Called to Serve: Strengths-Based Teamwork Aboard Mercy Ships

Jim Collison:
[0:00] I'm Jim Collison, and this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on May 13, 2025.

Jim Collison:
[0:06] Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches sharing tactics, insights, and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world. If you're listening live, love to have your questions there in chat. On LinkedIn, you can just make a comment. We'll see those, those comments there. If you're listening after the fact to the podcast audio or YouTube video, you can always send us an email with your questions: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to subscribe to Called to Coach on your favorite podcast app right there on YouTube, so you never miss an episode. And we will say happy International Coaching Week as well, as we celebrate that this week. Lauren Siedel is our host today. Lauren is a Workplace Advisor. And as always, Lauren, it's great to have you on Called to Coach. Welcome back!

Lauren Siedel:
[0:53] Thanks, Jim. And yes, happy International Coaching Week. So excited and thrilled to introduce you to two of my incredible partners from Mercy Ships here joining us today. I have the amazing Lisa and Robert. So Lisa, why don't you go ahead and kick us off with a little bit more about you and your role.

Lisa Boes:
[1:11] Sure. My role at Mercy Ships focuses on designing leadership development programs and manager training, and I support managers across the organization. So our U.S.-based managers, our ship managers, I support some of our national offices, and really help global teams try to communicate and collaborate across cultures, across generations and faith backgrounds. My background before Mercy Ships was in higher ed, and my Top 5 are Individualization, Empathy, Strategic, Arranger and Self-Assurance.

Lauren Siedel:
[1:51] I love it. I definitely can hear that Individualization coming through. Robert, would you let us know a little bit more about you as well?

Robert Corley:
[1:58] Yeah, thanks, Lauren. So I currently have the honor of serving as the Chief Operating Officer here at Mercy Ships, which means, much like Lisa, I have the opportunity to go out and be able to help impact people right where they are. So I've been doing this for about 4 years now. Kind of prior to this, I spent about 7 years at Southwest Airlines. That's where I first made basically a hub for a lot of the strengths work that's been done there. It's just been a fantastic opportunity. My Top 5 strengths: Developer, Positivity, Arranger, Strategic and Communication.

Lauren Siedel:
[2:32] Awesome. I love it. And I love that Southwest background. Would one of you just share a little bit more? I know for the listeners who are joining us live, they may or may not have heard a little bit about Mercy Ships before. So would you share a little bit more about what you all do?

Robert Corley:
[2:46] Yeah, absolutely. Well, Mercy Ships, we run the largest hospital ships in the world, non-government-owned. These are ships that go into ports, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa — we're really focused on the African continent right now — to go in and support of governments that are trying to improve their healthcare systems. What we're going to do is provide direct surgical care. So imagine having a lot of people in a country. Right now we're in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has very little access to medical professionals across the continent, or across the country. And so what we do is go in there and partner with the government to actually offset some of their surgical burden by providing a host of volunteers that come there in order to provide safe surgeries. That's the biggest piece that we do. And we do this really in honor of serving our Lord. So our mission is to really, following the 2,000-year-old model of Jesus, provide open healing to the world's forgotten poor in Africa right now.

Lauren Siedel:
[3:44] Yeah, I love that. And I think, for those of you that are listening, I'm sure you've seen Gallup's latest research around the 4 Needs of Followers. I love that Hope is shining through so much in our world right now, but also that it has that direct connection to the work that Mercy Ships does. So thanks for sharing a little bit more about that, Robert. So I know, Robert, and I know we'll get into a little bit more about Mercy Ships as we continue, but you mentioned that you came from Southwest. I'm assuming that's probably where you were introduced. Tell us a little bit more about your strengths journey and where'd you learn strengths for the first time? What excited you about strengths? Would love to learn more.

Robert Corley:
[4:20] Yeah. Well, you know, the first thing that really pops into my brain is if there is something I can use to help other people grow, my Developer strength, I'm going to latch on to it. So as it started really coming to fruition at Southwest back about 10 years ago or so is when I first got introduced to, to strengths, and getting to do that, that initial assessment, it really just, created this burning desire inside of me in order to learn more. So therefore I went through a, I did the, the coaching, became a coach. I was really able just to utilize that in my team development there to be part of a journey. And Southwest has had, they did such a great job at integrating strengths into everything they did culturally. And so it was really a great platform for me, really coaching my teams, being able to use it with my family as well — so my wife, my daughter as well — and be able to integrate that into a lot of what I do in a just normal vernacular, creating a common language with those around me.

Lauren Siedel:
[5:14] I love that. Lisa, what about you? How did you get introduced to strengths?

Lisa Boes:
[5:19] Yeah, I was part of a women's retreat in 2001 and first knew strengths there. So really just more insight on myself. In 2016, I started using it in higher ed with a team of academic advisers. And, and then after that, after hired, I did some consulting and coaching and started using it with nonprofits and with churches and it was during then that I got interested in doing global NGO work and found Mercy Ships. And so I talked about bringing a strengths perspective to Mercy Ships when I arrived in 2000, and it was something they were really interested in pursuing. So strengths has been a nice thread in my career moves.

Lauren Siedel:
[6:12] I love that. That's amazing. So let's talk about, I know you said that you first introduced it back in 2000, but tell us a little bit about how that first came to be. Who were you initially sharing the gift of strengths with at that point?

