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 Strategic. We'll explore what this theme brings, what it needs and how it fosters collaboration. As always, Jillian, welcome.
Jillian White:
[0:23] Thank you, Jim. I'm excited to get into this one. I have a little bit of strengths envy on Strategic. I appreciate my partners that have this. It's fun to see.
Jim Collison:
[0:32] I appreciate this one as well. It's a great sorter. Sometimes I call it “the great sorter.” But let's go back a little bit. Give us, give us a little refresh on what this theme looks like.
Jillian White:
[0:42] Yeah. You know, at the heart of Strategic, when I think about people who are strong in this theme, they see pathways. They are very good at quickly spotting routes forward. The question that I associate with Strategic is the question, What if? So these are individuals who can look at a situation or a scenario and go, What if we do this? What if we do this? What if we do this? They see multiple pathways forward, and they can quickly sort to the best, most efficient path forward. It is a Strategic Thinking theme. So the energy comes through thinking. That thinking is typically very fast. This all happens in milliseconds for somebody to go, what if, what if, what if, choose that Strategic pathway forward. It ends up being very agile as a result of that kind of quick recalibrating and finding those pathways forward. The image that I picture with this is a chess game. And I just imagine someone who is quickly thinking about, if I do this, and then my opponent does this, where does this take us? What's my best route forward? So that Strategic ability to see a few moves ahead and anticipate where you're going is really that Strategic in action.
Jim Collison:
[1:49] Yeah, you say chess. I grew up with Risk. You know, the game Risk.
Jillian White:
[1:52] Oh, I've never played Risk.
Jim Collison:
[1:54] OK. And that's, it's, it's kind of a, it's a world domination game. But it is one of those, it's one of those where strategy is very, very important. And I guess you could probably say that about any game, maybe a more mild version of that, maybe not today's Monopoly, right, of these games, thinking about, if this happens, then I need to do that. So I love that, I love that concept. From your consulting work that you've done, what would be a great example of this theme in action?
Jillian White:
[2:19] Yeah. And you know, Jim, I've been, I've just been watching for these in my week to week to have real-time examples. And this, this last week, I was working with a client who's planning a big day with all of their strength, all of their strengths, all of their sales force on strengths. And so we're designing essentially a day to help them think about aiming their strengths at selling. And so I was working with this leader to design this day and, you know, putting the outline together of what we could do and got stuck in a few places where I thought, like, here's what we're trying to do. But I just can't think about the best way to get there. So I jump on the phone with this leader. They have Strategic in their top five and their ability in that moment to see different pathways forward helped get us unstuck. And they went, OK, if this is what you're trying to do, what if you did this? What if you did this? What if you did this? They saw those pathways forward and it quickly got us unstuck and to a much better pathway that's going to make that a really great day for the sales force. So fun to see in that real spirit of partnership, even how that Strategic was such a gift from someone else to anticipate routes forward and find the best one together.
Jim Collison:
[3:29] Yeah, and maybe a different, sometimes different in the sense of Ideation, where those, those ideas are just coming, right, in volume, maybe, and Strategic, really sorting those ideas into maybe what's the most valuable, or what's the most doable, or what's the most, how can we make the most progress on that? You know, some of those, some of those that, again, I like to call it “the great sorter” because I think it has that ability, right, to look ahead, not just from a volume perspective, but from a linear “moving forward” perspective: How can we move forward in a way that's best or appropriate or (fill in the blank)? I don't know. Any, any thoughts on that?
Jillian White:
[4:09] Yeah, that's a great, you know, it's, it's great to call out that difference between something like Strategic and Ideation. Ideation is more generative. So it comes up with the different route forward. And it likes the typically the blank slate, the whiteboard that you can brainstorm on. And Strategic, I think of, actually I remember talking to somebody who was, they had been, they were in the workplace, but they had been a professional basketball player in Europe. And I asked them how they looked at a basketball court. And they said, well, that's easy, Jillian. They said, I just see pathways on the basketball court. They didn't see people. They saw pathways. And so I think that's where that Strategic, you know, they weren't coming up with new ideas like Ideation, but they were seeing what was there and figuring out how to anticipate the best way forward in their scenario.
Jim Collison:
[4:57] In Gallup Access, now we have a section called Connections. It used to be called Community. So if you haven't been there in a while, you can go in and check that out. Gives you the ability to share your CliftonStrengths results with someone else. And then we've built a new section where you can compare those. There's a neat little graph to be able to do it. But we also bring, we also have some statements called “I Bring” and “I Need.” We're going to practice that now. This would be a great exercise for you to do with one of your friends or coworkers in the context of that. Primes the pump for a conversation. But Jillian, as we think about Strategic, what does it bring?
