Jim Collison:
[0:01] Welcome to Season 4 of The CliftonStrengths Podcast, where we'll dive deep into how CliftonStrengths themes build powerful partnerships and help teams thrive. I'm Jim Collison, Gallup's CliftonStrengths Community Manager.
Jillian White:
[0:11] And I'm Jillian White, Gallup's Subject Matter Expert on Culture and Leadership and our Lead Subject Matter Expert for CliftonStrengths.
Jim Collison:
[0:16] Today's theme is Developer. We'll explore what this theme brings, what it needs and how it fosters collaboration. Jillian, always great to see you. Welcome!
Jillian White:
[0:24] Always great to partner with you. And I hope that people feel very developed through learning about our Developer today.
Jim Collison:
[0:30] Yeah, it kind of fits in nicely with this model, because we created these podcasts to be kind of Developer-driven, so to speak, right — education, learning, some of those kinds of things. But before we get too far, let's back up a little bit. Tell us a little bit about this theme. What is it?
Jillian White:
[0:44] Remember, at the heart of Developer are individuals who love to cultivate growth and potential in other people. These are the individuals who see that potential. They want to pull it out, encourage it, and celebrate incremental growth and progress for individuals. It's a Relationship Building strength, so it loves to do that with people. It cultivates potential in people. The image that I have is actually a baby taking its first steps, right? And you see somebody who's standing on the other side of the room that's like, "Come on! Come on! You can do it!" And they really encourage them to take that step forward. They encourage that progress. They celebrate that progress. And you see that, that potential being nurtured and cultivated by that person who's the high Developer on the other side of the room.
Jim Collison:
[1:32] In a workplace setting, a manager or an individual, whatever, who has high Developer — where it's really working on people — is special. To see the, the intentional direction of moving people in directions. When you think about some of the work that you've done, you got a good example, as we think about this theme in action?
Jillian White:
[1:53] Yeah, I was thinking about a group that I was with last year. I did a keynote on strengths-based development with a group that is actually in education. And they have child development centers all around — they have about 2,000 center directors who are coming all together as a part of this conference. And so, when you have that many people go through strengths at the same time, you can look at the collective and see what their top strengths are. Think about the industry that I just shared with you. This group had Developer in their Top 5. So it was so fun to actually see that as a collective in that environment. First of all, think about how this likely showed up for many of them in the work that they did.
Jillian White:
[2:34] Now, you don't have to have high Developer to be in child development. You know, you don't, it doesn't mean if you have Developer, you can't use it in other contexts, but it was such a great fit in this scenario of people who truly loved bringing out potential and got to do that through their work. And what I noticed in that setting — you're going to hear me continually bring back listening for the values of strengths — Developer values development. So what I also noticed is that they lit up when they felt developed at that conference as well. So it was really fun to just see how naturally they lit up with the idea of growth and fueling potential.
Jim Collison:
[3:12] Jillian, when you're around a group like that, can you feel that? I mean, that much energy — does it, doesn't it, don't you get a sense, like, you can almost feel it coming out of the group, right?
Jillian White:
[3:23] You and I were just talking about this. I think it's fascinating to just think about the physiology of strengths. Oftentimes I'll talk about, you know, go back to our initial research on clues of talent. We actually have interviewers trained to listen for talent. Oftentimes, what you're listening for is when someone's energy rises. You're listening for confident answers that don't have qualifiers to it. You know, "Are you competitive?" "Yes." Right? Like, those types of answers. But I think you get clues when you look for ease, excellence and enjoyment. And I think you can see it on people. So you see, when this person who's high Developer, when it comes easy, when they're enjoying helping to, in that situation, create the next generation of, you know, humans through their development. And when — ease, excellence, enjoyment, right? So they're doing it with excellence, and they're really enjoying just lighting up any, any opportunity to develop and be developed.
Jim Collison:
[4:20] Yeah, I love that. I just, sometimes you can just see it. You can just feel it. You just know it when you're hanging around those, those people. In our, in Gallup Access now and in actually the Gallup Access app, we have a section where you can actually compare your themes to others'. We got a little graph that's in there, the relative distance. But we also spend some time giving you some clues on what it brings and what it needs. We're going to practice that now. Jillian, when we think about Developer, what's it bring?
