Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, boys, and girls of all ages. Welcome to the most amazing interview show on the information super highway. Now zooming to you live and simultaneously from two secret studio bunkers in dual time zones are located somewhere South of Alaska, East of area, 51 North of Guantanamo. And if I give you one more clue, we'll all be in deep trouble. It's the amazing twin namesake separated at birth. The two most famous guys, not in witness protection. It's coffee with Jim and James.
Speaker 1 00:00:39 Good morning, everyone. Another beautiful sunny day here, James, something about today has to be feeling kind of strong and not physically more. So this way don't know what it is. Feel like finding my strengths or maybe I have those words backwards. Anyways. That's a hint of today's show as always my partner in crime, the yang to my yang, the pink, my pong, the show. Wouldn't be the show without him. Mr. James Cross, James, how are you? And you know, I'm on a roll right now. Can you tell me why I'm feeling so strong? You bet. And the show literally wouldn't be the same without it today's show is based around street. So we're going to be talking about street based leadership. And today we have a very special guest. One of my good friends from the industry from Southern gas association. Um, miss Cindy Mitchell, send me welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 00:01:40 Welcome Cindy. Thank you guys. This is fantastic. I'm super excited to be with you. Um, it's a fantastic journey that we've been on together. And so, uh, this is a great format and really looking forward to bringing strengths to your audience and, uh, talking a little more about the whole platform of Gallup's Clifton strengths, strength finders, then make it any harder to say. That's what I wonder if version two, like an, add a few more syllables to trip us up, right. Uh, I think it's just as hard to type because that in, in the G and the T and the H just kind of runs together too. So that's just that, that probably sounds like it gives spellcheck a run for the money. You know, Cindy, we've known each other for a long time and we've seen each other at, uh, countless shows and other events like that. And you have some really cool party tricks. I'll call them as James just alluded to, for those that know, Sydney is a Gallup certified StrengthFinder coach. And if anybody knows anything about the business world and strengths and all that, that's kind of a really big deal. Cindy, can you help us and give our viewers the 30,000 foot view of, uh, two Stripe finders and what it's about? Sure. Um, so won't go into too
Speaker 2 00:03:00 Much of the history of it, but Don Clifton was a, a behavioral psychiatrist and he's the founder of StrengthsFinders. He started the movement by asking the question simply what would happen if we focused on what was right with people? Um, eventually, uh, he developed a psychometric assessment that is now powered by the Gallup organization. So it's different, it's not a personality profile. Uh, people that have, have done those may be experienced, colors, love languages. All of those, um, are fantastic, um, entries into behavioral assessments, but really to get to the heart of who we are, we really do need to use a psychometric assessment. So it's broken up into 34 identified talent themes or strengths as we call them. And there are four domains, um, over 20 million people worldwide now have taken strength finders, and only one in 33 with the odds are one in 33 million, is that someone would have the exact same top five in the exact same order as you one in 33 million
Speaker 3 00:04:18 Mine and gyms are exactly the same,
Speaker 2 00:04:24 Not at all. And then, um, I think the last thing that you really need to know, uh, kind of at this high level view is that the reason that they're actually identified as talent themes, um, is because they must be developed in order to be known or seen by others. So these talent themes are innate in us. They are how we're wired and, um, those have to be developed and worked on, um, so that others can recognize those as strengths. Every strength has a balcony, every strength has a basement. Um, you can always have too much of a good thing. So, um, you can kind of get the idea, right? The reference of a balcony and a basement.
Speaker 3 00:05:09 Yeah. Jim's on a balcony right now. Um, uh, Sunday, I love, I love, um, the strength based and strength finder. Um, I, when we, when I came on board with EWM was the first thing, the first time I was really exposed to it and I say exposed, like it was a bad thing, but when I, when I saw it, took the test and got my top five bag, and for those who have never done that, that's kind of the process are you hit your five, you can pay for an additional one, see the full set. But when I saw my five, it was like my whole life. I realized what it was that I had been gifted with really. And that almost every time in my that I thought was going to dance or, you know, I fell into a good habit or routine really.
Speaker 3 00:06:04 It pulled a lot down to my streets. And so it was a big realization for me as a leader and also as, I mean, just for my career. And so when I began leaning into those things and coupling my strengths with the right people and learning more about it and how powerful it was, it started implementing it within my own teams. I think we started to see the benefits almost. It felt like instantly, I mean, you can almost do it at the smallest project level or start big, you know, kind of ramp up into it either way. Uh, we, we, we went in and we started aligning people in the right seats and just building teams better in my opinion. So, so I guess my point is, is, and, and what I want to ask you is why is it every single company using strings binder and, um, you know, what, how could it change them and what they're doing?