Lisa Boes:
[6:27] Yeah. So I think you'll hear that we took a very ground-up approach with strengths. And I started with the learning and development team at Mercy Ships and introduced it to them. And then there were a few other managers who then wanted it with their teams. And then we started using it as part of our onboarding process. So we have a really intensive onboarding program, and every single employee and long-term volunteer in 2021 started taking strengths as part of that experience. And we really connected someone's personal identity to their calling as part of that language. After that, we had a few more strengths coaches and just a lot of things at Mercy Ships started happening around people with, we make door cards for everyone with their Top 5s and how they contribute to a team, the definition. And people just started asking one another about their strengths and seeing those connections.

Lauren Siedel:
[7:40] I love that. And what a powerful way to keep that language alive and to create that common language, right? So as you're walking around the ship, you're able to see, Lisa leads with Individualization. I wonder how we could partner really well together? I think that's so remarkable. Tell me a little bit about, I know you have some really incredible stories about just how CliftonStrengths has impacted those, you know, on the ship, your volunteers. So tell us a little bit more about maybe a story that you think has been instrumental in this movement happening at Mercy Ships.

Lisa Boes:
[8:16] Yeah, I think one of the ways that we've been able to really engage with this is to connect it to some biblical principles. So when we introduce strengths, we use 1 Samuel 17, which is the story of David and Goliath. And whether you're in a secular context or a Christian context, you know the story of David and Goliath. And people often remember how they were taught the story as a kid, that it has to do with the little guy prevails over the big guy. But we really go into that story and look at David's preparation and how he spent years developing courage and the aim with the slingshot and practicing and practicing and practicing before that moment that he meets Saul and says, "Send me in there." And we read these few verses where Saul gives David armor, and David puts it on. And then he looks down at the stones in the stream and says, "This is not going to work for me," and Saul lets him do it a different way. And so we really dig into, like, what are the moments in your life where you, where you do things how you're supposed to do them, where you think there's a certain definition of what a leader or someone in your role should be versus are you doing this in a really authentic way that matches who you were made to be?

Lisa Boes:
[9:51] And that story really opens up a lot for people. And we, basically they come they come back to the story of David-Goliath with a whole new way, not just what they learned as a kid but what lessons there are about doing the work of investing in your talents and using them for service and looking at how something that started out as kind of a calling and preparation becomes this really strategic moment. Because if David had gone in in a traditional way, Goliath never would have taken off his helmet. It changed everything. And how he was humble and he picked up five stones, not just one, right?

Lisa Boes:
[10:39] And then we talk about how David was also a musician and a poet. He didn't have just one strength. But we kind of, we send people off with this idea of, you're expected to do the work to, to invest in who you were made to be and develop those on behalf of — and you don't know how you'll be called to service, but if you're doing the work to invest in it, you'll be ready. So I think that connection between this very really well-researched tool that has so much, like, face validity when you first read it. Like, yeah, that's great. But when we also put it in this biblical context, I think it's really powerful for people.

Lauren Siedel:
[11:25] Yeah, that's wonderful. I love that. I also think it'd be really interesting to share — I know you both have shared a story with me about a doctor on your ship and, a powerful story about that. Would you mind sharing a little bit about how CliftonStrengths has connected to that special quote?

Robert Corley:
[11:47] Yeah, Lisa, you got that one. You kind of have some personal connection there.

Lisa Boes:
[11:51] Yeah. So Dr. Audria Bessie is a plastic reconstructive surgeon from Benin. Not only is she the first female, she's the first plastic reconstructive surgeon from Benin. And she, against all odds, really dedicated herself to being able to treat people who have burns and to restore their skin and their ability to move, but also just even like their faces, so that they feel like they're more welcome in their communities. But she says, "When you're given a gift, you're meant to share it." And it's really about, again, that idea of, I think she'd agree that when you're given a gift, you're meant to develop it and share it. And so it means using your gifts for service, and that that's a way to be really, to honor who you were made to be.

Lauren Siedel:
[12:57] I love that. I think that's such a powerful story. And when I heard that, I couldn't help but just feel the pride in what CliftonStrengths is, that gift — we all have a gift, a unique contribution to the world. And so I think that that's just such a powerful story. Tell us — maybe Robert, I'll pass this one over to you — tell us a little bit about, I know we talked high level about what Mercy Ships does, but tell us a little bit about how your organization is made up of. How many employees you have, how many volunteers support your mission.

Robert Corley:
[13:31] Yeah, excellent question. Thank you so much for that. Well, we are currently, the way we're set up, we've got a headquarters actually based in rural east Texas, about 2 hours southeast of Dallas. Now for those that are watching might think, how is Mercy Ships? You run hospital ships. Why are you in East Texas? There's no big body of water. There's no ocean there. I ask myself the same question. There's a lot of history in that, in that you have this corridor out here about 2 hours southeast of Dallas. A lot of Christian nonprofits are actually based out here. And YWAM — Youth with a Mission — was based out here. And that was kind of a pull for us. It was kind of a lot of other Christian organizations. So that's the headquarters that we have. A warehouse, taking in gifts in kind, helping supply what we do. We have a lot of people doing all your back office functions and being able to help support our global mission.

Robert Corley:
[14:19] However, we also have 15 other national offices spread out all over the world that do fundraising and recruiting for us. So think of places like Switzerland and France. You also have the U.K. You've got Australia, New Zealand. I could name about — there are 15 of them, but you get the point. We've got those offices all around the world where we can get our message out. We can actually then partner with key fundraisers to raise money to do what we do, and also we can find the people to come and serve. We run two hospital ships. We've got one currently in Sierra Leone, in Freetown, and one in Toamasina, Madagascar. And so, on two different sides of a huge continent — Sierra Leone on the west coast and Madagascar down in the southeast, an island there off the southeastern coast of Africa.