Jillian White:
[5:29] Yeah. So Strategic, if I'm partnering with somebody who has that high Strategic, what do they bring? They bring forward thinking. Remember, it's creative anticipation of what might happen. Jim, you kept calling it the “great sorter” strength because it's seeing all the possibilities of routes forward. So I can expect that in a partnership. I think as a result, these are people who tend to bring scenario solutions, I like to say, because they can help you get unstuck and solve a problem. They can see a different route that you might take. They may have a plan A, but they also see a route B or a route C that could be a possibility to get to that outcome. I think as a result, when you partner with high Strategic, they also bring a strong agility to the partnership. So they can make midcourse corrections, and they go, OK, I almost picture it like a GPS that recalibrates because it goes, oh, we ran into traffic. What's our next best route, you know, move to make and that agility and midcourse corrections. But do remember that Strategic tends to operate at a bit of a 30,000-foot level. It doesn't love all the details. It's just kind of zooming out and seeing all the patterns and finding those pathways forward. So it's oftentimes going to bring a bit more of that big-picture view. It sees patterns; it sees connections between those patterns. It can quickly sort through complexity and connect things to the bigger picture. If we make this move, where will it take us? So you can expect a few of those things in that partnership.
Jim Collison:
[6:57] I like that phrase, where will this take us? That can almost be on a T, like a T-shirt for Strategic, like, where will this take us? Because I think that's just a great, I think that's just a great view or a great look at, and maybe responsibility of those with high Strategic of taking people places, right? We're going to do this based on options. So I love that. OK, we'd often don't think about what Strategic needs, though. What are some needs of Strategic?
Jillian White:
[7:21] Yeah, go on the flip side, everything I just talked about. So what, if I'm partnering with a high Strategic, they need freedom to make midcourse corrections. Because they operate best with agility, they're not going to do well if I, as a partner, give strict constraints to where we're going. So giving them some of that freedom to adjust is going to let them use that Strategic. They need agency to help set the direction because they are anticipating where things can take us. You know I like to think with that “need” statement, where can someone also be aware of potential blind spots? Strategic thinks so fast that oftentimes they're not really worried about all the little details. They're seeing the big picture, and they're not always articulating how they know that this is going to happen, or this is the next step. So sometimes thinking about somebody who they can partner with that helps share how they got from here to there, or why this decision is what we're doing to take us to where we want to go in the future. So helping them communicate the “why” in their direction can be helpful. I also think helping them with implementation, because they oftentimes see the strategic pathways forward, but the strength by itself is a Strategic Thinking theme. It thinks and sees it and identifies it. It doesn't necessarily get the energy from doing it. So having some strong implementation partners can also be what that strength needs.
Jim Collison:
[8:47] In our new CliftonStrengths Top 5 report, we've added a section called Theme Dynamics, what two themes might look like together. It's actually been a really popular segment in the report. If you haven't viewed that, head out to Gallup Access, download that. Now, we often think about common pairings with these, though. When we think about Strategic, what's a common theme that often comes with it?
Jillian White:
[9:07] Yeah, it's funny, Jim. I feel like we've had a couple of these where it's Achiever. It's Achiever again. And some of that might be because Achiever is the most common one in our database, but they do tend to logically make sense. So Achiever, if you think about Achiever and Strategic in someone, Achiever wants to complete, do something. Strategic, I think of Achiever as being the “what” and Strategic is the “how.” Because it goes, well, what's our best way to get this done? What's our best route forward to achieve this? I'll read the statement we have in the report. If you have Achiever and Strategic, it might read, like, “If at first you don't succeed, you try again. If you try again and still don't succeed, you consider your options and try one.” So you hear that agility coming through, but with that end goal of achieving.
Jim Collison:
[9:51] I love those statements. They're just fun. When Curt put those together, they just have a real ring to them and things you can remember. Make sure you're sharing those with the folks that you partner with. Speaking of partnerships, as we think of Theme Dynamics in the context of partnerships, how, how might that look with, with partners in collaboration?
