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 Individualization. We'll explore what this theme brings, what it needs, and how it fosters collaboration. Jillian, welcome!
Jillian White:
[0:23] Thank you. Excited to look at what makes this strength unique.
Jim Collison:
[0:27] We'll start with an overview. That's the case in this, like, how do you individualize for Individualization? We'll take that challenge on as we do this today. Give us, give us the theme overview.
Jillian White:
[0:37] Yeah. So let's remind ourselves individuals that have that high Individualization are typically very talented at seeing what makes each person around them unique. They can quickly assess, Who is this person? What makes them tick? How are they wired? How do they respond to the world around them? They're great observers of other people. It's a Relationship Building strength. So oftentimes they can figure out ways to work with people in different ways or have diverse groups work together in a very productive style.
Jillian White:
[1:10] Jim, you and I were talking a little bit about different images we could use with this. And the image that was coming to mind for me is somebody who's a great coach of a team. And I think of that, maybe it's a sports team. I did some coaching in grad school for speech teams. So I'm going to make it inclusive in this example. But think of anyone who's coaching a team. What does a great coach do? They look at everyone on that team and they go, OK, I know this person on the team is wired to respond really well with direct feedback. So I'm going to make sure I coach them in that way. Or I know this person on the team really needs a lot of encouragement. And so I'm going to bring that. They individualize their approach and they also see what each person brings to the team. So they go, Wow! This person's incredibly talented at being the glue on our team and helping every voice feel heard. This person's incredibly talented at being a bit of a mentor and coach to others. So I'm going to position them to do more of that. So they have that ability to see the uniqueness in the people around them and think about how to best position them to bring that out.
Jim Collison:
[2:12] And sports teams are pretty universal around the world, as we think about that aspect of it. Plus, the goal is almost always, 99% of the time, to win. And so there's an incentive, right, to find that bright spark of what somebody does best to take advantage of it, to give them the ability to do it in a way that maybe others can't. And so I kind of love that. We, not all cultures bring that to work. But as you think about some of the work that you've done in this, what does this theme look like, maybe in a work setting, in some instance?
Jillian White:
[2:49] Yeah, I wanted to challenge myself on this one today and do something just a little bit different, because I've usually called out a leader that might have this strength, or an individual on a team. And I just, Jim, I was just telling you I get to be in Omaha next week. And I was just with the same individual. There's an organization that I've been working with that is bringing in a few new executive members of their top leadership team. And so, spending some time with them and their teams as they're coming in. And the challenge I wanted to give myself was to look at a picture of this in the collective in an organization. So not just a person that has it, but a team that has it. So this, this individual who I'm bringing in right now is a new Chief Communications Consultant with the company. And so their job almost like Chief Marketing Officer, right, but really to think about how they're representing that company, the messages being heard.
Jillian White:
[3:42] And as we got to look at their team grid for these communication individuals for representing this entire company, this team had high Individualization. And I'm going to tell you two ways I saw this show up in spending time with this team. So one, this team was very talented. Think about the work that they do at thinking about different audience groups and how to customize to the needs of each of those audience groups. So they were naturally thinking about how to tailor things and what each group needed. So really neat to see that show up even in a sense of a collective. Now, as individuals, what was also really neat to see happen in that room is I gave everyone space to go around and we would spotlight the strengths of each person as a part of that leadership team, you know, make sure that new leader was getting to learn about the people on there, kind of solidifying who they were.
Jillian White:
[4:32] And I gave them space, after we went through each of their strengths, to call out what they saw in their team members. And when you hear a high Individualization team call out the unique elements of what each person on that team brings, it was an incredible moment of recognition for that team. And these individuals were so good at being able to spot and put words to what each person uniquely brought to that team because of their high Individualization.
Jim Collison:
[5:02] How important is the honoring of those individual, you know, you're taking some risks on a team, bringing out, you know, we, during the Learning Series, Carolyn Day, who you got to, to, to moderate, said, "That which makes you weird might be some of your greatest success," right, in that? How, how important is that trust on that team when people are individualizing themselves in this to make sure that that's not taken in the wrong way, so to speak?
Jillian White:
[5:33] Yeah. You know, to be honest with this one, I haven't found too much risk when it's through the lens of strengths. And I will say, because typically it's positive comments that people are saying. And so, you know, there's, there's, I think, a little bit less risk when it's inviting people to share real examples of how they've seen someone bring something on the team. In fact, I've even seen it be a bit, I'm going to say healing in situations for a team where maybe there's some perspectives that somebody goes, Oh my word, I just thought this person was being really difficult all the time. And now that I've seen their strengths, I actually understand, you know, when they are challenging me, they're just trying to get the proof in the data, right, with that high Analytical or something like this.
Jillian White:
[6:16] So they may call out a moment where, you know, I actually see what this person brings to this team is they do bring a little healthy challenging, and it keeps us on our toes. And that might actually be a good thing. Now, what they might not always be saying is the times where those same things might frustrate them, or that's probably a separate conversation or individual coaching or things like that. But in general, you know, obviously, it depends on psychological safety of the team, but it's typically, I find, a bit safer when you're coming through this lens of positive psychology as well.
