascinating with leaders is we, when we're in a room with someone at the front of the room, and we see their leadership style, it feels much different than when you are sitting one on one with a leader in a coaching situation, because you kind of feel that they're fragile. There's just something about those conversations, where, can -- I need a safe place where I can be a little bit vulnerable. Because their, their presence in the world always has something that they feel is bigger than that; that, you know what? I'm sitting in this big chair, and people expect me to have all the answers. People expect me to be that strategic thought leader; people expect me to be visionary; people expect me to care about, you know, them as people. People expect everything of me.

Therese Nisbet 6:00
And I think those conversations at that leader level feel different when they're one on one, because it's that place where they can open up and really think about, How do I feel about this? And how do I continue to be my best self in front of people, while still sometimes being a bit insecure about what does that mean? And how do I continue to find ways to move people forward? They're just the best conversations ever, I think, when you sit with a leader who's just vulnerable and willing to talk about their leadership style.

What It Means to Be a Leader

Austin Suellentrop 6:37
Yeah. So that leadership style, I think that's a great place for us to dive a little bit deeper. Because I think, you know, in the conversations we've had with, with coaches on this topic lately, there's always sort of this rub of like, well is leader, is leadership or being a leader tied to a certain level in an organization or a certain role in an organization? Versus Can anybody be a leader? And so I'd love to maybe get your, your thoughts on this leadership style or leadership approach, regardless of rank or file in an organization? Like, how do you see that conversation playing out?

Therese Nisbet 7:14
So I talk about, I talk to teams all the time about, and even new managers, as they're taking on teams, I always think, who's the, who's the leader within that team framework? Because usually in a group of 6, 7, 8, 9 people, there really is a leader within that team. And so we use that, that term loosely, you know, they're the ones that honestly are probably the voice of the team. They're the ones that speak up first in a meeting. So is that leadership in that moment? It is definitely leadership. There's -- those team members may call their managers leaders. And so I think we don't get really hung up on what that means.

Therese Nisbet 7:50
I think for me, when I think about this Leadership Report, and as I'm thinking about the leaders that, that really, I think this might impact are those where the expectation just is, feels deeper and wider. Because there's, there's that more that need to think conceptually around, What is the vision and purpose of what we're doing? What, what are our strategic strategies? But the reality is, sometimes we may plan a big vision, and then we may say to who we consider a "manager," "We need you to lead this revolution." So, I mean, I think we don't get too hung up on what that means. Because depending on who's sitting in front of you, it's, everyone's gonna have just kind of a different lens around what leadership means to that person.

The Benefits of the Leaders Report: Coaching Conversations

Austin Suellentrop 8:43
Yeah, absolutely. I love the way you put that: the idea that the expectations might be deeper and wider. I think that's a, that's a great way to sort of visualize it and think about this. I, I always get a kick when we have these conversations around getting, people getting focused on Well, all right, if this is a Leadership Report, who, like, how do we define "leader"? How do we define "manager"? Right? And, you know, from, from my perspective, at least, from an n size of 1, I don't think of "manager" or "leader" as a specific role you have to play; I think of it more in terms of, What are you trying to improve? Like, what are you working at? What are you trying to get done? And if what you're trying to get done is a leadership type of thing -- a motivation, inspiration, visioning kind of thing -- here's a tool that can help you with it, right? If what you're working on, from a developmental perspective, is more about execution and getting things, you know, accomplishing projects and staying on track, well, maybe the Management Report might be more of a tool that could help you in the moment. Doesn't mean it's exclusively for one person or the other. But the sweet, no tool is going to be designed for everybody to use all of the time. So when you think about this Leadership Report that you've just helped sort of create, Where do you see it as a, How do you see using it as a tool? How do you see this being something that could help in a conversation with a leader?

Therese Nisbet 10:05
So, as coaches, one thing I think that is very cool about this report is it gives you 12 conversations on one, one strengths theme. So as coaches, there's nothing more fun than having 12 conversations around a specific theme. So when you talk about the, the three kinds of statements around what they really do well, my brain is going, So let's start with the first one. And does that resonate with you? And give us, give me an example of where that shows up for you. And think about -- so we're doing that three different times. Let's, and they are unique examples, because they're unique statements. So where do you put yourself, as you think about where you're good? Does this resonate with you? And I even imagine there's going to be leaders who say, you know, "I think I've already," as you go to the what's going to get in your way of success, "I think I've already learned to manage that." Great. Give me an example. Let's talk about that.