Speaker 2 00:07:03 Yeah, you're absolutely right. And, um, trust me to work with your organization was an absolute delight. It, it is so refreshing that a company wants to implement a strengths-based culture, um, typically because we're pretty hardwired to do what we do and the negatives pretty easy to see. Um, it usually takes a couple of years to get everybody on the right track and to have the right conversations. Um, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, what do you do when somebody messes up? You either reprimand them, you write them up, you talk to them about what they've done wrong. Right? You don't find out what they've done, right. And work to overcome the deficiency. So, so it takes a while. Um, so that's part of the reason to answer your question is, um, there are a lot of leaders that aren't a very strength-based mindset type of a leader.
Speaker 2 00:08:05 Um, and then there's the mindset too, that StrengthFinders or these kinds of assessments are warm and fuzzy. Um, they, they make your team feel good. Um, so I'm going to tell you that, uh, the Gallup organization is a very serious organization. Um, holding obviously as something they're widely known for. So numbers, they have, uh, this is a business strategy. Why more companies don't recognize that I'm not very sure, but employees, um, who are engaged in their jobs are six times more likely to be, um, successful, strongly agree that they have the opportunity to do what they do best three times more likely to report an excellent quality of life. Uh, 32% of the American workforce is actively disengaged. They're not just like, Ooh, this is a job they are actively.
Speaker 3 00:09:06 Yeah. Today, first day of my life. I mean, they roll in and they sat in the parking lot and wonder if they should go into work.
Speaker 2 00:09:14 That's right. 32%. Wow. So increased productivity and quality of work delivered is the bottom line of what you get when you build in StrengthFinders into your culture. Um, it's the equivalent of, um, 33 minutes, a day, more productive. So that doesn't sound like a lot. However, when the average us team is built of 11 people, um, that's essentially an additional team member. I mean, that's crazy everybody, especially right now. Um, how do we, how do we do more with less? How do we meet our demands? And yet when you can engage your employees and focus on using your teammates in a way that works best for them will work best for you. So, um, it just kind of is a cool side note. Um, James, you and I share one of the same top five and Jim, we share too. So James and I share strategic,
Speaker 3 00:10:23 Which I feel like everyone has strategic eye for like, is that the most powerful one ever?
Speaker 2 00:10:28 No, it's not really. Um, Nope. Actually achiever is the number one in the us, but both men and women. Oh, that's right. So do I,
Speaker 3 00:10:46 I can arrange all day long, all day long into the night. I need somebody to go, okay, we're going to start now with, or without you. And then I need somebody to say, we're going to finish this because I mean, that's, that's my life,
Speaker 2 00:11:02 Jim is your, Jimmy's your activator. He's the one to get all of that started and we share activator and strategic. Um, it's interesting when you said, I think most people, I hope the look on my face, didn't give it away, but I find a lot of people who aren't strategic all day long. So
Speaker 3 00:11:18 I just work with really awesome people. And I get, I guess it depends on what leadership or, you know, at what level sometimes I find that, uh, I can't remember the other day we pulled it together, our executive leadership team. And I think almost all of us had strategic and responsible and responsibility, which was, I mean, I don't know how it shakes out across the board. I don't, you know, I didn't pay for that report or become a coach like you sent me, but it is fascinating to learn more about each one. It's fun, you know, really fun when you can,
Speaker 1 00:11:54 When you understand where people's like, their passion and strengths are any tap into it, you see them blossom. And if, you know, if somebody is not what you're looking for in that strength, there's, there's many pieces of the puzzle that'll that'll help them or they can fit into. Um, you know, and it brings me to a, an observation I had, you know, I've been to Cindy, a lot of SGA events and, um, James has to, we have, we support the SGA. We've been to a lot. And to me it seems like the entire SGA crew seems to be a very, you know, tight knit group has high expectations, uh, strong leadership, strong team. Um, I, how has the SGA use this technique amongst yourselves to set yourselves apart? And, and I have to ask, you know, what's the good, bad, and the ugly that you find from, you know, integrating this whole, um, tool into your everyday life, HR communications don't do it. Don't do it.
Speaker 2 00:13:12 Um, sorry. I was looking for a paper that I thought was right here. Uh, I think the bad and the ugly to implement StrengthsFinders comes into the amount of time it takes to deeper deep program. Um, and immediately, you know, when something happens, you immediately go to that, that knee jerk response of what's wrong, where did it fail? What did you do wrong? So I, you know, infusing something into a culture is not easy. And it doesn't matter if it's the culture of your team, the culture of your family or the culture of your organization. Um, you can't change a culture without a common language. And so, uh, StrengthFinders has to become a part of your language and your organization. Um, you know, I mean, for us, it's, it's been a lot of fun to use strength finders, um, just so that our employees got to listen to someone other than me talk all the time. We actually hired another group to come in and help us. Um, and so it's really been a very positive experience for people to be seen. And, and so I think, you know, that's, that's the beauty of it, um, is that everyone, everyone has a top five. Everyone has, um, strengths, you know, at varying degrees, um, of development, um, various varying degrees of understanding, but everybody can be seen for what they are really known to be, um, wired to be amazing. And so when you, uh, when you start to infuse it in the culture, it's hard. I mean, it takes a minute and no matter how it is, you are. So, um,
Speaker 3 00:15:14 It's sending it to the, uh, we're, we're in such a on-demand world that, you know, I don't watch a whole series of something. I can, you know, my son's probably streaming a male connection so bad. Like he never lived in a world where he had to wait a week for the new episode to come out, you know, like everything, I want to buy some shoes. I go on Amazon and I got them the next day or the same day. So when it comes to leadership, the most principals, you know, and really going back to fundamental basics and saying, we can't do this right. If we don't start with us with the same language and AWS, you know, you've probably seen our, our hashtag our motto, our kind of makeshift motto, which would be better. Um, you know, everybody screams, you know, they're the best at this and the best for that, but when everybody's screaming, you can't tell them one person from the other, right.
