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:
[0:10] 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 Futuristic. We'll explore what this theme brings, what it needs, and how it fosters collaboration. Jillian, welcome!
Jillian White:
[0:22] Thanks Jim. I'm excited to get into this one.
Jim Collison:
[0:25] We get started with a little bit of an overview. So let's back up a little bit. Tell us what this theme is.
Jillian White:
[0:31] Yeah, let's remind ourselves of what Futuristic is all about. These people who are wired to be high Futuristic are inspired by the future. They're inspired by what could be. It's a Strategic Thinking theme. So it's oftentimes, the energy comes from thinking about the future, imagining what that looks like. I often think of these individuals as visionaries or even predictive. They can see things that maybe the rest of us can't see. The image that I'll give us with this is just a time travel machine, because they have this ability to just zoom ahead and picture what the world might look like or what their life might look like at a future destination. And so that visionary element of this can be very compelling for others.
Jim Collison:
[1:15] As you were talking about that, I was picturing — I like to watch time travel movies, where they go ahead in the future kind of thing. I'm just fascinated with people who have this theme and have that ability to kind of see ahead, right? To kind of look forward with that, to have some natural intuition about that. And so I think it's super valuable. I am drawn to that. I love to hear their stories or their thoughts on this. Sometimes it's not, I think sometimes it's not always easy to listen, because sometimes you're like, Oh, we're not ready — not ready for that future! From your consulting work that you've done, what would be a good example of this?
Jillian White:
[1:50] Yeah, I love looking for what I like to call our "poster children" of the different strengths inside of organizations. So it's, you always want to think about, What does a strength look like when it's done with excellence by a leader, by a team, inside of a company? How do we build cultures that help to harness more of that? The image that I have of an Achiever (excuse me; the image that — I've been saying "Achiever" a couple times today; we are on Futuristic right now). The image that I have of a leader with high Futuristic is actually somebody who I worked with who I got to watch them on stage in front of everyone they were trying to convince to go a certain direction, share a very compelling image of where they wanted to go in this organization and the impact that they would have when they got there. And the way that they shared that made people see how they could be a part of creating that future.
Jillian White:
[2:48] And what was really cool to see after that moment is that this leader got the funding and the resources that they needed to get to that destination. So when you have that visionary ability and you can articulate that vision, oftentimes, if you dream it, then others can help you do it. And they have that ability to put that dream out there or to put that vision out there. It was really neat to see.
Jim Collison:
[3:12] I love that. We have a section in Gallup Access now. You can share your Top 5, your All 34 report with others, and then you can compare yourselves, you know, one against the other. We got a cool little graph that's in there, but we have two sections — I bring and I need — intended to be used together as you're, as you're spending time thinking about partnering with someone else. Let's practice that a little bit as we think about Futuristic. What does it bring?
Jillian White:
[3:38] Yeah, if I'm partnering with somebody, working with somebody who has that high Futuristic, they have an ability to bring some inspiration to our partnership. And they're going to do that through their visions of the future. So typically people with high Futuristic, their vision of the future is not usually doom and gloom. It's usually something that is dreaming about what could be. And so, giving people that gift of taking them there can be powerful in a partnership. They're going to, alongside of that, bring predictions and forecasts. What that does when we're working with them, it keeps us leaning forward, because we keep thinking about where we could go, where this could take us in our partnership.
Jim Collison:
[4:18] I love that success orientation of leaning forward on this, right? Think about pulling us into the future, keeping us moving forward. I love that idea. What does it mean? Go ahead.
Jillian White:
[4:28] I'm sorry, Jim, along those lines, I was thinking about a real example, even within Gallup. This is just kind of a fun story, but of a leader that we brought in external to Gallup, but that has high Futuristic. And I remember somebody, after he shared a bit of visioning inside of the organization, somebody leaned over and goes, "I guess I should buy stock," right? And you go, Oh, that's the power of that Futuristic giving the vision of where we're going, because it can, it can take people with you and invite people on that journey.
Jim Collison:
[5:01] Futuristic is interesting, because I don't think we often think about what it needs. We're focused so much on what it brings, but it does have needs. Talk about what it needs.
Jillian White:
[5:10] Yeah. And even as I'm sharing some of those compelling stories, I'm just reminding all of us that that high Futuristic is still a Strategic Thinking theme. So by itself, it may not articulate all of that. So what it actually needs is chances to share their visions of the future, because it's probably happening inside of their head; it may or may not be coming out of their mouth. So having opportunities to share that can be very compelling to others. They also need opportunities to refine that vision. So as they get more data, as they look at things differently and get different perspectives, right, that vision may change, or what they're seeing in the future may change. And then finally, we're going to get into this when we think about complementary partners, but it's one thing to stand up there and share a very compelling vision or to make a forecast on something. You need partners who can actually help build the road to get there. So having those Execution partners and people who can make that vision a reality is powerful for somebody with that high Futuristic.
Jim Collison:
[6:13] In the new Top 5 report, we have a section on Theme Dynamics. That's where you take two themes, put them together, and we've got some statements. While those statements are there, we always love when people kind of make up their own, based on how they're thinking about those two things working together. In our database, we can kind of rank these themes, what's most commonly paired with that. As we think about Futuristic, what's most commonly paired with it? And give us some insight on that.