Robert Corley:
[15:07] We also, in Guinea, we have a dental school that we partner with the university there in order to train dentists, oral surgeons, et cetera. These are folks that are coming from all over the African continent in order to be able to train, go to specialized training in Morocco, come back to Guinea to do their clinicals, and then they go back to their home countries. So what we're really focused on is transformative healthcare. We want to do that by meeting the initial need of surgery, because it's so important, but we also want to partner with these countries to help them be able to transform. So essentially, we want to work ourselves out of a job. Now, that'll never happen. There's no "there" to get to. But by us being able to go and partner in, that allows us to run well.

Robert Corley:
[15:54] Now, you asked about the numbers. We actually, on the Africa Mercy down in Madagascar right now, the latest number is that we have 373 crew, and that includes individuals, their families, as well as contractors represented from over 41 countries. So 41 different countries are coming together. On the Global Mercy in Sierra Leone, there are 436 crew, representing across 43 countries. Now think about that for a second, in terms of strengths. If each one of those people have actually done their assessments, have been through coaching, you have that many countries — and some of those overlap a little bit, or overlap, But maybe there's 50 countries represented across both ships. You're talking about global use of strengths across our vessels, plus our dental school in Guinea, plus those national offices. So around the world, you're looking at, at any given time, maybe 1,000, 1,200 people that are actively working with Mercy Ships. But our volunteers rotate all the time. Surgeons, nurses, anesthetists will come in for one- or two-week surgical blocks, they'll go back home. But they've already got a taste of the culture. They've already got a taste of what's going on. And then some folks will be there for much longer periods of time.

Jim Collison:
[17:05] Robert — that turnover, Lisa had asked a question about that turnover. And I'm assuming she'd said, How's high-turnover environment? Seems like people would be committed. You're referring to your volunteers, right, in the high turnover. Is that correct?

Robert Corley:
[17:20] That's a great question, Lisa. Thank you for that. When you think about on a ship, if you're going to sell everything you have or you're going to put your money to go volunteer somewhere, some folks that are on short-term mission, many folks out there have maybe gone on short-term missions to do work. So it's high turnover in that way. But for our leadership on board the ships, they're going to be a lot more committed, like a longer-term commitment. So they may be for, some maybe 6 months, 2 years. Some have been on there for 14 years. And so it just depends on the situation. In our corporate environment, not as much.

Jim Collison:
[17:55] Sorry, I keep interrupting you. I'm excited to ask these questions.

Robert Corley:
[17:59] Come on, bring it.

Jim Collison:
[17:59] Getting too excited. When you think about the multinationalism of this, right, where you have all these, does the commonality of the strengths language, because we've got themes and some common, I mean, does it help to be able to have that mapped already by language, some understanding of some of that already? Does that help you out in that process?

Robert Corley:
[18:23] My short is Yes, but actually, Lisa, I'd like you to answer that question, because you're out there every single day with it.

Lisa Boes:
[18:28] Yeah. So people love that they can take the assessment — most of them can take it in their first language. And when I run team sessions, I give people the option to print their first language and English. They also want to read it and understand it in their first language and have the vocabulary to talk about it in English. I always joke around with the Germans that I'm going to charge them extra, because their words are so long, it takes extra paper to print it out when you do it. It has a ton of face validity. People still, when they recognize themselves in the language, it opens something up.

Lisa Boes:
[19:10] And then I'm going to make sure I talk about this too, which is, I think there are lots of opportunities for storytelling in strengths. When you get to tell, when you do Name it, Aim it, Claim it, Claim it's a story. How does this show up in your life? When did it first show up? And non-Westerners on, in general are very good storytellers. So when you invite people in to tell that story and then to reflect on how they've seen — tell stories about how they see their teammates using their strengths, it's such a great way to be seen and heard that it's really powerful on teams. And so, being able to take it in your own language is really validating, and then to be able to tell stories that feel heard and are really authentic really brings a team together.

Jim Collison:
[20:06] Robert, do you want to add to that?

Robert Corley:
[20:07] Well, just to build on a little bit too, maybe if I pulled this out of your question, if I misunderstood, please correct me. But is that also you have the ability to utilize that strengths platform across all these different cultures and all these different countries. And they still have some level of common understanding, much to Lisa's point. If I can understand it in English and I can understand it in my own language, then I've got the foundational understanding. So when you and I sit down and have a conversation, a lot of roadblocks have already been removed. One, it gives us something to talk about. Two, it gives us just a commonality that we didn't have before. And so when you bring in folks to our onboarding, imagine having, either here at our headquarters or on a ship, you're going to have people from all these different walks of life that are coming together for about a 2-week period to be able to get to know each other, not just in strengths, but in how we study the Bible, how we actually live together in community and other things as well. And they come away from that as a cohort where they can just build on it forever.

Jim Collison:
[21:08] Yeah. I just think of the idea of having 34 identified talent themes that are translated across many of these, not all of them, but many of these languages. And so we have some commonality instantly, right? We always say, CliftonStrengths is the ability to accelerate understanding and development on teams, right? Because we have a framework, right? We're all agreeing to similar concepts and ideas. And I just love to see that in action across languages, because now we don't have to work so hard to get those common ideas in there in some cases and think about it that way. Lauren, one more question before I turn it back over to you. There are folks wanting to volunteer. Are there spots for CliftonStrengths coaches to volunteer? And let's get the elephant in the room out of the way. How do they do that, if they want to volunteer?

