Jim Collison:
[0:00] 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 Positivity. We'll explore what this thing brings, what it needs and how it fosters collaboration. And as always, Jillian, welcome.
Jillian White:
[0:24] Thank you, Jim. This is a fun one to get to do because both of us do have this one in our top 10. So, we may be able to bring a little personal experience to this as well.
Jim Collison:
[0:34] I love this. Let's back up a little bit. What is Positivity?
Jillian White:
[0:38] Yeah. So, I always love to remind people the basics of the strength. So, at the heart of Positivity is a contagious enthusiasm. It's a Relationship Building strength. It has an ability to uplift other people, to celebrate people around them, get others excited about where they're going and what they can do. And I was thinking about this yesterday. I was, last night, they had a tornado watch in our area. And I was thinking about, I walked outside and right after the sky cleared, the sun came through. And I thought, that right there is a picture of almost this image of the sun will come out tomorrow and find the silver lining that Positivity can bring. I also think I lived downtown Chicago for 16 years. And if you've ever been a part of watching a live marathon and you see people cheering someone on with a sign, that Positivity is that one that can bring that uplifting, encouraging, almost cheerleader type aspect to the people around them that brings that that uplifting element. So, yeah, Jim, how would you say this one shows up for you?
Jim Collison:
[1:42] Yeah, well, I think it's heavily influenced by Influencing, right? So, Relationship Building theme, but I use it as, you know, two, three, four, and five are all Influencing themes. And of course, in the work that I do, that's an important aspect. So, it's kind of gotten trained or seen through a filter of that a little bit. And I like to think of it in a way, how can I bring the brightest spots in things to move people, right? That's the, that's the goal. So, a group of people, things are going bad. Hey, but there's always this, right? Or we could be going this direction, or here's some great things we could pull out of this, right? Here's some lessons that we learned, some of those kinds of things. So for me, it's definitely filtered through those other Influencing themes. Sometimes it gets this Pollyannish, you know, or this over-positive type thing. Again, we always have to remind folks, these are successful things that we do from a, you know, from a talent perspective, and being happy doesn't necessarily always mean success. So, I always try to think of it in terms, at least for me, of how am I using this, you know, in the things that I do to drive success. And for me, moving large groups of people or finding the best possible outcomes Yes. It’s a way I do that. I don't know. You spent a lot of time consulting on this. An example that maybe you pulled out of that?
Jillian White:
[3:06] Hey, I always love thinking about these examples. And one that I have in mind is a banking client that I worked with. And this individual, she was a head of learning and development at this company. And it was really fun to see how her Positivity showed up in celebrating the people around her. And I think the way I would see that was in one-on-ones, but also through a team element. She was someone who, in her one-on-ones, she was very good at saying, hey, what's something that you're really proud of that you're working on right now? And Jim, you and I know this, but looking at all of our Gallup research around just what creates high-performing teams, we know one of the drivers of a high-performing team is actually that you feel like you've received praise of recognition in the last seven days. And I think what I saw this leader do was be incredibly engaging with her team. So, she would listen when someone would say, hey, here's what I'm really proud of that I'm working on. And she would find a way to celebrate that or spotlight that for the team. And she might have had some Strategic that was showing up with that too, that brought that sense of influence with it. And then what I watched with her as she led the team is she also used some collective opportunities to say, hey, you know what? We just launched a new program. Like, let's take a minute and celebrate this huge milestone as a team. And she would call out what everybody contributed to that. So that sense of celebration, she also had a bit of a just, we call it the contagious enthusiasm, but a bit of a fun-loving kind of upbeat, you know, love of laughter that I feel like brought a lightness to the team. And it was really neat to see the ripple effect that had on engagement for the team.
Jim Collison:
[4:46] I love that example, bringing it back to recognition, because that's one of those success factors, right? We can measure that on a team, and we can say if it's happening or if it's not happening, right? And so, I love that idea of Positivity, being one of those talents to bring that to light and to really light up a team. And it's a great example. We have a new section in Gallup Access that was newly named the Connections tab out there if you log in your strengths dashboard. In that dashboard, it now allows you to compare your themes. You can share that with someone else. And once you do, you can do some theme comparisons there. In that section is an “I bring” and “I need” tool that you can spend some time with your partners looking at this. We're going to practice a little bit of this today. Jillian, when we think about Positivity, what does it bring?