Jillian White:
[10:09] You know, Jim, I realized as I was just putting some notes together on this that there's so many strengths I came up with that I think I'll go through them quickly. But Strategic can keep up with me on this. But I think there's a lot of ones that can have fun partnering with Strategic, those catalytic strengths. Think about, you and I talked about Ideation already. You put those two together. What do you get? Creativity about what pathways you can generate to move forward. So those get a lot of energy working together. Working with another high energy strength like Activator, because Strategic thinks very quickly, and Activator can help activate quickly on that next step that you need to take. So it's almost like it turns that Strategic direction into motion. Futuristic would be another really fun one. It can see where the pathway can take us. Analytical could help give data to inform the pathway. Maybe something like Maximizer can enhance getting to the best route. You could also think about, how do I be strategic about people and something like Positivity or Individualization partnering with. And then how do I also take that strategy and lead with confidence around it, firmness and direction? Something like Self-Assurance or Command could be a neat combination with that. Flip side of it, so complementary, I always like to think, you know, where does this strength need some different perspective? You heard me allude to this in the “Needs” section, but Strategic is a very agile strength. And so pairing with a strength that might not feel as comfortable, but pairing with something that helps ground it, Discipline, Consistency, Belief, Focus, that's a good thing to look for. Pairing with strengths that help it implement the vision and the strategy, Arranger, Responsibility, any other Executing strengths, right? Strengths that, remember where the mind orientation is with Strategic. It tends to lean into what's next, like the forward. It's forward-leaning. So pairing with something like Context or Input or Learner to make sure we're getting the big picture from what's happened before or what we already know, that can be a nice complement. And then I think, remember, one of the other dangers is you can quickly see where that pattern is, but people might not always track with the why or how you got there. Pairing with a strength like Communication that helps to articulate that. And then final one, told you I had a lot on these today. Final one, because it is a fast-thinking strength, sometimes having something that might slow down and weigh the options, like Deliberative, can just bring a little weight to, OK, are we making the best right move in this situation? So a lot of different fun strengths to think about in combination.
Jim Collison:
[12:53] We have some tips for leaders, teams and individuals now. Let's talk about leaders first. How can leaders recognize and harness Strategic in their teams or organizations?
Jillian White:
[13:02] Well, here's my first tip. Play chess with them. And I don't mean that literally. I mean that as a metaphor. But these are people who enjoy scenario-planning and forward-thinking. And so I think putting them in spots where they can do that helps light up that strength. Bring them in. Think about the example I shared in this podcast. Bring them in for problem-solving. They will likely be the people who help you see an alternate route and can get unstuck. Also, just connect the day-to-day to broader goals. Remember, they do best when they have that 30,000-foot perspective and kind of know what they're being strategic toward. And then I would say, remember to allow agility in their work because they're going to operate best when they have that.
Jim Collison:
[13:42] I don't think your game idea is a bad one, actually, because we learn things about ourselves in those games. Like, how do I think through these?
Jillian White:
[13:50] So, there's a reason people do high ropes courses as part of their leadership development.
Jim Collison:
[13:56] But pay attention. Maybe it's some of those kinds of things of, pay attention to how people process in those games, and how they're thinking. Let's think about what a team would keep in mind with working with someone with high Strategic or maybe onboarding them?
Jillian White:
[14:09] Yeah, I mean, similar to the things I just said, you know, for leading a team, but I would just reinforce, you know, make sure they've got that big-picture view. They've got that agility, right? I think one fun place you could play with onboarding is help them strategize their career paths. Their minds are already having that anticipatory forward-thinking with their career. I think that's a place you could spend some time. You got somebody new on your team with high Strategic. Think about what routes forward they might be able to take as a part of the company that's going to allow them to see their pathway and possibilities for that pathway within the company.
Jim Collison:
[14:44] And then let's wrap it with this. What should individuals consider with high Strategic keep in mind for partnerships?
Jillian White:
[14:51] Yeah. And, you know, with this one, Jim, I always like to just think, like, what can you gift others with this strength? And I think what you can gift with this is be a thought partner, gift forward-thinking that helps others. So ask people, like, ask your partners, like, where are you feeling stuck right now? Can I help you come up with some alternative ideas? Gifting that forward-thinking and that Strategic way of looking at the world can really help your partners navigate their own direction in a much more meaningful way.
Jim Collison:
[15:25] Gifts never hurt. It's always nice. Always nice. Great advice.
Jillian White:
[15:28] Strengths are a gift.
Jim Collison:
[15:29] With that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we do, or all the gifts we have available for you in Gallup Access. Log in, use the menu, upper left, choose Resources, put Strategic in that search bar and all the podcasts, all the work we've done around Strategic are available for you to continue the learning process. Love to have you do that as well. If you're listening live, stay around for a little bit of a mid-show. If you're listening to the podcast, I bet we have another episode for you. Just click Next. With that, we'll say goodbye, everybody.
Jillian White's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Input, Learner, Belief and Responsibility.