Robert Corley:
[21:57] So the biggest thing for me, I would say, Yes. In fact, it's a cool way that Lisa's actually been able to engage others to actually volunteer their time to coach. There are many ways to do that. Lisa, what would be a practical step if somebody wanted to volunteer to coach?

Lisa Boes:
[22:13] Yeah, reach out to me if you want to be a remote coach. Also, our staff development team, we have volunteers on the ship who are trained in strengths. It's our staff development team. They also do other trainings like new crew orientation and a program we call "Equipping to Serve." So they do a broad training on the ship that they provide team-building sessions, and we specifically train them in strengths. So if you want to head off to the ship for a year, we would love to chat about how you could serve in staff development.

Robert Corley:
[22:45] So you could do that. You could also, Lisa, you said they work remotely if you wanted to be able to do that, maybe for even short-term pieces, if somebody wanted to. Heck, if somebody wants to coach me, come on, I would love it. But there are many other people, though, that we could connect folks to and just to kind of crowdsource this a little bit, because we don't have infinite funds to be able to pull in all the people that we would want to be able to sustain it. We're very fortunate. It's been going really well so far.

Jim Collison:
[23:11] Lauren, back to you.

Lauren Siedel:
[23:12] Awesome. Awesome. All of that was so powerful. I saw Lisa had another question in the chat that I kind of want to bring up here around just the strengths journey. So when we think about, I know we've mentioned just a little bit about Lisa, you introducing strengths, but let's talk about the journey. How did that start? Where did it first get infused? Let's go there, if that works.

Lisa Boes:
[23:39] So as a clarified, what was our journey in building strengths at Mercy Ships, or what does it look like for a crew or staff member? Which side of that do you want?

Lauren Siedel:
[23:48] Let's talk about how you built the strengths-based culture that exists today. So how did you first introduce it to a team, and then there was more interest? Tell us about that.

Lisa Boes:
[23:59] Yeah, so I can walk through this. So there's, we had a chaplain in around 2010 who'd done some retreats on the Africa Mercy and used strengths. So when I showed up in 2020 and said, Hey, do you want to explore strengths? A couple people had heard of it. And so I think that gave me a little bit of credibility. So I started doing it with a learning and development team. Then other teams in what was, like, basically HR and the people and culture space started doing it. In 2001, we got the subscription to start using Gallup Access, because I was off on the side trying to build little maps. And trust me, that took a long time. So in 2001, we got our Gallup Access subscription, and then we started making it part of our onboarding program. And so, all new employees, all long-term crew got their strengths, and they got a 90-minute session. And so we just kind of launched them off.

Lisa Boes:
[25:02] And then we started doing much, a lot more team sessions across the organization — team sessions with our employees; team sessions on the ships. And in 2023, we have a regular development series where managers and directors meet once a week for an hour. And in the summer of 2023, we bought everyone a copy of It's the Manager. And we did the CliftonStrengths Learning Journey for Managers together over a summer. And so there, we were trying to build a lot more capacity for managers as coaches, and particularly on the employee thread. And so in that way, and when Robert came to Mercy Ships in 2001, it's like, he immediately reached out to me. And so we've gotten a lot of executive support for strengths, but it really was a ground-up process. And Robert, maybe you can say where you think it's going.

Robert Corley:
[26:05] So let me add one little piece in here, Lisa. We didn't talk about this ahead of time, but — so in 2020, Lisa got there. In 2021, I got there. I think what you saw was just kind of this impact, like in a good way, because we both had a really big passion for people and helping people develop, learning. And then also we both had this thing in common. So right off the bat, Lisa and I already had strengths in common. We brought it from different capacities. So much like what I was talking about earlier, you immediately have that conversation. Well, then she's like, "You know, we could do something more with this." Well, having just come out of Southwest, I was already familiar with some of the contacts and such. So we actually were able to go back to that, to anchor it, to get that contract to be able to start.

Robert Corley:
[26:47] But here's the other thing that was happening in 2021: You still had all the effects of COVID. And specifically on the campus here, you didn't have people engaging. And so one of the other storylines in this is that by rolling out strengths during '21 and '22, not just here at our headquarters, but also on the ships, you started unpacking the culture again, to get people actually engaging. And that I think was really where we saw the strength. And so at that point, it's just flowing like water. People are just starting to pull it, and it's starting to say, Hey, can I get strengths on my team? Can you do a team session? And a lot of times, Lisa had so much on her plate trying to do this all herself, just running from here and there to do that and traveling to ships all the time.

Robert Corley:
[27:30] And so now, what we actually look at is, we've got a really strong foundation for strengths. Now we're looking at those next-level pieces. And Lauren, this is where you come in a lot as well, is how do we kind of take it to next levels when we look at things like Q¹² and again, overall engagement? How do we look at other leadership journeys and how we can partner with Gallup to be able to go do that? And that's what we're doing is looking at the evolution now of where we are. I just had a conversation with our, he's our board chairman, our MCEO, sat in my office just the other day talking about strengths. He's really unfamiliar with it. He's like, "We should do this with our executive team regularly." OK, great. Talked to our CFO just not 30 minutes ago, 45 minutes ago. And he's already done it. He's engaged. He said, "Yeah, we should be doing this." So you're getting that executive level buy-in now as well. It started slowly from the bottom, accelerated, and now we've got an opportunity to springboard into the future. Super excited by it. Hopefully it doesn't come off too much. My Positivity, it's going to come off.