Jim Collison:
[6:47] Love that. Yeah, it's, humans are hard. That's why we're doing, that's why we're doing these things. Humans are hard. We have a new section in Gallup Access for everyone who's taking CliftonStrengths. It's on the Community tab, soon-to-be Connections tab — I just want to get that out there a little bit; we'll be changing the name of that — where all the connections are. It kind of makes sense, all the connections are, where you can connect to other people and have access to their Top 5. You can then compare those. And in that comparing mode, you can see I Bring and I Need statements for each of those. It's a great exercise to go through. We're going to practice a little bit of it today. So Jillian, as we think of Individualization, what does it bring?
Jillian White:
[7:22] If I'm partnering with somebody who has that strong Individualization, they bring keen observation. They're very good at noticing and appreciating people's distinct characteristics. Think about that team I just talked about. They bring, secondly, customization. So we can expect, when we're partnering with them, that they're going to think about how to tailor their approach to each individual's needs and preferences around them. They bring team-building skills. They're very good at seeing how you can position people to play to their, they love people getting to do what they do best on a team, positioning them that way and thinking about how you can bring a team together, with each person playing to what makes them a unique contribution on the team.
Jillian White:
[8:02] And then, finally, I think this one connects nicely with something like Includer, from bringing diversity appreciation, because they value and leverage unique qualities in people around them. I remember going in, this was an organization that we work with. I went in front of their senior leadership team. And the first question that their CEO asked me, a high Individualization team, was, "Jillian, what makes us unique and different from your other clients?" And I thought, Wow! That's such a reflection of your own way of looking at the world. You're always looking at what makes something unique.
Jim Collison:
[8:38] Love that. What about, what does it need?
Jillian White:
[8:40] Yeah. Flip side of this, I would say if you're partnering with somebody with that high Individualization, they need freedom to customize and to approach tailored solutions. I think of this as, Jim, you know, within Gallup, we have a large team of Learning and Development Consultants that go around to different companies and are leading workshops and things like this. A lot of that team has high Individualization. And what they're really good at is saying, OK, we may have this base curriculum, but this is the specific situation I'm leading it in in this company. And they'll tailor their messaging around that to make it apply and be helpful to that specific situation. So freedom to customize.
Jillian White:
[9:21] They also need opportunities to work with diverse individuals and perspectives, and I would even say, be recognized for their ability to spot and nurture individual talents. They're going to appreciate that. And then final thing to mention that this individual likely needs is remember what they value. You hear me talk about this on all of our strengths. Whatever they value bringing to other people, they usually value themselves. So they are going to value you as their partner appreciating what makes them unique and customizing your approach to them. They're not going to want a manager who just says, "Do this job because it's what this job is." They want to think about things like, How can I be positioned to do what I do best? How might I communicate or be motivated differently? They're going to appreciate you looking at them through that same lens of what makes them unique.
Jim Collison:
[10:14] Well, that's always the real challenge, right, when we think in the business space of having both, both standard, because it's scalable, and customizations, because we want people to feel unique, right? And that tension, the tension is needed. It's never, you know, it's never either/or; it's always both-and. And that's, again, the complicated world we live in, to be able to, to fold and buckle, but yet give in and stand. I mean, it's, that's the challenge associated with it. Every time we talk about this, I think about that conflict that exists there. And it's hard. It's hard work to get that working right.
Jillian White:
[10:49] And we're going to talk about that when we talk about complementary partnerships, because usually, you need to hear voices that bring a different perspective than what that strength does. But it can feel hard, because it is a different way of looking at the world, right? And so, you know, talented teams are very good at figuring out how to find that balance between, OK, different perspectives, but then having those come together for what serves the good of the goals of that team.
Jim Collison:
[11:17] Yes, indeed. Let's, let's dig into that with, speaking of Theme Dynamics, two themes put together and how they, how they kind of can work together. What's a common pairing for Individualization as we think about this?
Jillian White:
[11:30] Yeah. Individualization, most likely to show up alongside of Learner. So think about, I'm going to read the actual statement on this. "You are comfortable with the variety of life and the diversity of people. You are equally effective learning about things or individuals." They love learning. They love learning about what makes people unique.
Jim Collison:
[11:47] I love that. And if you haven't seen those statements yet, they're available on your new Top 5 report. You can head out there, if you haven't seen it. Log in, get those. And they're available for all of, all of your Top 5 there. When we think about Theme Dynamics in the context, in the context of partnerships and collaboration, though, what can that look like?
Jillian White:
[12:05] Yeah. So think about your catalyst partners. If you are strong in Individualization, you're good at noticing what makes people unique. You're probably going to enjoy working with someone who helps you cultivate that potential in others. So Maximizer or Developer, that's going to be something that pairs really well with that Individualization, cultivates potential. You're also going to pair likely well with somebody who helps you think about placement of people. So something like an Arranger with an Individualization could go, OK, here's what these people are good at. How do I cast them in the right roles on the team, arrange this team so that we have the best outcome?