Therese Nisbet 11:00
So we have all of these wonderful conversations that are going on. And then we get to, Then what? You know, what are some of those really cool action items that we can do? And so there's four more unique conversations. And then there's the two questions at the end. So I think when you, as a coach, think about just choosing one strengths theme, how deep you can go with leaders around that particular strength for them, and just the power of that, how they're going to manage that, how they're going to develop that, how they're going to be excited about that -- I think that's what's going to be magic, honestly, about this, this Leadership Guide -- I really do; this Strengths for Leaders.

Austin Suellentrop 11:43
Love it. Jim, I know you've, you've starred a few questions already that have come through the chat room. I want to, I want to make sure we're able to answer those as we go here, because Therese and I could talk for, easily for the next hour without, without any hesitation. So anything you want to sort of bring up that we can sort of help sort of flow the conversation?

The Managers Report vs. the Leaders Report

Jim Collison 11:59
I think you guys have done a nice job of covering them so far. I think we need to reiterate, you know, it's a role-based report; and yet, we just kind of said leadership and manager kind of mix and blend. And then maybe as we think about -- you address this, you know, defining, how we define leadership. And Therese, you kind of said, well, there's, there's a lot of mixing in there. So Austin, can you, can you, with the role-based report, how does define, how do we define leadership? Has it changed? And then is this, is leadership a role? Is manager a role? Can you talk a little bit about that, just kind of clarify that?

Austin Suellentrop 12:34
Absolutely. So yeah, there's gonna be, I think what Therese was speaking to and what I was alluding to, like, culture by culture, the word "manager," the word "leader," may be used differently, right. So I know we have clients we work with who refuse to use the word "manager" in their culture at all. Anybody who is in charge of a team is called a "people leader," or they're called a "leader." Great. We're not, we're not aspiring to say that you have to change that. But when we wrote these reports, and we, and we separate manager from leader, there are different components to that that are, I think, unique. The Manager Report is really tactical, focused on the aspect of getting the work done, of like getting work done through people. That's sort of how we have traditionally sort of talked about it.

Austin Suellentrop 13:26
The Leader Report that we have just published, it is not a C-suite report. It's not written just for executives or just for people who are formal leaders of divisions or departments or even teams. It's written to anybody who, to Therese's point earlier, who may have the informal role of leader, who people look to, to set a tone; they look to them to motivate; they look to them to be the sort of torchbearer, if you will, or those who are trying to aspire to that. Maybe you're a young person who's developing in your career, and you're trying to figure out where you want to go. It's also written, so it's written to somebody who is trying to reach beyond just the here and now. I've described it as having a little bit of a longer-term time horizon, thinking about long-term development of the team, the long-term impact of the work we're doing, where we're going down the road, that it can absolutely be a formal role. Right.

Austin Suellentrop 14:23
There are many of us on this call who would have titles and roles and jobs that are leadership roles. But to be a, to use your strengths to be a more effective leader, you don't have to have the title; you don't have to have a role. I play a role of a leader in my family and in my community, in my volunteer organizations, without having any sort of formal title that, that drives that. So that's where I was trying to sort of delineate earlier, in terms of the role-based component of it. I don't want people to feel like this is only written to executives or to people who have the leadership title. That's not our intent at all.

The Vision of the Leaders Report

Jim Collison 14:59
And yet, Therese, you wrote it with them in mind, oftentimes, right? I mean, I think, as you think about your writing of this report, those were the leaders you were thinking of. I think it can apply to anyone in the leadership role. But Therese, can you clarify, put us in your brain as you're writing these statements, you know, months ago. Who were you thinking of?

Therese Nisbet 15:23
This was really such an interesting challenge, because I really did try to sit -- because I do, I do talk to leaders that are in various stages, if you want to call it that, of leadership. And it's really thinking, what differentiates a little bit of really that leadership kind of energy around, I am changing the landscape. And so that's really where my brain went most of the time, as I thought about these strengths is, as I have sat in meetings and team sessions and all kinds of things over the past 20-plus years with leaders, is what do I, what do I see them doing? What kind of conversations do they have? How do those strengths manifest themselves in conversations and in, and really setting a direction and really stimulating growth? But it feels -- my brain was there.

Therese Nisbet 16:26
There was a little piece, though, as I thought about looking at these where there is a little piece where it can almost be aspirational, where you're sitting right at that cusp, where that's your next step. And you're reading those, some of these statements, and going, I'm not quite there. You know, I read this and think, Yes, but not quite. And so I think it's a, kind of a building block, even, for some of those folks, as there really thinking next steps where, ooh, yes, I can feel that strength in mine, but I don't feel that I've polished it like that. And I want to.

Austin Suellentrop 17:03
Oh, that's brilliant. I love that.