Lauren Siedel:
[28:28] I love it. I have that Positivity too, Robert, so I love it. That's amazing. Wonderful. Are there any stories? I know that there's some chatter in the comments just about that storytelling aspect. Lisa, have you seen any teams transform via strengths or any stories that you can share about maybe those team conversations that are taking place today?

Lisa Boes:
[28:51] Yeah. So one of the things I, I wanted to make sure I mentioned today how useful the photo deck is. Even often before we do start with profiles, we have people tell stories about, What do you bring to your team? And we spread out the photo deck and have them pick them. And, you know, it triggers something for people. And for non-Westerners, storytelling is a really comfortable way to come into a conversation. And so, one of the funny things I like to watch for is, after they tell their stories, do you want to know how many Swiss people pick up the gears and the clock parts and talk about it?

Lisa Boes:
[29:39] Or someone from India who sees that the Taj Mahal is there and then also can tell a story about who they are and what that is. So I've just found like, even that tool feels really accessible to people from wherever they are, and I've just seen that it's being able to talk about who you are and what you bring to a team is just so validating for people, and when they feel like they get to authentically be who they who they are and that, and recognized for that, it just creates a lot of motivation. It changes, you know, being able to talk with managers about how they can draw strengths out of a team, just, it helps them connect quickly. When — someone asked the question about high turnover. So if you happen to have a housekeeping team on one of the ships, some of the people on your team, your team's going to change every 2 weeks. OK. And so using strengths, even like, we train our managers on like the 5 Clues to Talent, like even just using CliftonStrengths shorthand to look at like, "Wow, you did that really quickly! How did you do that? That seemed really natural for you." So even that helps people feel seen and valued in ways that just really change the culture of a team.

Lauren Siedel:
[31:07] That's so powerful. Robert, anything you'd add there just about how you've seen strengths transform teams?

Robert Corley:
[31:13] Yeah, you know, I think about on our two ships, you've got a managing director on each ship and you've got a senior management team that reports the managing director. And when I go visit the ships, I do it two or three times a year when I'm there, and starting to see how they're actually utilizing strengths in their day-to-day and how they actually work together. So it could be in the middle of a crisis. We have things that happen all the time. You have infectious diseases. You've got coups. You've got things that, if you're not used to traveling internationally in Africa and other places, you may not even think about that they're up against.

Robert Corley:
[31:47] Well, but if they understand, I'll give a good example. Our Managing Director went on PTO for a couple of weeks, and our Ops, Ops Director filled in for him. Well, there's a difference between the two of them. So Daniel — very, very outgoing, very gregarious, communicative, tends to work in kind of a Strategic lens; Sam, however, very Deliberative. And so when you have somebody in that role, they operate differently. Well, while Sam was filling in for Daniel during those 2 weeks, we had a little bit of an outbreak on board, but Sam kept his composure. He took his steps forward. He was able to move, and he was using his Deliberative strength in order to be able to communicate well with the team, in order to be able to keep calm and move forward through the, through the problem. And I start to see that on both vessels: people utilizing their strengths and leaning into it and calling it out and really helping people see their strengths inside themselves.

Robert Corley:
[32:47] The other story I'll give you, I don't know if I can reach it; well, let's try. So I've got this picture right here. And so this is our team in Guinea. They're actually where the dental school is. And right here, Estelle, right here, I got to meet her for the first time face-to-face. This was back in January, February. And I walked into her office. And when I walked into her office, she had her desk card there, and it had her Top 5 strengths. And I kind of do the thing, you know, as a coach, you can kind of, "Hey, if I talk to you about kind of where I see in your strengths, does this resonate with you?" And she starts, "Yeah, that really resonates with me." And then some of the other colleagues in the office see the same thing as well. And they say, "Hey, can you, can you help me out? Like, can you unpack that for me as well?" And by the time I left four days later, they were really, really, they'd already done strengths. They'd already done a lot of the assessments. They'd have been coached, but they were starting to unpack it differently, because they have somebody coming in that wants to get to know them, that has common language that gets to know them. And it's not just that team. And that, this actually is, I would say is one of our most high-performing teams in the organization. They work together. They love each other. They know their strengths, and they really pour into it.

Jim Collison:
[33:58] Robert, how do you know, just when you say, one of the most high-performing teams, like for when you're creating widgets, that's pretty, you know, it's pretty evident. You're not making widgets, right? How do you guys know? Can you talk about that a little bit?

Robert Corley:
[34:11] It's a great thing, because I came away, I came, came away this, this last four days. And, and one, if you look at the team, you'll see all these smiles. You see how close they are to each other. You see how they're kind of pulling each other in. And they're kind of hugging as well. So, one, that tells me you've really got a high level of trust and camaraderie. And so I can see that. I also see in the way that they interact with each other, high levels of respect. But I also see how their work ethic, and they're just getting stuff done. They're in there, and they're working together. They know what each other is going to do, what everybody needs to do in order to serve. This specific weekend, we had an orphanage that brought kids there to actually get dental work done, get checkups, have some minor surgeries. And the way that they were able to engage with those orphans, the way they were to engage with the families around the people that were leading them, you can just see now that they get how to be people in the world. And so when I say that, I have no quantifiable evidence. It's all subjective, but I can see it. Jim, does that help a little bit?