Jillian White:
[5:36] Yeah, so a few things that Positivity brings, if I'm partnering with somebody who has the strength, they are likely going to bring that silver lining. So, they're going to look, even in a difficult moment, and see where we can either learn from it, where we can move forward, where there's an opportunity in it. So that gift of finding the silver lining is something that that Positivity brings. I think as a result of that, this strength actually has some resilience and perseverance. And, you know, we're going to talk a little bit more about this, but the strength actually can feel the highs and lows. It almost has to feel the low at points in order to know how to uplift it. But I think what that allows it to do is to actually go through maybe difficult seasons, but see how it will or can get better or to actually help make it better. So that resilience and perseverance is something that can be experienced through someone with that high Positivity. And then finally, you heard this in my example, but just that contagious energy. These are people who oftentimes can just sense that moment where, you know, maybe you've been working really hard together and you just need a laugh or you need a little release valve. And I think these individuals can be good at bringing that celebration and some of that just encouraging, uplifting spirit to a partnership.
Jim Collison:
[6:54] Yeah, I love that. Lisa, through a chat, we don't normally do this in chat, but it brought it out, this idea. You said silver lining. And I'm always, I'm kind of wondering, that is kind of an English phrase that we use. Polyanna-ish should also be another one of those. I think this is kind of an opportunity as we think about, you know, I was just in Portuguese this morning. Thinking about how does this translate into other languages, thinking about that. So, we'll maybe continue to think about this. We have those ideas thrown down in our chat or in the YouTube chat. What does it need? Oftentimes, Positivity is one of those that's pretty powerful and can be overpowering, but it has needs. What does it need?
Jillian White:
[7:34] So what does somebody need if you're partnering with them and they have high Positivity? They need opportunities to actually encourage and uplift others. So, they need just space to be able to do that. They need freedom to experience some of the highs and lows. I think this is a little bit of a misunderstood area of Positivity because we often associate it with the high. But they do need sometimes to feel the low in order to, like, bring the high, if that makes sense. So, I think allowing some of that freedom of experience, the joy and the drama of life. And then opportunities. You've heard me say this on previous podcasts, but, you know, part of what I've just noticed about these strengths is oftentimes what they bring to other people, they need themselves. So, if Positivity is really good at encouraging and uplifting and celebrating, it actually needs that itself. It's going to be better when it feels like there's some authentic celebration, when it feels like it's actually getting encouraged as well. Just a little, a funny story around that, Jim. I remember leading one of the weeklong certification courses at one point, and we did a little experiment in the room, and we said, you know what, what if we took everybody who has high Positivity, and we put them around at tables next to people who were, seemed like they needed a little uplifting in the class. And we checked in after that day of arranging the tables this way, and those with high Positivity were drained. So what Positivity needs is it does not thrive when it feels like it's around chronic negativity and it can't uplift the environment. They need environments that they can be in where it's OK if it's hard, but they need the opportunity to actually uplift and bring up. And that's when it's at its best.
Jim Collison:
[9:22] Yeah. And if I can't do that, I just manufacture it. Let's just be really clear about that. Let's make it happen. In the new ClintonStrengths Top 5 report, we've added a section on theme dynamics, what two themes might look like together. It's actually one of the most popular sections in that new report. If you haven't checked it out, you should. When we think about Positivity, there's a common pairing with that out of our database. What do you think that would be?
Jillian White:
[9:45] I have a feeling some of our strengths practitioners might be able to guess this one, but Positivity most commonly pairs with Woo. And if you think about how those two show up, Jim, I know you and I have talked some about what we call an Influencing package because we oftentimes see even Woo, Positivity and Communication show up in individuals. But let's break those down. So, what is Woo? Woo is really social influence. And what is Positivity? It's more emotional or relational influence. If you did add Communication on there, you've got verbal influence. So put those things together, especially just that Woo-Positivity pairing. I'll actually read the statement that we've got in our report. “Socially and emotionally influential: You find it easy and enjoyable to meet a new person or give hope to someone in despair.” So, a lot of energy that comes with combined and influential energy that comes in combining those strengths.
Jim Collison:
[10:41] Talk about the partnership opportunities there. Yeah.
Jillian White:
[10:44] So, you know, I always like to talk about just who would be a partner that really lights up this strength for someone. And then who do you need to complement you that's going to help address some potential blind spots of that strength? On the side of a catalyst partner, I think a few fun combinations that you can look at is something like Positivity and Futuristic. Imagine what that partnership looks like. It's an ability to dream about a better future. How fun is that? Think about something like Positivity and Individualization. What does that allow somebody with Positivity to do to celebrate what makes people unique? So those two things together could be really fun. Maybe Developer in there. It would help that Positivity celebrate progress in people and create a growth culture around there. And then go back to even the ones we said are common to show up in people. I think those could have a little fun working together. Bring some Woo and Communication in your partnerships alongside that Positivity. You will have a real chance to have influential celebration and some energy in that partnership that I think will feed both sides. And then on the flip side of it, so who's the complementary partners? You know, what do we know? You mentioned Pollyanna, which might be a bit of an English term, but really it's just ...
