The Manager’s Role in CliftonStrengths: What It Asks of You

If you're considering Gallup^® CliftonStrengths^® (formerly known as StrengthsFinder^®) for your team, most of the advice you'll find is about the plan: who takes part, how long the workshop should be, what it costs. This article is about you.

If you're the manager (or team leader), you may be surprised by how much of the success of CliftonStrengths for your team depends on your role.

Throughout this article, I talk about a rollout. By that, I mean a program to introduce and reinforce CliftonStrengths concepts to your people. It could include training, workshops, one-to-one coaching, and follow-up sessions to help your people dive deeper and practice until it becomes part of their natural, day-to-day activities.

This article doesn't focus on the plan or the process. I cover those in my other two articles: CliftonStrengths for Teams: What It Takes to Make a Rollout Stick and How to Plan a CliftonStrengths Workshop for Your Team. This one focuses on what CliftonStrengths for your team, done right, asks of you as a manager.

I'm laying it all out not to intimidate you, but to inform you, so you can come to this work with your eyes open. I don't want you to just go through the motions (as so many managers do). I want you, your team, your organization, and your customers to truly benefit from the power this tool can give you.

The questions this article answers

1. How much does a CliftonStrengths rollout depend on the manager?
2. Is CliftonStrengths worth it for your team?
3. What does a CliftonStrengths rollout ask of you as a manager?
4. How do you get buy-in from your own leaders?
5. How can you help your team understand each other's Strengths?
6. How do you bring Strengths into your one-to-one conversations?
7. What's the bigger picture for you as a manager?

Shorter questions (going first, being an expert, a leader's results, assigning work and hiring, and Weaknesses) are in the frequently asked questions at the end.

How much does a CliftonStrengths rollout depend on the manager?

You, as the manager, play the most critical part in bringing CliftonStrengths to your team. You have the authority to:

• decide how much to invest in your team - in budget and time
• define how much CliftonStrengths training and follow-up they get
• prioritize projects and tasks to make room for them to ramp up and practice what they learn
• influence team communication, and whether Strengths-based topics get pulled into day-to-day interactions
• integrate Strengths-based topics into check-ins, performance reviews, goal-setting, and development initiatives

I understand that you may not be in a position to make all of these decisions on your own. You may need budget and buy-in from your own management (more on that below), but you set the tone for your team. How you prioritize this work, for yourself and for them, sends them a message about how much this matters.

If you want this in numbers, Gallup estimates that managers account for at least 70% of the difference in engagement from one team to the next. By engagement, Gallup means how involved and enthusiastic people are about their work and their workplace.

You have more influence than anything else on whether your people are all in, going through the motions, or checked out.

So how do you help your people be all in? What I've seen work is a manager who gets to know each person as an individual - their Strengths and what works for each of them - instead of taking one general approach with the whole team. CliftonStrengths gives you the language to do that, and you'll be learning it alongside your team.

Is CliftonStrengths worth it for your team?

Asking whether CliftonStrengths is worth it usually means weighing the benefit against the cost, time and effort. But it's really a matter of how much you value the outcome: a Strengths-based team.

Here's what the research shows. In a Gallup study of Strengths-based development covering 1.2 million employees in 45 countries, 90% of the workgroups that used it saw gains in these ranges, or higher:

• Sales: 10% to 19% higher
• Profit: 14% to 29% higher
• Customer engagement: 3% to 7% higher
• Engaged employees: 9% to 15% more
• Turnover: 6% to 16% lower (26% to 72% lower in organizations where turnover is usually high)

Every organization in the study had its people take the assessment. The ones that went further - typically building Strengths into how leaders led, and how managers developed, coached and recognized their people - saw results towards the top of those ranges.

But that's based on other organizations. I can't guarantee those results for you and your team.

Still, it makes sense. When you implement a tool that puts the focus on the Strengths of each person and of the team as a whole, the emphasis is on what's good and what's possible. Your team isn't working against itself or its goals. Strengths-based Thinking keeps them looking forward, not back.

Picture your team a few months into this work. By then, people have learned each other's Strengths (and Weaknesses). It's not about judgment. It's about understanding each other's patterns. When people understand each other better, it's easier to have open conversations about what's working and what needs to change, how to approach things differently, and how to work around their own blind spots.

Shifting your team's thinking and habits is going to take work. Your people will need time to ramp up and practice the CliftonStrengths concepts they're learning. That may mean lightening their workload for a while, so they have room to practice the new language and get through the learning curve. I cover more about this in my article on what makes a rollout stick, under Opportunity: Where's the time to practice?

One step back now for two steps forward later: that's the choice a forward-thinking manager makes.

What does a CliftonStrengths rollout ask of you as a manager?