Jim Collison 17:05
Yeah, and I think we spent, we spent a bunch of time over the last couple days kind of saying it's hard to take someone to a place you haven't been to yourself. And so this is one of these things, if you're coaching on this, if you're leading people in it, you should probably have worked through your own Leadership Report. Like this is one of those things. I think -- it's available now. It's been actually available for the last couple days. And for a lot of folks who've dug in, I think you, to understand some of those nuances, dig into your own report and really spend some time thinking through, What is this saying to me? How is this helpful to me? And then how do I lead someone? You know, now you're, as a coach, a leader. How do I lead someone else in influence? Austin, would you add anything to that?

The 34 Report vs. the Leaders Report

Austin Suellentrop 17:49
Yeah, I think the important reminder, look, the 34 Report is still our premier product. It's still the premier report for personal development, let's be really clear. So if I'm, if I'm engaging in a conversation with somebody, I'm leaning on the 34 Report as my go-to anchor of where I'm going to come back to. What the role-based report suite offers, and what this new Leadership Report offers is, look, additional content to give, to frame a conversation around something specific about them. Like they are, so if you're having a conversation with somebody, and the focus of, of what they're working towards or what you're helping them with is leadership oriented, I want to be, I want to lead my team more effectively, I want to be better at, you know, guiding them through this change we're going through as an organization. Great. Let's lean into how your strengths help you as a leader, to figure out how we're going to do this together. Like, to me that's the sweet spot for these role-based reports is when you pull it in as a tool to help them really aim their strengths at something specific they're trying to do. Right.

Austin Suellentrop 18:58
And so, as you heard Therese say, the, I love the way you framed it early on, and I'm, we're going to dig into this more of, you got 12 conversations you can have on each of these themes. Right? So I want to unpack what that means. Jim, do you have a copy of the, of the sample report we can pull up to sort of look at? I think what, I want to unpack what you meant by that, those 12 things -- Therese says, It made perfect sense to me. But we can sort of help our team here listening understand. Each of the themes -- we have, this report follows the same template that our other role-based reports have followed, which means you're going to get content on the Top 10 themes for an individual. And each of the 10 themes is going to have 10 unique nuggets of content, unique phrases, and 2 reflection questions. OK.

Austin Suellentrop 19:45
So you'll see here -- this is the sample report we have for Don Clifton, right? His No. 1 theme was Significance. So you have 3 statements -- How does Significance contribute to your success as a leader? There's 3 statements. That's 3 potential conversations you can have with an individual around, How does this resonate with you? Is this accurate? What's your reaction here? Right? Give me an example of a time -- those kinds of things. And then 3 statements are on how this theme may get in the way or hinder you, as, in your success as a leader. Again, 3 potential conversations. And the second page has 4 action items. This is where I think these reports, and this report in particular, is going to be so powerful in helping give leaders a shortcut to things they can try right here and now to be more effective.

Austin Suellentrop 20:33
But then on the, on the bottom half of this page is 2 questions that are designed to spark thinking and conversation around that theme and its, and the impact in its role as a leader. So each of the 10 themes has these 12 things that can be conversation starters. Right? So that, that's where Therese's comment around the 12 comes from. So I want to make sure we cover that, because I think it's brilliant in how it's, how you sort of positioned that with, you can use, you can have a whole dedicated conversation around just one of these; you get 12 per theme. So that, hopefully, that, that sort of helps clear up a little bit of this and sort of paint a picture for what's actually in the report.

Using the Leaders Report in Your Coaching

Jim Collison 21:16
Therese, now that you're seeing the report again here on screen, what would you add to what Austin talked about, as you think about rolling through, rolling through this report. Anything you would add to that?

Therese Nisbet 21:26
So I, I want to make sure, as coaches, and why it starts with where you're great is because a lot of times when we, when we get coaching opportunities, it's because a lot of leaders think they need to be fixed, or they have the problem that they're worried about. And I love a report that says, Let's take a timeout. Let's start with where you're awesome. Because I'm guessing you're sitting in that chair because you're great. So what we want them to think about first is really how it really has contributed to their success. And it's a good place for them to start remembering successes. What have you done with this theme that has really been powerful? So we want them to start feeling good about this is, this is, this theme is fantastic. It is, it is something that has made you great at what you do.

Therese Nisbet 22:16
That being said, we know that sometimes it can give you pain points. And so the beauty is, you know what success looks like. Let's look at some of those pain points and think a little bit about, How are we going to manage that a little bit differently, based on where you know you're great? So they're very interesting conversations, and especially as they go through, I do think you'll have people who say, "I think I've started to manage that better." Great. Let's talk about that. You know, Let's replicate that multiple times. I think you're right, though, the 4 action items, I think give people because they're, they're not meant to boil the ocean. I mean, it's really, What are some, some things you can start doing right now that will make sense, that are doable?