Jim Collison:
[11:59] An old one, at that.
Jillian White:
[12:00] An old one, that's true. I guess it's based on the story of Pollyanna, right? But really this character who just always looked at the bright side. And so, what's a little bit of the danger with that is that you might not always look at problems or risk in your natural default. So intentionally partnering or listening to voices like Deliberative, Analytical, Restorative, that's good at problem solving. These might all help balance out some of those tendencies of Positivity. I also think something that helps ground Positivity because it does feel the highs and the lows. So, something like Harmony or Consistency that brings some of that balance could be a good counterbalance to that Positivity. And then you heard this example earlier, but one of the ones I think is a fun complementary partnership is that Positivity and Strategic as well, because it helps. You know, and I see this in organizations culturally. You, if you create a culture where you recognize and incentivize the behaviors that you want to see more of, you can actually do a lot to evolve your culture in a very strategic way. And I think those two strengths together could be very good at helping to spotlight and celebrate in a very strategic way that drives the behaviors you want to see more of.
Jim Collison:
[13:21] We have some tips for leaders, teams and individuals. Let's start with the leaders, though. How can leaders recognize and harness Positivity in their teams and organizations?
Jillian White:
[13:30] Yeah, first of all, think about just spotting it on your team. You know, these are typically your people who are probably bringing a little energy, you know, bringing that moment to kind of uplift people around them, a word of encouragement. They may, like I said, feel the highs and lows a little bit more. Think about positioning them in environments where they can positively influence. Think about leveraging their ability to celebrate. Maybe they're the person who you bring in to say, hey, we've got a milestone on the team or this project. Like, how could we think about really making that feel special for the team? And then just remember to celebrate them in meaningful ways too. That's that flip side of Positivity, where it's going to be meaningful that they get back what they're also giving to other people.
Jim Collison:
[14:15] What about teams, maybe onboarding someone or working with somebody that has high Positivity?
Jillian White:
[14:22] Yeah, I always think if I'm bringing somebody in for their first day on the job and they have the strength, like what's going to make it a great first day for them? And when I think about Positivity, it does love a little enthusiasm around it. And so, I think having something that is a bit of an enthusiastic welcome could feel good for that Positivity. It is a Relationship Building strength. And, Jim, I know you and I have had some fun kind of debate around this that, you know, it does have some of that Influencing ability too. We do, you know, it's short walls between those domains. It does influence as well. But it is a Relationship Building strength. And so, connecting them with some positive colleagues that they can have that quick relational energy with, I think will feel really good to them as well.
Jim Collison:
[15:11] Think about individuals in partnerships. And you and I are an example of this, right? We both have high points. And I think it comes into the podcast. Like, we use it in a partnership together. This is one of those where the two themes don't clash. You know, sometimes when you have two people with the same theme, that always happens, right? But we definitely feed off that power. What other ways, what other meaningful ways when we think about using Positivity in partnerships?
Jillian White:
[15:38] Yeah, and that's a great example, Jim. I mean, I think it's what allows us to have a little bit of fun with this, not take ourselves too seriously. So that Positivity, you know, we try to share things in a way that is uplifting to the people who are serving through this. I think for anybody who has high Positivity, I always think, how can you aim it at helping others in this series, right? It's not about me. It's about “we” in this series. And so, I would just encourage anyone with high Positivity, looking at being a better partner, find ways to meaningfully celebrate and uplift your partners, right? So, think about who are those people who are most important to you in life, at work, you know, through what you are doing. And ask questions like, you know, how do you like to be celebrated, or what's something you're proud of, right? And look for those opportunities to celebrate and uplift your partners in ways that are meaningful for them.
Jim Collison:
[16:35] I think with that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we do have available around Positivity, or about Positivity, in Gallup Access. Mark will appreciate that joke. Log in, go to the Resource section, put Positivity in the search bar. All the podcasts and written material we've done about Positivity are out there. Continue the learning. Love to have you do that as well. Want to thank you for joining us today. If you're listening live, stay around for a little bit of a mid-show. If you're listening on the podcast or on YouTube, just click next. We'll have another one ready for you. But with that, we'll say goodbye, everybody.
Jillian White's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Input, Learner, Belief and Responsibility.