Jillian White:
[12:41] You may also think about, and we talked about this one with the Includer strength as well, but because it values that diversity, and it can connect with people, think about strengths that help you go deeper, based on what you're observing. So Relator, Empathy — those might be strengths that help with it. And then one final one I want to call out. This is just from an observation, I feel like, for me, but I've noticed that some people who pair or even have this in themselves, Individualization and Connectedness, sometimes what I find in that kind of a partnership is it's people who can connect the dots to see what's unique about a collective or a culture. So they may go, Oh, we're working with this country in this situation or this company. What makes them unique? They can kind of put those dots together to look at the uniqueness of a collective. So that's a fun combination as well.
Jim Collison:
[13:33] We have some tips for, are we done with that? Are we done with that spot? You didn't do complementary.
Jillian White:
[13:37] Oh, you know what? I did catalyst partner, but I didn't do complementary. Thanks for calling me out, Jim, keeping us honest here. That's right. Complementary partners — you know I always like to also call out who might feel a little different, but just like we've been talking about, brings that different perspective. What does Individualization lean toward? Customization and tailoring. To your point, Jim, we often live in a paradox, where we have to balance, where do we take the time and space to do all that customizing? And where do you say, Nope! This is something we just need efficiency of scale. So having something like a Consistency perspective might be a complementary balance to that Individualization. Also, think about what this strength leans toward: individualistic perspective. So it's going to look at the individual. You may want to make sure that you're listening to some complementary partners that bring the perspective of the collective or the group. So something like Harmony could help look at the collective and bring that alongside of the view of the individual.
Jim Collison:
[14:41] That in itself was an exercise in Individualization and Consistency — like, we have a format that we roll through. You want to do it the same every time, but we want it to be individualized as well.
Jillian White:
[14:50] That's right.
Jim Collison:
[14:52] OK, let's talk about leaders now. How can leaders recognize and harness Individualization for their teams and organizations?
Jillian White:
[14:58] Yeah, these are people who love to tailor their approach. They love to see what makes people unique around them. A couple things to keep in mind if you're leading this person. One, call on their ability to observe. Call on, what are you seeing different with this audience group or this person who we're interacting with? What do you observe about what makes this person great at what they're doing? Or what do you observe about this client? Right? Second, position them to customize. They are going to be good at it. Think about that communications team that I shared. If I'm taking those individuals and putting them in spots where they have to think about unique messages for unique groups, what a sweet spot for them. Third, encourage them to articulate their own work preferences and communication style. That can help you manage them more effectively. So remember, they're going to value when you also customize your approach with how you lead them.
Jim Collison:
[15:47] What should teams know about working with someone, or maybe even onboarding someone that has this theme?
Jillian White:
[15:52] Yeah, remember that they value that personalized approach. Even if you're onboarding them, you may ask them a few questions before they join. I would, I would not be afraid to be a little bit explicit in those questions. You know, "Hey, as you join, how do you prefer to connect and communicate with people around you? You know, how do you prefer to be introduced to the team?" Like some of those things that just help it feel customized. "How do you like to be recognized?" Right? All of those things are going to help you know how to customize to that partner. I would also tap into their ability to see the uniqueness in others. So go back to that example I shared about the team at the beginning. If I ask my partner with that high Individualization, I say, "Hey, what are you observing about what each person brings to this team or how these different groups could work together?" They're likely going to be seeing that already, and they're going to be good at helping you put those puzzle pieces together, and you can leverage that in your partnership.
Jim Collison:
[16:48] What about an individual with Individualization? What should they keep in mind for partnerships?
Jillian White:
[16:53] Yeah, two things I would just encourage you to do. Use your words to describe your own strengths and style. You are really naturally talented at seeing what makes other people unique. And it can be very easy to think that other people should be good at that, too. And they might not be. So you've got to help them. You have to help other people understand, How do you like to be recognized? How do you like to learn? How do you like to communicate? Find words to be able to help share that. That will feel good when they can respond to that. And then I always think with this question, use your talents as a gift to the people around you. So I would also say, use your words to call out what you are seeing as unique contribution in your partners. They're really going to appreciate that, and you're going to be good at it because you're keenly observing what they are bringing to your partnership and to your team. That can be a wonderful moment of recognition, belonging, and truly just helping someone feel valued as a partner with you.
Jim Collison:
[17:54] As an interesting side note, it took us the longest to get through Individualization of any of the themes that we've done so far.
Jillian White:
[18:00] You know what I think is? I have it No. 6, and so I think I kept feeling like I needed to individualize for different scenarios.
Jim Collison:
[18:07] I think that's great. It's a little, it mirrors a little bit of the way this lives in the wild.
Jillian White:
[18:11] Oh, that's funny. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, thank you for hanging in there.
Jim Collison:
[18:15] Thanks for bringing your knowledge on this. With that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we have around Individualization in Gallup Access. Log in, hit the Resource tab upper left, choose Resources, and then type in Individualization. And you too can have all the resources, podcasts and written content on that. Continue your growth and learning. Thanks for joining us today. If you're listening live, stay around for a little bit of a postshow. If you're listening on the podcast, I bet we have another one of these. Just click Next. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.
Jillian White's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Input, Learner, Belief and Responsibility.