Therese Nisbet 23:02
And so, and you know what? Start with one. I mean, pick one that feels like, I think I could do that. I think I could, I could shift to that fairly quickly. So I think, as you sit with different people's personalities, there's different ways to do this. But I just think there's so much rich information and so many coaching opportunities and so much energy as they walk away from going, "I love this strength about me now. I, you know, it isn't, it is something I really can do great and I can manage differently." And it just gives people just a great starting place to almost restimulate that strength and understand the power in each one.

Other Resources for Coaching Leaders

Jim Collison 23:46
Austin, we also have a resource available for our Certified Coaches out at gallup.com/certifiedcoach, on that page for them. Do you want to, you want to talk about that a little bit, and I'll put that on screen as well, just as an additional resource for conversations for, specifically for our coaches?

Austin Suellentrop 24:00
Is that, you're talking about the how to, how to coach using this? Yeah, OK, so we'll make sure -- we have a couple of really cool resources, another one we're gonna unpack here in a second. So I wanted to make sure we're on the same page. So with a, with this report, we've created a How To guide on how to use this report and fold it into our coaching conversations. And what we've done is we've, again, we've, we've tried to create a comfort with how this could fit with existing conversations; what kind of questions you can ask; how do you introduce it? How does it make sense in the Name, Claim, Aim journey, if you will, for an individual that you're working with? But I want to, I want to reiterate: it's not that complicated. Like, if you were to, we've now done three of these reports, and three of these How To guides. And I'll, if you were to sit them all side by side, you'll see they're incredibly similar, because it's asking questions like Well, how does this resonate with you? How do you see this content helping you? What did you learn here that you could apply today? What stands out to you that you didn't know before? What have you learned? Simple, open-ended questions. And all we're doing is we're leaning on the content of this report as a way to instigate some of that thinking and to sort of get them going.

Austin Suellentrop 25:16
So that's out there, created, love it. It's, again, designed to help sort of make sense of this for all of us. But it's one of the tools. One of the things I'm incredibly proud of with this report, aside from capturing Therese and our team's knowledge and insight on strengths and leaders, is helping sort of take a step up from our, in our leadership conversation. Because inevitably, the question if -- I'm surprised it hasn't been asked in the chat yet, because I know I've got probably, I'll roughly say, 100 emails asking me this question over the course of the last several weeks, which is, Well, how is this similar or different to Strengths Based Leadership, the book? Or How does this connect with the book? And so we're going to tackle that. We're gonna talk about it, because I love the book. I think that's a fantastic book. And in the book, we really dive deep into the construct of the 4 Needs of Followers, right? Trust, Compassion, Stability, and Hope.

Austin Suellentrop 26:14
So if you buy the book, you get a code in the back to take the assessment, and you get a couple reports. The reports you get are standard Top 5 reports, right? Meaning, you get an option with a standard definition of sort of the stock sort of standard language, and then you get the customized insight language. What's unique is you get content on the back end of how you can use those themes to create Trust, Compassion, Stability, and Hope -- really tangible actions that are connected to our 4 Needs of Followers research. But the Leadership Report, there is really a 4 Needs of Followers Report. It's, it's designed to be a companion to that book.

Austin Suellentrop 26:55
When Therese and I and the team sat down to write this report, we very intentionally did not want to have this report be married to one construct, right? We didn't want this to be dependent upon you being bought in or using the 4 Needs of Followers, for example. Just like we didn't want it to be directly connected to 7 competencies or expectations of leaders; we didn't want it to be construct-dependent. We wanted it to be leaders, broad brush, regardless of level, regardless of type. And you'll, you'll see some content in there that you'll say, hey, I can see how that's connected to building Trust or showing Compassion. Absolutely. But it's not dependent upon it. Right. So this report is agnostic of construct, which I really like and a lot of people like, cause it allows you the flexibility to use it in companion with any leadership construct you might use.

Austin Suellentrop 27:53
So what about all that 4 Needs of Followers content? Where do I find that? What, how does this work? Well, we've taken the 4 Needs of Followers content -- all of that brilliance that's in the back of those reports -- and we've created a Strengths-Based Leadership Resource Guide -- one document, all 34 themes, and it goes through the connections to the 4 Needs of Followers, all the content that's in the back of that book and in those reports is now housed in a PDF Resource Guide. With the purchase of this report, you also get access to that, to that Resource Guide. OK? We've done that so that if you're, if you're one of those people who's buying Strengths Based Leadership right now, and you're using the book as a way to have conversations with leaders, fantastic. We want you to keep doing that. But we also want you to know that you can have those same conversations with this additional tool by buying this report. OK? That is, that we are not taking that away. We're just trying to make sure that we are setting us up for the best content we have, the latest, greatest thinking going forward. So I'm excited -- that's another great companion tool that is available with this report.