Jillian White:
[4:47] Yeah, Jim, I was just thinking about your question of what it feels like when you have strong Developer, and what does it feel like in a partnership? I think it feels very safe, because you have somebody who you know is rooting for you, sees your potential and wants to help you progress. What you typically experience on the other side of a Developer, if I'm partnering with one, usually they have a lot of patience. They usually have a commitment to improvement, and they're usually going to bring an awareness of progress. That's where they light up is helping to see growth and progress in someone. So they're going to help us see the first steps and celebrate them.
Jim Collison:
[5:27] Often with Developer, we think about, it makes sense on what it brings. That's, because it's always doing something for people, right? It's always developing them. We kind of forget about what it needs. So I think this is just as important. So what does it need?
Jillian White:
[5:40] Yeah, I think about two sides with this. What does a Developer need? Remember, it's a Relationship Building strength. It needs people to invest in and develop. So think about giving this person opportunities to be the coach, be the mentor, be the teacher in a situation. They're going to thrive when they're helping to foster growth in someone else. So even when you're partnering with them, give them those opportunities to look for development. I also think on the flip side of that, go back to what I shared earlier, if it values development, what else do they need? They likely need to feel developed themselves. They need people who are saying, "Hey, how are you learning and growing through this process? What do I see in you, and how can you develop through this or have a developmental goal?" So those are good to keep in mind as you're partnering with somebody with that high development.
Jim Collison:
[6:25] I might add one more — in sharing in the end result of that development, right? And being there or being a part of it or seeing the, right, seeing the end of that development — whatever it might be — and sharing in the end and recognition, right, of saying, Oh, yeah, that did, that did pay off. Like, all that work, all those steps did pay off.
Jillian White:
[6:46] Yeah. And that's where I think you see that, just patience. I think people who I work with who are high Developer, there's just a strong level of, like, patience and support. They're rooting for you.
Jim Collison:
[6:57] For sure. We have this thing we call Theme Dynamics. It's a new section in our new Top 5 report that's out there. Comparing two themes, we've got statements for individuals. We're going to talk about some for groups and teams. But how would you see this, or what's the most common theme that pairs with Developer out of our database, Jillian?
Jillian White:
[7:18] Yeah. Remember, database for us, 34 million people and counting around the globe who have actually taken Clifton StrengthsFinder and know their strengths. And when we look at that combination of what's most likely to show up with somebody who has Developer, they are also most likely to have Empathy in their Top 5. So I want to actually read the actual statement. Oftentimes I give my own words to this, but I want to read the actual statement that you would find on a Top 5 report for this one: "Human emotion and potential are invisible realities. You can help others express their feelings and achieve their potential." So you can see how those two work together. Empathy can probably feel where someone's at, and then Developer thinks about how to take that and shape that and help them move forward.
Jim Collison:
[8:06] What a great extra sense to have working with. Like, Hey, I feel like I can sense this in you. Let's move in this kind of direction.
Jillian White:
[8:14] Yeah.
Jim Collison:
[8:14] That's pretty, that's pretty great. And I love that, I love that example as well. Let's think about it in the terms of partnerships or collaboration.
Jillian White:
[8:22] Yeah. So think about what's going to light up somebody who's got strong Developer. They're going to get even stronger with that strength if they have people who help them tailor that development. So Individualization, Empathy, like we just talked about, Learner — these are strengths that might do well with helping to say, OK, who is the person in front of you? And how do you tailor that development in a way that's going to be really meaningful and help bring out the best of what you're seeing in that person? So that's, I think, a fun catalyst partner. On the flip side, who's your complementary partners? One thing — I always think complementary is either looking for, you know, who is completely different than you, that brings a different perspective? Or who helps to compensate for a potential watch-out area for the strength? One thing we know with Developers: They see potential; sometimes they have a hard time letting go of that potential. So this might be in a work setting. This might be somebody who, they have someone on their team who just continually has some performance issues, and they have a hard time getting to a point where they need to realize they need to let that person go if they're just not getting there, right?
Jillian White:
[9:30] So who do they need to partner with? Think about, you know, somebody who can help take some action or know when to move forward. So Achiever, Activator, Command, I mean, any of those types of strengths that help kind of move that forward and think about the actions with it. When I think about not necessarily opposites, right, but when I also think about where Developer lights up, I'll give a real example with this. We had a coaching team within Gallup who was all coaching with a client around engagement results. And we had someone on our team who was strong Developer. And where she thrived was actually working with some of the managers who had lower engagement results. What she was able to do is bring a patience and help them see where they could make some progress and celebrate that progress. And she was a perfect fit in that scenario.