A CliftonStrengths rollout asks you, as the manager, to do the same work you're asking of your team, and to make regular time for it. You're part of the team, so take part in the sessions and go through the exercises alongside them.

What you're learning about yourself will help you not only in your own role, but in how you manage your team. The deeper you go into CliftonStrengths, the more you'll come to understand your own results, your Strengths, your Weaknesses (and where they come from), and your blind spots.

It may be challenging, as a team leader, to manage so many different people while keeping each person's results in mind. And that's where CliftonStrengths can help. It's not about memorizing everyone's results. It's about the concepts, and how to use them. Let's say you're struggling with certain team members. Is a blind spot keeping you from seeing something? Could it be how you're using your own Strengths? Or is it time to try a different approach?

It's easy as a manager to think that your way is the right way to do something - especially when that's what brought you success in the past. But as a manager, the focus isn't only on getting tasks done. It's on developing your people while you lead them to accomplish those tasks, likely in even better ways.

It's going to take time to practice these concepts. Plan on 60 to 90 minutes a week focused solely on your own development: learning about CliftonStrengths, reviewing your week, thinking about how to do things differently, and planning the next week. Or spend at least 10 minutes a day, to build it into a habit. On top of that, plan a 10 to 20-minute check-in with each team member at least once every two weeks (more on those below).

One more thing for you to consider: after the team workshop, get yourself at least a one-hour session with a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach (likely your workshop facilitator) to discuss your own Strengths. It's one-to-one time with an expert, focused on you. In one Gallup study of nearly 900 work units, managers had about an hour of coaching on their own Strengths, while their team members had none. Even so, engagement improved for both the managers and their teams, more than it did where managers weren't coached.

When you invest in your own development, your team feels it.

How do you get buy-in from your own leaders?

To get your own leaders on board, prepare the basics of your case, then frame it around what matters most to the person making the decision. This comes up often in my work. Many managers I work with want to bring CliftonStrengths to their team or organization but need buy-in from above.

There are two parts to it: what to share with your boss, and what will appeal to them as a person and a leader.

On a general level, here's what to gather and be ready to share:

• Your Vision: why you want CliftonStrengths development for yourself and your team.
• The benefits: to the organization and its customers, and how this work moves the organization's mission forward.
• The cost: in time, budget and effort, plus a temporary shift in priorities, so your team has room to learn and practice.
• The risks: what could get in the way, and how you'll manage it.
• The timeline: when you'd start, and how long before you'd expect to see the benefits.

Those facts may get you permission to bring CliftonStrengths to your team. But you're looking for buy-in and ongoing support. So spend time understanding what's important to your boss. If you haven't already, listen to what they talk about and how they make decisions. What patterns do you notice? For example, is your boss driven by the numbers and data - sales, profit, efficiency? Are they focused on the organization's growth - size, innovation, new products or services? Are they drawn to Vision - a story of the future and what's possible? Do they prioritize the impact on people - quality of life, culture?

Then lead with what speaks to them: the research for someone driven by numbers, your Vision for someone drawn to the big picture, what changes for your people for someone focused on culture.

It's easy to build a case that seems solid to us. But as CliftonStrengths work will show you, we each need and value very different things. Appeal to what's important to your boss. Whatever approach you need to take, there's likely at least an introductory way to get started with your team.

And once your boss sees what changes on your team, they may want to extend this work to other teams (including their own), or organization-wide.

How can you help your team understand each other's Strengths?

You help your team understand each other's Strengths by making them part of everyday habits and conversations, long after the workshop, and by making it safe to learn as you go.

As the manager, you set the example. If your team keeps hearing you get curious, ask about their perspectives, and ask which Strengths influenced what they saw, they'll get the message that it's OK for them to do that too.

Talking about Strengths won't feel easy or natural at first. It's new, and it takes practice. So it's important that your team understands that mistakes can and will happen. That matters more than it may seem. When Google studied 180 of its own teams, the most important of the five things that made a team effective was psychological safety: a shared belief that it's safe to take risks in front of each other.

You may have team members who worry that they don't have the right CliftonStrengths results. Or when you look at your team's results side by side, you may notice gaps. That's part of understanding each other's Strengths too.

But it turns out that knowing each other's Strengths matters more than which Strengths your team has.

• Gallup: In an analysis of more than 11,000 teams, how well a team knew its members' Strengths had twice the influence on its performance (measured by financial results and performance ratings) as the mix of Strengths on the team.
• Google: In its study of what made teams effective, what mattered most was less about who was on the team, and more about how the team worked together.

The most important thing is for your team to keep the Strengths-based conversations going - weeks and months after the workshop is long gone.

How do you bring Strengths into your one-to-one conversations?

You bring Strengths into your one-to-one conversations by asking and listening, not labeling. What matters most is what each team member tells you about their results and how they experience them.