Jim Collison 29:01
Austin, today, for those of us who have access to the Strengths Based Leadership Report, we have to be very, very clear about how we differentiate these two reports. CliftonStrengths for Leaders, Strengths Based Leadership Report. In Gallup Access, they'll, we'll see a statement now that says available through December 2023. We're a whole year ahead of things for that, which is awesome. Thanks for doing that. What does that mean? What does that mean? What's gonna happen in December of 2023?

Austin Suellentrop 29:28
In December of 2023, what will happen is if you are redeeming a code in the back of the book, right, from the back of the book, and you're buying that book, you'll still get the Top 5 reports. You'll get the Top 5 reports plus that Resource Guide. Right? So that we don't have multiple reports that exist out there under the title of leadership. OK? So the book will have Top 5 reports in the Resource Guide. It will -- the book will not give you this Top 10 CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report. The only way to get that is the code online.

The Leaders Report and the 4 Needs of Followers

Jim Collison 29:58
An important conversation -- and I don't I want it to distract from this launch; we got a whole year. Austin, I will spend a bunch of time on Called to Coach talking about that in the future. Therese, I want to come back to you on this question of 4, 4 Needs of Followers. If that's a construct we already have -- coaches already have that; they're aware of that -- not specifically laid out in the Leaders Report, but can I, can I overlay the 4 Needs of Followers onto this CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report and still work with it in that way?

Therese Nisbet 30:27
Absolutely. It's not something that I didn't think about, because I think about followers' needs all the time. And so you will be looking at these and go -- to your point, Austin, that feels like Stability to me. Yep. That feels Hopeful. And so you will, as coaches, really see just kind of the integration of that, excuse me, in some of these statements and in some of the themes that you naturally do. So is it a specific callout? No. If it's something that you use specifically in your coaching, will you help them integrate that into those conversations? Absolutely. Easy to do.

How Leaders Can Use Their Report

Jim Collison 31:10
Austin, as we think about the audience here -- and it's coaches, but it's not just coaches -- as we think about leaders in this space, what do you think, if I just, if I'm a leader, and I get this report on my own, and if you don't have a coach, you should have one, but say I don't. I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask both of you this question. What's, what's our advice about digging? I mean, do I just start reading through it? Or give us, give me some helpful advice about using this report on my own, maybe for the first time seeing it.

Austin Suellentrop 31:41
Yep. So I'm a big believer in understanding that strengths are best used when in service of a goal -- you know, what are you trying to accomplish? So if I'm, if I'm using this tool, the first thing I'm thinking about is OK, what's the most important thing on my plate right now? What am I trying to get done? And then I'm gonna go to the, me personally, I'd go to the last page, the Strengths Wheel page, and I would say, OK, what's my goal? What is it, How do I know I've made progress? And what does it look like if I've been successful? And then I'm going to maybe flip to my, what I think my themes are that I can use the most to get that done, and pull at, look at those action items as places to start. That's how I would approach it, because I'm an Activator; I gotta get going on something. I gotta walk away with some sort of action pretty quickly. That would be my -- Therese, I'd love to hear your take. If you were to hand this to somebody absent a conversation, what's your, what's your recommendation on how to use it?

Therese Nisbet 32:39
My brain always goes, it depends on the person, because it's, I think you're right. It just depends, Why are you picking it up? I mean, when you're going, "This is, I'm excited about this," I always think, "Why?" I mean, what's drawn you to this to begin with? So are you feeling confident about your ability to lead, and this is just going to reinforce how good you are? Are there certain things that are really just in your brain -- "I think I could do this a little bit better, and I'm not quite sure the what or the why or the how. So I'd like a little bit more of that ability to kind of read things through and just almost, just almost take it in and think about it and ponder it." Is it really, I mean, I, I know that there are going to be some leaders, I guarantee, who are going, "I'm at, at odds with maybe some of my peers." And so, and this happens a lot, where "I want to feel certainty that I'm doing it right." And so it's really going to be, I would say to them, read it with an open mind. So read it with the intent that this, I really want to understand myself better. And I really want to understand, What can I do to continue to grow? What can I do to continue to grow in my leadership?