Jim Collison:
[35:12] Well, you named three things there. I mean, those are all very valid, when we're working with teams where we don't create widgets. I think some, oftentimes, organizations as a whole struggle with the grasp of, What does a team look like when it's close? Like you said, the closeness of a team. Our Q¹² has a way to measure that. We talk about a Best friend at work, so we kind of know, we can kind of ask those questions. I love the way you saw that in the picture, though. Like, you looked at the picture, and you were like, "Evidence." Normally, they would have different body language if they weren't that way, right?

Robert Corley:
[35:51] That's right.

Jim Collison:
[35:52] Even though it's anecdotal, I think it's good evidence, right? It's a bunch of, it's never one thing, right? It's a bunch of things that come up. We had a question early from Ken and Chad. I want to throw it in at this point, too, because as we think about development, especially in faith-based organizations, we sometimes talk about spiritual gifts or spiritual gift inventories. And sometimes that's the way of getting to these talents, of thinking about that. In some cases, they jive, and in some, they don't. Ken was wondering, do you guys talk about that at all, and do they jive, or do you really just rely on CliftonStrengths to get to that talent, to that point of talent?

Robert Corley:
[36:34] You know, my first, my gut reaction is I can see where they can, they can work really well together, kind of like love languages and strengths — I can see that work really well together too. And so, for instance, if you have a spiritual gift of teaching, and you're a Developer, they match really well, and you can start to, start to connect the dots there. Lisa, what are your thoughts there? I'm sure you've done a little bit more with this.

Lisa Boes:
[36:55] Yeah, I just think the idea of using your gifts for service — I don't actually tease out CliftonStrengths and spiritual gifts; I just talk about, like, "How are you growing?" And this is a tool. And I, the either/or wouldn't work very well for me, so, we don't we don't get a lot of resistance. I feel like the thing that I have to work on is, from, from a biblical perspective, people are really afraid of being prideful and that being a negative thing. And so, getting people to do the Claim piece in a way that doesn't feel prideful, I often just open that up to a group and say, "How does this feel?" Some people don't — have a harder time talking about themselves and claiming and owning it. And then again, I use David and Goliath and say, "Show up. Don't play small with your gifts. and here's a tool that's going to help you do it."

Jim Collison:
[38:01] Yeah. Well, you mentioned, I mean, culturally, I know, as I've done my podcasts around the world, you know, Americans are known for their boastfulness, right? We boast about everything. You're always, how great and awesome, and this is great. And not all cultures, you know, respond the same to that.

Lisa Boes:
[38:20] Jim, I have sometimes people who don't want to put their door card up for exactly that reason. And in the U.S., they're like, slap it up. Like, yeah.

Jim Collison:
[38:30] Yeah. Well, but what I love, what I heard you say, Lisa, in this, and I really, I mean, I love this idea, is that when we change that from boasting — or whatever, however we want to see it, and we change it to serving, This is how I serve. By the way, serving is a universal language, right? It doesn't, it can be faith- or not faith-based. It can be anywhere on the planet. It can happen in villages and in cities. We all need to serve each other, right, in this. And so that — "These are my acts of service. This is how I serve best" can be, can be replaced there so it doesn't, it's not a, here's, you know, "Here's who I am," however that looks right. But this idea of service. I don't know, Robert, you want to add anything to that?

Robert Corley:
[39:13] I would say what pops into my mind is that we often talk about how our work is worship. And so when you're thinking about what I do day to day as a way to worship God in this way, and often the other, the other concept has been floating around in the last few weeks; it was kind of brought up in one of our sermons is that we're not here to get work done; the work is here to get us done. And so that God's kind of provided that opportunity for us to grow. Now, if I can use the strengths that I'm giving, and if I think about, you know, Gallup strengths, great. If I think about my spiritual gifts, that's another part of it. I think there's room for all of that in our walk. And you're just looking at the world through different lenses and something that may be relevant, depending on the culture. And so if I'm at church, I may talk more about spiritual gifts in that. If I'm kind of with some of my buddies hanging out, maybe we'll talk about strengths. You kind of have to just flex a little bit. And I think that's what we see when you have so many countries represented, so many cultures, so many backgrounds, so much diversity in that way, that you have to look for multiple ways in order to be able to connect with people. So there's no one universal way to do that.

Lauren Siedel:
[40:21] Yeah, I love that. Tell us a little bit, I know there's probably some leaders that are joining us live or will be listening after the fact, about this idea of having people in a variety of different locations across the globe, right? You have folks in different places on the ships. How do you think strengths keeps everyone connected?

Robert Corley:
[40:45] Lisa, what do you think?

Lisa Boes:
[40:49] You know, I think the language is one of it, but I also think it's about a culture — that we're trying to help people see the best in one another. And I think that kind of attitude is part of how we build relationships to work well together.

Lauren Siedel:
[41:12] Yeah, that's so powerful.

Lisa Boes:
[41:14] And there's both those things, where there's a simple way to look at it, but it has so much depth. It can be overwhelming at first. Oh, 34 of these! How am I going to learn it? If we can get them over that hump and start looking at the complexity of it, folks get really excited and I think drawn into the conversation, because it helps them see themselves and one another.

Lauren Siedel:
[41:47] Yeah, I love that. Something else I'm curious about is this idea of Mission and Purpose is something that has always been relevant. But I think even more so today, when we're seeing engagement kind of remaining stagnant in the U.S., but globally, we saw a drop there. And Mission and Purpose is a key piece of that engagement puzzle. So for those organizations that maybe also have a really strong mission and purpose for the work that they do and the service they provide to others, what would you tell them about maybe how strengths has helped you continue to drive your mission forward?