Jillian White:
[6:37] Yeah. Futuristic, most likely to partner with Strategic. And what we mean by that is that means most likely to show up alongside of that strength inside of the same person. So I think about how those two show up. Futuristic is all about where we're going, right? That kind of "out there" prediction of what the world could look like or what my life could look like. Strategic says, How can we get there? So it's going to see all the possible pathways that you could take to get to that future. I think that's a pretty cool combination inside of a person. I think that's a cool combination to look at when you're thinking about partnering with someone, too, right, is anyone who's got that vision of where we could go, who can help us see the pathways to get there?
Jim Collison:
[7:20] Yeah, I see Futuristic and Strategic as hope, in a lot of ways.
Jillian White:
[7:23] Oh, I love that.
Jim Collison:
[7:24] Spent some time — and it's not the only one that can bring it. But that's what reminds me of that, as we're thinking about those 4 Needs of Followers and that new report that we just published, and how Hope is so important. And when I see Futuristic and Strategic, I think "hope." What about this idea of Theme Dynamics in partnerships and collaboration?
Jillian White:
[7:41] Yeah. So think about who you do want to partner with. I just alluded to this, but I do think somebody with high Futuristic, when you think about what lights them up, it is some of those partners that help them see the possibilities of the future, right? Strategic could be one of those. It's going to help see the pathways there. I think something like Ideation could be creative and thinking about those different scenarios of what could be and what you could generate for the future. Learner might be one that helps refine that vision. Significance or Belief could help paint a picture of the future that sees the impact of that future world. So those are all going to be fun partnerships for somebody with that high Futuristic.
Jillian White:
[8:21] Let's look on the flip side: Complementary partners — you heard me reference this earlier. If you have a strong Futuristic, you're likely good at dreaming about what's possible. You need partners who can help you do it and make it happen. So think about having those strong operational partners that might be Achiever, Focus, Discipline — anything that's going to help you put that plan behind that vision. I also think — you heard me allude to this earlier, but that high Futuristic, it is a Strategic Thinking theme. The energy is in the thinking. You need partners who help you communicate that vision and bring people along. So a strength like Communication or Positivity that can generate some excitement around that. I think that's good to think about as those complementary partnerships.
Jillian White:
[9:08] And then I always like to think with complementary, almost what's on a different side of the spectrum than the strength and what would it look like to make sure you're rounding out your thinking? So, Futuristic, we've talked about the space-time continuum of strengths before. Futuristic tends to live, you know, not in the present, but in where we could go, right? Think about what lives in a very different time space: Context tends to look to the past first. I think that combination could be really neat to be very well-rounded in, let's say, a team setting, where you're intentionally listening to those voices that say, Where have we already done something and we can learn from it. Or, We already know a blueprint of how this plays out, and it's going to help us make a better prediction because of what we know in the past. That could be a really neat combination to look for in a partnership, that person who can bring the historical knowledge and that person that dreams about where we can take that in the future.
Jim Collison:
[10:03] Well done. Well done. We have some tips for leaders, teams and individuals. Let's talk about leaders first. How can leaders recognize and harness Futuristic in their teams and organizations?
Jillian White:
[10:13] Yeah. First of all, think about how you spot Futuristic. These are your people, they're maybe coming to you and asking you where their career could be in 10 years, you know, or saying, how do I become the Chief Operating Officer? Things like this that you're seeing that direction toward the future. They get a lot of energy in thinking about what could be. If I am a leader who has strong Futuristic myself, let's go back to some of that research that we just referenced about the needs of followers. So our Gallup Global Leadership Report that we came out with showed, when we ask people what they need from a leader, think of somebody who's been a positive leader that impacts your life, right? What does that person bring? 56% of what people shared had to do with someone who gave an element of hope into their life. When you brought that into organizations, 64% of those responses actually had to do with somebody who could generate hope. I think a leader who has high Futuristic can bring hope to people, because we know hope is about believing that tomorrow can be better than today, and I have agency to help make it so. Bring that hope as a leader, if you have that high Futuristic.
Jim Collison:
[11:28] What should teams know about working with someone or onboarding someone who, who has this theme?
Jillian White:
[11:34] Yeah, I alluded to this a little bit, but these are people who are thinking not just about the next step, but several steps ahead. So likely they are going to be that person who is working backwards of where they could be in their career. I would ask them, What are you dreaming of for where you want to be 20 years from now or where you think you could take your career as a part of our team and in this organization? They're going to have fun thinking about that, and it's going to help you know how to coach and direct that person better and give them some intentional key experiences as a part of your team to help build that future that they're envisioning.
Jim Collison:
[12:09] From the individual standpoint, where can it be used to maybe serve others or to work on teams?
Jillian White:
[12:14] I always like to think with a strength, How can you use it as a gift or a contribution to the people that you're working with around you? What's Futuristic good at? it's good at seeing where we could go and what the future could look like. Use that with your partners. Start to make that a gift that you bring to them. And even say, "Hey, here's where I could see you in 20 years. Here's where I could see you in 5years. Here's the type of work I could see you doing. Or here's where I see that you could have a real impact with our clients." Use it with the people who you care about around you. That can be such a gift to help create a very personalized, compelling vision of the future for them.
Jim Collison:
[12:54] Love that. With that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we do have available in Gallup Access around Futuristic. If you log in, click on the menu upper left, choose the Resources tab, then just put "Futuristic" in the search bar. And all the resources, all the podcasts, everything we've done around it is available for you there. Continued learning. Love to have you do that as well. If you're listening live, stay around for a little bit of a postshow — one of the benefits of coming out live. And if you've never joined us live, you should. For those of you listening to this as a podcast, just click Next. There's probably one there waiting for you. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.
Jillian White's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Input, Learner, Belief and Responsibility.