Therese Nisbet 33:59
And I think you're spot-on, Austin -- I think if they've got a specific objective or a specific milestone or a specific roadblock or a specific pain point, this is a good place for them to think, I've got to remember where I'm great. And I really do like the idea that I have moments where someone can point me in a very productive way about things that could get me into mischief. I think as leaders, they don't a lot of times get that feedback, because people talk maybe more about them than to them. And so this is, I think, a report that talks to them. And so I just think there's so much interesting information for them, if they are really thoughtful about what they're reading and really open to what the story is in each of those strengths themes.

Knowing Yourself: Sales, Managers or Leaders Report?

Jim Collison 34:54
We spent some time yesterday, as we were on LinkedIn^® Live, thinking about the three -- Manager, Sales and Leader Report as different tools, really: A hammer, a screwdriver and maybe a saw, right? And knowing -- you said this, Therese; you said this several times today as well: Well, it depends. I hear some Individualization coming out in you. Like, Well, you got to kind of know the person first. And I'm hesitant, I think these three reports together, as a package, make a great influencer kind of package together. But I think if you can just have one, you got to kind of know, right, the person or even in yourself saying, What problem am I trying to solve? Or What, what do I want to work on? What aspect of this do I, do I want to work on? You know, for me, I spend a lot of time leading and managing people. And I don't have a sales responsibility, so I may not start with the Sales Report, just because if I, if I have a choice -- if I have a choice, I want all three. Austin, you want to add to that, just as we kind of think about that concept of kind of knowing the individual or knowing yourself, and then starting with the one that's most appropriate?

Austin Suellentrop 36:06
Yeah. Again, I, when I think about why we built these, and our intent in building these was to create a, an expanded toolkit that could give coaches the right tool in the right moment for the right situation. And that we wouldn't have to be dependent upon our own, I say, "our own" -- us as coaches -- our own ingenuity and how to translate, you know, CliftonStrengths 34 Report content to the role of a leader or the role of a salesperson. That rather than making that something that each coach has to figure out on their own and lean on their own expertise for, we can get you 80% there with, with these reports. Does not mean that everybody, every coach is going to need every one of their clients, or any, if you're embedded inside of an organization, that every person in your organization needs this report. I see value in it for every person. But I also don't think that's something that is realistic to expect everybody to have every one of these. Our hope is that you see, OK, well, when I'm working with somebody who is focused on their leadership, that's their developmental goal that they're trying to help -- that I'm engaged with them as a coach to help with, that I should at least explore this tool as a tool that might help in that conversation. Right? You have more options. We have, we are introducing complexity. And we know that; we understand that.

Austin Suellentrop 37:32
But selfishly, part of what I've always hoped for with, with all of these, and part of what it gets our team excited, is by documenting and sort of archiving this knowledge in report form, it gets used more. We know that these statements and these tools and these, these resources are being used in more settings than they ever were before. Which means we get more feedback, which means people are trying new things. And it's helping propel the movement forward a little bit. So I've spoken about this a couple times, but this is Version 1 of all these reports. Just like StrengthsFinder 1.0, you got a paragraph that was the same paragraph for every person with that theme. And we used it and we used it and we used it. And then we had StrengthsFinder 2.0. And we had unique statements for each individual. This first suite of reports is standard content -- for everybody that has these reports gets the same content. As we use them more and more and more, and we get more and more feedback, we'll absolutely be able to build out future versions of this. So that's what gets me excited. That's why, that's how I see these -- as additional tools you can pull in when the moment's right.

Jim Collison 38:39
And, Austin, translations for those, you typically follow behind them. Same, same plan for this?

Austin Suellentrop 38:44
Yep, absolutely. They're already actively being translated. You know, we, we have received feedback over the last, I'd say, as long as I've been at Gallup, so 7 years, right, around, around translations of the importance of them, but also of the importance of getting them right. And so we were trying to tweak our process every time we do this to be a little more accurate and a little more on the, on the, on the nose with it. And so we're already translating them. I'll share updates, in terms of timelines, when that comes out. But our hope is that 60 to 90 days, we'll have all those translations out.

The "Magic," Nuances of the Managers and Leaders Reports

Jim Collison 39:15
Awesome. I know I'd get that, asked that question here shortly. Amy had asked, Have you covered the difference between the CS for Managers Report and this one? And let me say, as I think about the senior contributors to this, Mike McDonald was the, the early contributor to the Manager Report. Jody VanOsdel, who a lot of folks don't know but who does a lot of work on hiring great salespeople at Gallup, a major contributor to the Sales Report. And now Therese, who works with leaders full-time all the time, thinks about them -- major contributor to this. While we think -- and Therese, this is the question I have for you -- As you think about what you know about the Manager Report and what you have written in the Leadership Report, How would you describe -- we came up with some words like, Manager Report is about managing today; leadership or the Leader, the Leaders Report is about leading in the future, things like that. How do you think about the difference between the two?