Robert Corley:
[42:31] Well, I think about kind of our core values. I think about love God, love and serve others, be people of integrity, and strive for excellence in all we say and do. And so when you think about it in those contexts, three of those are pretty much the same at most organizations. Love and serve others. You want to do something or you're doing something to take care of somebody in some way, whether you're doing financial, whether you're doing transportation, you're really focused on others. You want to, with integrity, you want to do it to the best of your ability. The differentiator for us is kind of that love God side of it, which kind of then themes all the way through it.

Robert Corley:
[43:06] So when you think about that is, How do I operate, let's say, with excellence? Well, if I know inherently how I can be at my best every single day and how I can use that to influence others and help them be at their best every single day, then, much to Lisa's point, you kind of, perpetuate that with culture and how it drives it forward. And so if you anchor that into our faith component that is really strong, it kind of gets back to that connection of heart and mind. And so, how do I now channel what's my intrinsic purpose, that I'm really motivated for, to actually go out and do the work that I'm called to do? And I think that's where some of it, it's around that personal journey, but then also then, how do you build that in your teams, people you come in contact with? Like I said, if I walk into an office somewhere, and I'm able to connect with somebody in strengths, and that just creates that relationship that just grows and grows and grows and grows and grows. So, yeah.

Lauren Siedel:
[44:04] Lisa, anything you had there?

Lisa Boes:
[44:07] You know, Robert. Yes. Thanks, which is, I'm going to, how we ask this question is, What is God doing in Mercy Ships, and how can I use the gifts and talents I've been given to join the mission? And we have a conversation about, look at what's going around. How can you connect with other people on this? Because there's a way in which you could look at strengths as kind of an individual — I'm good at this, so let me just use it. But I think that has to do with the culture on teams to kind of, and, you know, the dials of, if I know my strengths, what's useful right now? What would help this team move forward? What's really going to fit with the purpose and the mission? And you can bring your unique individual qualities, but you're going to be part of something bigger. And then for our, you know, you get to see it happen. You get to experience changes in people's lives. For the folks who are on our vessels, they see someone before surgery and after surgery. It's really tangible. And we do a really good job among our employees of telling those stories, to just see what the impact is. So if that's the hope, when you see the change. It's empowering.

Robert Corley:
[45:31] Going from that purpose to impact, right? So how do you take the purpose you've been given in order to impact others' lives?

Jim Collison:
[45:37] Does that have the same effect for your managers in their working with individuals, both, you know, you talked about both, you onboard them with that, with strengths, and they also have that as part of the tool or name tags or whatever. Do you feel like that gives the managers an extra tool to use, as they're managing both regular and irregular folks on the ship or in their job on a regular basis? Robert, let me throw that to you. And maybe, Lisa, you can cover that next.

Robert Corley:
[46:07] Yeah, absolutely it does. I mean, that's a big piece of this is to, well, I'll give you a great example. Was it last week, Lisa, that we actually did a team session with my team? And so it gives me the opportunity to pull my team together, my direct reports. Lisa came in and facilitated a session. We focused on Theme Dynamics. We focused on kind of how we can actually utilize that in a team of executives. And so that in and of itself gives me a tool as a leader to be able to utilize. So even if I wasn't a coach and had experience in it, if Lisa had come in and given me that gift in my toolbox, I can then use it at a time where I've got new people coming into the team or I've got transition going on. We've got a lot of transition going on right now here. So how do you get things restabilized through organizational change? Reminding people where they are, I think, is a good piece of it. So, yeah, I think absolutely. Lisa, anything you'd add?

Lisa Boes:
[47:00] No, just how much I love that the Theme Dynamics are in the new Top 5 report from a year and a half ago. Those sentences are like people's, like, superpower cape. And that's usually my 2.0 team session is to come in and use Theme Dynamics. So it's been amazing.

Jim Collison:
[47:26] Sorry, Lisa, to interrupt you. It's been a super helpful tool on The CliftonStrengths Podcast this year, as Jillian and I have gotten the opportunity to just talk about those. And that's just two — it doesn't have to be two; it can be three. You know, you can spend some time thinking, it can be anything you want it to be. The goal is, How am I more productive? Or how do I fit better on the team? Or how do I make a greater impact? Listen, we all, regardless of what we're doing here, we all want to make an impact. That's, we're driven to make impacts, right? And so these are hints. These are clues to help us get there. And so I love that you brought that up. That has been a very popular spot on the new Top 5. We get lots of comments from folks who say, Oh, love — thank you for putting that in there. And it's been around for 10 years. That's the thing. It was great to bring Curt's work back and put that there on the report. Robert, I interrupted you.

Robert Corley:
[48:17] No, no, no. No, I 100% agree with you. Lisa, do you want to tell the story about Vinny?

Lisa Boes:
[48:22] Yeah. Yeah. So our Senior Pharmacist on the AFM, the whole senior hospital management team, we spent an hour, and each person came with one pair. And Vinny's Top 5, he picked Relator and Analytical, which is, You often bring facts and logic to your close relationships. You believe that intimacy and objectivity can coexist. Everyone gasped when he said it, literally. They were like, "That describes you so perfectly!" You are so caring and so thinky, and you do it in your work, and you do it — I mean, these folks live and work together. And so when it was seeing him in his best and really loving who he was made to be, and it just was a way for them to understand him better. It was cool.