Jillian White:
[10:20] Now, who else did we need on that team — to think about partnering? We also needed some people with more of a Maximizer orientation. So those might be the people who I positioned more to work with, let's say, some of the people who are already strong on engagement, and just take them up a notch to the next level. So if you think about building a team around this, you may need those people — Developer's going to have a lot of that patience for that incremental, small-step growth. We need that. We also need those people who operate more in those good to great, who want to work with your high potentials and take that to the next level. So those are fun combinations to think about.
Jim Collison:
[10:54] I love that exercise you just did. I was thinking about a team grid and the team conversations like this that can happen around these. And it just has, doesn't have to be for Developer, right? Any of these, as we get teams together, you kind of just gave a clinic on what we do sometimes around teams and team grids, thinking about, Hey, how do we, how do we, what are some catalysts for us? How do we complement each other, right, in this way? And that just begins the conversation of starting to work these things out. We have some tips for leaders, teams and individuals. Let's start with the leaders. How can leaders recognize and harness Developer in their teams and for their organization?
Jillian White:
[11:32] I always feel like this section is just like a summary of everything we've been talking about, right?
Jim Collison:
[11:36] I think it is. It is a good comeback.
Jillian White:
[11:37] Just translate this for the leader. If you've got people on your team or in your organization, like the organization I was talking about, that has strong Developer across the entire company, right? Think about, first of all, how do you spot it? These are people good at developing those around them. People go to them likely for help. They are encouraging growth in others. You're just going to naturally see that showing up in the team. We're always going to talk about, for a leader, think about how to get the best out of that strength, and position them to do more of it. Unlock that strength, right? These might be great candidates, like I mentioned earlier, for being mentors, for being a part of development. Maybe you've got newer associates coming on the team who need to kind of learn the ropes. Pair them with that high Developer, right? That Developer needs to be positioned to develop. Remember, if you're a leader, to focus on their development as well. Also be there for those moments where you need to help prod a little bit if they need to let go of potential, like we talked about, in a situation.
Jim Collison:
[12:34] Jillian, never worry about coming back around and reemphasizing.
Jillian White:
[12:38] It's the teacher in us, right?
Jim Collison:
[12:39] That's what good Developers do. That's what good Developers do, right? Good teachers do that as well. What about teams? What, working with someone with high Developer, what should they know?
Jillian White:
[12:49] I, I always like to just think about, what are, what are questions you can ask someone on a team who has this strength? So if I'm working with somebody who's high Developer, I say, "Hey, where do you see opportunities for people to grow in the work that we're doing together?" Maybe we're rolling out a system change in a company, but there's an underlying opportunity to help people grow and develop through that process. How could we bring that angle to it? So use their ability to naturally see that and tap into it. Also think about how to celebrate progress with them. It's not Positivity, so it's not wired that way, but it does love to see and celebrate progress. And so bringing that into your partnership will be really meaningful and speak the language of your partner who's high Developer.
Jim Collison:
[13:33] And finally, for individuals, what are some final thoughts, as we think about them amplifying this theme in their partnerships?
Jillian White:
[13:41] You know, I've been trying to think about how we could bring in more of our research, because you know me, I love — Input and Learner — I love bringing in some of what we're learning in other spaces. And I was thinking about what we know about millennials in workplaces. We know the No. 1 retention factor of millennials in a workplace is that they're in a place where they can learn and grow. What do we need more of in our workplace cultures? Growth orientation to retain people. What do Developers bring? They bring an ability to help think about cultures where we grow and develop and cultivate potential. So bring that to your organization, bring it to the people around you. They are going to feel encouraged to make progress and grow themselves when you are bringing the strength and encouraging them to step up and develop.
Jim Collison:
[14:28] Speaking of learning and growing, with that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the learning and growing resources we have available in Gallup Access. If you log in, head to the Resources tab menu, upper left, and choose Resources. Put in this theme, Developer, and everything that we've developed around that — some podcasts, written content — available for you as well. And then just talk about it with some friends, too. I always, it is always, just the other day, Addi, who's in chat now, we were talking about my family, we brought up the themes, we started talking about them. Just a great opportunity to review some of those as well. If you're listening live, stay around for a little bit of a postshow. If you're listening as a podcast or there on YouTube, we probably have another one for you. We'll see you in the next one. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.
Jillian White's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Input, Learner, Belief and Responsibility.