Therese Nisbet 40:11
So I didn't write the Manager Report, but I know if I had written it, I would have thought about it differently. I really would have, because I just think, Who's sitting at the table? And what table are they sitting at? And so, while there, while all, there's wonderful strengths themes in everybody, Significance as a manager probably does feel a little bit different than Significance at that leader level, where there feels like there's more risk. And so I think it's nuanced, to be honest. And so I think it's just, I think there's enough personality between those three reports where you will feel the nuance, depending on really the role people are sitting in. And, and I want to go back really quick, as you think about this Leadership Report, I'm pretty certain that some of the leaders I coach, and where their managers will get the CliftonStrengths for Managers and CliftonStrengths for Sales, that they will be wanting people to share, if nothing else, just what are some of those action items? Because it makes, I think it makes everybody better.

Therese Nisbet 41:19
It's, when I understand really from your lens, what are your action items as, in terms of that strength as a salesperson or as a manager, and I want you to understand me as a leader, there really is magic, depending on the depth and breadth of your coaching, as they really experience this within a company culture. How do they share this and be open about what is this great information that really has given me moments of Aha!? And I want you to understand that about me too. And so I just think there are so many ways that we can use these reports -- not only just one-on-one coaching, but even as collaborative partnerships within team dynamics, just depending on really who, who's got these in their hands and how they're using them.

Jim Collison 42:05
Austin, you want to add to that?

Austin Suellentrop 42:07
Yeah, there's a great, so in the sample report, I love that we are able to use Don's themes as a, as an example, an example, because Significance in particular is one of those ones that, in a leader, right, can be, I think, misperceived --perceived in a really a potentially risky way -- though I love the way you introduced the element of risk. If you go to the first action item on the sample report, "Share your high aspirations with other leaders." And that last line, "Tell them why these ambitions are important to you." And being able to get a leader to see the importance of that conversation with fellow leaders -- Why is it that you're, that you aspire to make an impact? What does it look like for you to be driving that impact at the organizational level? And helping them connect that it's not just about the spotlight; that it's about the impact you're making and the, and the way that can help translate the perception of Significance -- not only in you as a leader, but then, in turn, across the organization. If they can see how Significance is helping you as a leader, anybody else in the organization that you come across that has Significance can then be perceived differently.

Austin Suellentrop 43:23
And that's a really powerful way -- I bet you half the conversations I have with clients and with coaches is, is centered around helping strengths take root inside of an organization. How do I spread this in my, in my organization? And so much of that is about helping leaders see the value, in helping leaders see that, that simple action of getting leaders with certain, with a theme like Significance to speak about the personalization of it and the importance to them can really be a powerful thing. That's not the kind of action we would be prescribing in other reports, right. That's where you get the sort of uniqueness of a Leader Report. And that's true, whether you're a C-suite executive inside of a Fortune 500 company, or you are a volunteer leader inside of a church community, right? The human impact of, I'm doing this because of the impact it can make, versus I'm doing this so that I can get the recognition for it. Right. How can we have a powerful sort of, powerful spin, if you will?

Jim Collison 44:24
One, one more question, Therese, for you that I have: As we think about, you know, there's, the 10 themes, 2 pages per, lots of resources available there. As we think about using this in a theme dynamics mode, doing our own theme dynamics with it -- so, for me, I like to take Arranger and Maximizer; those are the, my two themes that I jam together all the time. Can I use this report, read the statements from one and the other and then kind of spend some time creating my own dynamics of it of how these two themes work together as me, for me as a leader?

Therese Nisbet 45:00
I think, I think that's really the magic of it. I think it's hard for us as coaches in general to think about one theme at a time anyway. The beauty I think of the Leadership Report is it does allow, when I do a lot of, you know, coaching with leaders, they really are hung up usually on a theme, a strength. They're pretty sure this strength gets them into mischief, or this strength is really just the one that's causing them all kinds of issues. The beauty, though, I think, of it is, when you look at all these statements, and you read them in tandem with each other, you start to see you. So I think, even though they're all unique strengths, the way that you, as you read across all of them, you're going, I see how those integrate into me. And I see how my Significance is -- it's sitting with something else -- is really, is really making me, it gives me broader breadth and depth. I keep using that term as, as a coach or even as a manager or a salesperson or an individual contributor -- whatever you are, it gives you more breadth and depth, as you think about the uniqueness of each of those themes or strengths, and how they interplay with each other.

Therese Nisbet 46:11
So that's the fun part, I think. If you haven't done that, if you, when you get your CliftonStrengths for Leaders is really align all of those strengths and think, OK, how do they interplay in a way that really just makes me who I am and how they show up?