Robert Corley:
[49:19] So, so here's the here's the build on this. So he is our Senior Pharmacist on board, somebody who has to be very analytical. He also, he volunteered his time in the coffee shop, making coffee for people — there's his Relator — so a highly like socially engaged, but Analytical. And so you had both sides of it, so as Lisa and I were unpacking, it was like, That describes him to a T, and you can see it in his actual behaviors in the things he chooses to do, which is kind of cool.

Lauren Siedel:
[49:45] That's amazing! I feel like those Theme Dynamics, it's like you're putting a mirror up to yourself. And I love that his teammates were saying, "Oh my gosh, this is so you." Because I think that's the true power of gifts is, of course, understanding it for yourself, but then having those around you telling you, That's where I see it too. So that's amazing. I know we're getting close to wrapping this up. So I wanted to see, was there anything else that you think would be helpful to share with this group that's here with us live?

Lisa Boes:
[50:12] I wanted to make sure I mentioned Heroes of the Faith, because that's also been a great tool for us. So we've had teams who use it as a Devo series. So every person on the team goes to their page and their biblical character and presents it and shares it with the group. The reflection questions in there are meaty; the playlists, the worship playlists are really fun. So we've really appreciated that. I wanted to make sure I made a note about that.

Lauren Siedel:
[50:49] Yeah, I love that. And for those, I know the chat's kind of mentioned, How can I get involved? Where do I learn more? So would you tell our listeners where they can learn more about Mercy Ships as well?

Robert Corley:
[51:01] Yeah, I think the easiest thing, you go to mercyships.org. You can actually, there's a way to kind of connect with us, learn more about the mission, see patient stories as well. As well, you can look at LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, et cetera. We've got things out there that you can do. If you have a question specifically about it, we'll love to be able to connect with you as well. Feel free to reach out. If you want to learn a little bit more, I know Lisa and I like to connect with people; I'll volunteer for it. Reach out to us personally if you have a question. Love to be able to talk to you.

Lauren Siedel:
[51:33] Awesome.

Jim Collison:
[51:34] Lauren, can I wrap it with one final question? Would that be OK?

Lauren Siedel:
[51:37] Please.

Jim Collison:
[51:37] Would you be all right with that? OK, thank you. For both of you, as you look to the future, one thing that you're most looking forward to around strengths, the engagement piece, managers, whatever. Thoughts on that? Lisa, I'll start with you. I know we didn't give you this question in advance, so I'll stall a little bit, but what are you looking forward to?

Lisa Boes:
[52:01] Well, in the immediate, we're going to be using Strengths Explore with our academy students as part of their onboarding. And parents have asked for it — just so you know, families live aboard. We have an accredited K-12 school on each ship, and so we're starting to look at all the whole life cycle, when it comes to strengths and engagement, And I hope — I know what Robert's going to say next, so —

Robert Corley:
[52:25] You know what I'm going to say next? I, here's, here's what I'm super excited about in the future is the day where we have got an opportunity for everybody to learn more about their strengths. Having been coached through it, teams have it. We've actually done the Q¹² to be able to understand where our people are. And we're utilizing that feedback with our leaders to anchor into the strengths of themselves and their teams, in order to perpetuate development. And when we get there — we can do it in pockets — once we get there, once we get to that point, I don't think it's there, but as soon as we get to that point, I think I can see where it can be even more transformative than it already has been. I'm super excited by that, because we've got the steps to get there.

Jim Collison:
[53:08] That's awesome. That's great. Thanks for sharing that. Lauren, would you take a second and thank our guests for coming?

Lauren Siedel:
[53:14] Yes, yes, of course. Thank you both so much for being here. The chat is blowing up with saying that this has been one of their most favorite sessions and that they're grateful for your wisdom today. Thank you for being such incredible partners to me and for inspiring me and for the incredible work that you all are doing to help others across the world know more about their God-given talents as well. So thank you.

Jim Collison:
[53:39] And I will pile on with that. Thanks for coming out today. Thanks for the sacrifices that you make to do this. It's not glamorous, right, in a lot of ways, but it needs to be done. And so thank you to both of you for your service in both working with that and then making sure that that happens and folks get really the best version of themselves to do this, right? I mean, it's, the mission's super important. Thanks for using the tools to make it even better for folks on there. So I appreciate that. Robert, Lisa, thanks for coming today.

Robert Corley:
[54:11] Thanks for having us.

Jim Collison:
[54:13] Just a reminder on the way out here, for everyone, we talked a lot about these resources around CliftonStrengths. You can log into Gallup Access, head out to my.gallup.com, log in. A lot of resources available for you around these. We mentioned the new Top 5 report. It's there for you, if you want to, if, everyone has access to that, you can pull that down and look at those Theme Dynamics. They're available for you as well. For coaching, master coaching, if you want to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, we do that as well. You can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com, and we'll get you set up with more information about that, where and how. We have virtual and in-person sessions available for you. Stay up to date with everything that's going on and, by both following me on LinkedIn or following or joining our Facebook groups. You can do that. If you enjoyed it, hit the Like button and Subscribe. You know, all those things that you have to do on the socials these days. Push all those buttons. We'll appreciate that as well. For those who came out and listened to us live, thanks for coming out. It is encouraging, and we do appreciate your comments out there. So thanks for coming. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

Lisa Boes' Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Individualization, Empathy, Strategic, Arranger and Self-Assurance.

Robert Corley's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Developer, Positivity, Arranger, Strategic and Communication.