Once you know someone's results, it's tempting to start labeling who they are and how they work. But that's not how CliftonStrengths works. CliftonStrengths is a tool. It doesn't define or limit anyone. And if you start labeling, I guarantee your team members will shut down.

Get curious instead. In reviews, ask your team members how they used their Strengths. What did they observe and learn about themselves? What could they have done differently? On projects or tasks they struggled with, ask whether they could have leaned on different Strengths. Could they have taken a different approach and come to a different outcome? What about partnering with someone else on the team?

If you're working on goal-setting, explore new goals together. Don't just assign new tasks or projects. Get their buy-in, and discuss which Strengths could help them reach their goals. And if development is part of that conversation, look for learning opportunities that help them lean into and develop their Strengths - not ones aimed at fixing perceived Weaknesses.

The important thing is to treat each person as an individual. Where a manager puts their attention makes a real difference in how many people are checked out at work (what Gallup calls actively disengaged). In a Gallup survey of 1,003 U.S. employees, here's the share who were actively disengaged when their manager:

• Ignored them: 40%
• Focused on their Weaknesses: 22%
• Focused on their Strengths: 1% (and 61% were engaged)

I've seen this firsthand. I once worked with a manager who had a very disjointed group - people other managers didn't want to lead. Two in particular were considered problem employees.

But this manager took his time. He had a very full plate, but he made it a point to casually check in with each person at some point throughout each week. He observed, listened, and didn't push. He got to know what was different about each of them and related to each one individually.

Little by little, that group shifted. Over about six months, even the two problem employees started joining in. The group went from disjointed individuals to a cooperative, and eventually collaborative, team.

The biggest factor? Their manager. He didn't see them as a group to fix. He slowly worked with each of them as an individual to get their buy-in and draw them in. You can do the same, one conversation at a time.

What's the bigger picture for you as a manager?

As a manager, you're in a unique position. How you approach this work affects you, your team, and everyone your team interacts with. That could feel intimidating. Or you can choose to see it as a powerful place to be.

What you do, and how you support your people, trickles out. It shows up in how your team works with other teams, in how your customers are served, and in what your people carry with them long after they've left your team. And if you lead other managers, that reach multiplies with every team your managers lead.

That's why this is a long game. CliftonStrengths isn't a training you send your team to. It's something you lead, week after week, even when it means a step back today.

Focus on the long-term gains, not the short-term pains.

This article was about you, the individual, and how far your role reaches. When you're ready for the plan and the process, these will help:

• CliftonStrengths for Teams: What It Takes to Make a Rollout Stick - the building blocks that make the work last
• How to Plan a CliftonStrengths Workshop for Your Team - answers to the questions leaders ask while planning
• CliftonStrengths Workshops for Teams - how I work with teams, if you'd like help

Frequently asked questions

Should I take CliftonStrengths before my team does?

No, there's no need to take the assessment before the rest of your team. There's value in going through the discovery process together. If you're curious and want to get ahead, there's nothing wrong with taking it first. One thing to note: if you're working with a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, you may want to get your assessment code through them. That way, they'll have your results along with your team's when they run your team analysis. What matters isn't going first. It's doing the work on yourself, and using what you learn.

Do I need to be a CliftonStrengths expert to lead this?

No. You're learning and practicing alongside your team, so don't expect yourself to have all the answers. And please don't start labeling people. Ask each other questions, and learn from your mistakes together. Be sure to keep an expert, like a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, within reach to support you and your team along the way.

What if my CliftonStrengths results don't sound like a leader's results?

You can still lead well. There's no typical way to be a leader. People may believe certain Strengths are required to lead, but that's perception and assumption. As Gallup's research puts it, "there is no universal set of talents that all leaders have in common." Some leaders are bold, and others are quiet. Some are strategic, some visionary, some charismatic - and most are a mix. What matters is being in the right place for the kind of leader you are. And your Strengths let you approach things in ways no one expects. In certain moments, that's exactly what's needed. It's where disruption and innovation can come from.

Can I use my team's results when assigning work, or for hiring?

Resist the urge to use your team's results to assign tasks or projects, or to hire. Gallup is clear that CliftonStrengths is a development tool, not a selection tool. Having everyone's results makes it easier to discuss and explore each other's interests and Strengths. Over time, you may find your team even gets into a flow, knowing which tasks are best suited to each person - but that's not the same as assigning or deciding from the top. To keep your team engaged, use CliftonStrengths to work with your team, not to label them.

Does a Strengths-based approach ignore Weaknesses?

No. A Strengths-based approach doesn't ignore Weaknesses. It just doesn't focus on them. As you go through CliftonStrengths training, you'll learn what Weaknesses are, where they come from, and how to address them. But keep the emphasis on Strengths and what's possible.