Jim Collison 46:28
Austin, would you add anything to that?

Austin Suellentrop 46:30
I wish I could talk to Therese every morning to start my day.

Jim Collison 46:33
I think the chat room does as well. Lisa was asking already, Will you, will Therese be back for more? I love hearing from her. Well, she's difficult to get to time with, because she's super busy with us. We'll see what we can do. I will mention, we do have some additional resources coming from Gallup for you on Called to Coach around this topic. So Jaclynn Robinson will be back to spend some time talking with us. Jeremy Pietrocini, who is equally hard to get time with, is coming back. Robert Gabsa, who's done a lot of work with us and Hologic^® is going to be coming back to spend some time. He did a whole series on building a strengths-based culture back in 2020 with us, so excited to have those resources as well as Jaclynn and I will be spending all of next year looking at each one of these themes in The CliftonStrengths Podcast for Season 2. So lots of materials available for you theme by theme; lots of available resources coming. Austin, from a resourcing standpoint, have we forgotten anything?

Austin Suellentrop 47:31
God, I don't think so. I hope not. I think the, I try to say every time: Stay tuned. We are, we're not slowing down, in terms of content we're creating, products we're building and launching. This is a really exciting time to be a part of the strengths movement. And when I say that, we're experimenting with some things. We're codifying in reports some, some experiential knowledge, like what we've done with Therese here, being able to get her perspective and our team's perspective on leadership. We didn't even talk about today the fact that, you know, yes, Therese wrote this. She wrote the base of this. And then we had Jacque Merritt give input; we had Jim Asplund give input. We had other people who had, who have equal perspectives to share. So this is really, we try to think of this like a greatest hits on our thoughts around strengths and leadership. And so I'm incredibly proud of what we've created.

Austin Suellentrop 48:20
Therese, thank you so much, not only for your time today, but for all the time over the years that built your expertise to get us to where we are. I will join Jim's campaign to get you back on here more, as much as we can. And to all of our coaches out there who are part of the Certified Coaching community, we've got some really cool things planned for the Learning Series. It's coming up in February. That's the only tease I can give you so far. But we've got a lot of great stuff planned for that. But between now and then, our hope is that you can experience the Leadership Report -- the CliftonStrengths for Leaders Report. Download it, use it, get comfortable with it, and keep asking us questions, right, keep pushing us to get better. That's why we do this. So Therese, thank you so much again for being here. Jim, thanks as always for putting this together and, and hosting. We really do appreciate it.

Jim Collison 49:07
Therese, I'll say that as well. It's been a privilege to be able to spend the last 2 days with you. I don't ever get 2 days in a row with you, and it's been fabulous. Thanks for all the work that you did on this, and thank you for the, just the, the coming out today and making the time for us to, to, to be a part of this. Congratulations to you and all the team. It took a big team to put this together -- big enough that I probably couldn't get them all on this screen all at the same time. Many folks, and, and we're very proud of this work. Austin, I'm, I'm really excited to have these three reports available out there. They all work really well together. And this is icing, a really delicious icing. Hopefully everybody likes icing on the cake. So, so appreciate that as well. Therese, thank you. Appreciate it.

Therese Nisbet 49:53
Thanks so much. It was fun.

Jim Collison 49:55
With that, I'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we have available. We've been talking about all these, for our certified coaches: gallup.com/certifiedcoach. If you're, if you've taken CliftonStrengths, maybe it's time to log back into Gallup Access and see those resources that are available for you: gallup.com/cliftonstrengths will get you there as well. For coaching, master coaching, or if you want to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, maybe you've been thinking about it, and some of you have -- I know you have -- you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Really, that address works for any questions you have. I mentioned these upcoming webcasts, and you can still sign up for them and join us live: gallup.eventbrite.com. That's where we put all our live webcasts, and you can get, get access to those and join us live. It's a lot more fun live. We get the chat out there. We appreciate that. Austin alluded to this, or if he did, he should have -- the 2023 Gallup at Work Summit is coming, and both virtual and in-person plans are available. Get signed up today. It's going to be the place to be here this June. Head out to gallupatwork.com. And then find us on any social platform just by searching "CliftonStrengths," and let's continue the conversation around this. We want to thank you, if you joined us live, thanks for coming out today. If you've joined the podcast version of this, chances are we've got more learning already in the podcast channel for you. Continue your learning and education. For those listening live, thanks for coming out today. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

Therese Nisbet's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Individualization, Woo, Maximizer, Relator and Achiever.

Gallup^®, CliftonStrengths^® and each of the 34 CliftonStrengths theme names are trademarks of Gallup. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © 2000 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.