Speaker 3 00:16:09 And our commitment is not that, you know, we're not always going to be the best we're going to make mistakes, but we're gonna, we're gonna take that and continuously improve it and be better and lean into when we're doing really, really well with something. Um, I, I think it's hard for some leaders to get a program like this off the ground, because they want instant results or AR, or from even higher up or expected to have instant results and working on plan. And that's, that's tough. You gotta be committed, you've gotta be passionate and you've gotta be dedicated to it. Um, Cindy would, uh, we always kind of finished with some final thoughts and you know, that I will talk to you about those for like, we could do 16 episodes nerd out about it. We could do 34. I know with two big bookend, uh, uh, intros and outros, but, um, what are some final thoughts for people that might be the first time they're hearing this, or the first time they're realizing there's really a movement behind it, or maybe people that have got lazy, what their strengths are with their, with their groups? What, what do you have foreman's final thoughts?
Speaker 2 00:17:29 I mean, at the end of the day, um, I think it's incredible to have a tool, uh, that recognizes you and, um, gives you a vocabulary to answer what is good with me. Um, you know, the worst interview, in my opinion, the worst interview plant, uh, question on the planet, tell me your strengths and tell me your weaknesses as well. If I sit here all day going through that, I mean,
Speaker 1 00:17:54 Um, so I just take on too much, you know, I can't say no, the answer is that the same, right.
Speaker 2 00:18:05 Um, but geeking out with you. I love working with individuals at various stages of their life. Um, one of the coolest things is when they're getting ready to leave college and go on their adult journey, um, any point of their career really is just to help them identify what they Excel at and how to develop skills and strategies so that they demonstrate those strengths. Um, good point. It's just, we're right now, we are under extreme pressure, stress, anxiety, uh, and that will impact your strengths. And so to your point, James, if maybe you're not seeing them, um, you know, it could be, um, some time to take a mental health break and check on yourself and see how you're doing and spend some time, um, kind of getting to know where you are right now. Um, yeah, absolutely. So, but you know, like I said, everybody has them, um, and it's, uh, it's pretty fantastic to have a vocabulary around being able to say, this is what I'm good at.
Speaker 1 00:19:15 It's, it's one that we, we speak the same language across organizations sometimes, you know, and I asked you, but also in our building, it's a nice to have that. We, we do seven habits also just, uh, with, with the majority of our folks, when we do it in different groups, uh, again, that's a common language for us to really rally around. And when somebody says, be in the mind or seek first understand we know where their heads, uh, and, uh, as we start geeking out on stirring, uh, you know, we're, we're all very much. Yeah. Yeah. I have to tell you, I, I agree with everything James says, and Cindy, you have been absolutely wonderful to join us today. Uh, we can't thank you enough for the time. You really just, um, you know, we've been exploring the StrengthFinders for awhile, but I really think that our audience will, um, from this have a pretty good taste of, you know, what this is a potential for them.
Speaker 1 00:20:13 And I think that's really important. And I will say to the audience that if you're interested in, interested in learning more, please connect with Cindy. She is a wealth of information resource. And as you can see, just a, a wonderful person, she, uh, likes to talk, well, maybe not as much as I do, but she likes to talk. So I'm sure she what's that first year a 2.1. How does that sound please connect with Cindy? And if you're new to the show, if this is your first time connect with James and I, we have, uh, episodes every week, we would like to have you on, on your feed showing up. So please connect with us. Um, and if anybody does want to take the big jump and join us on the show and be a guest by all means, uh, reach out to James or I, we would love to have a discussion with you to see if we can't make that happen. And we haven't ran out of guests out of mugs yet. Right. So, Oh yeah, we did. Yeah. We had an awesome, awesome time with you today. We wish you all well, and we can't wait to see you out at an event hopefully next week. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's been fun geeking out with you guys. And again, thanks to all our viewers. Thanks for watching. God bless you and God bless our industry and we will see you next time on coffee with Jim and James take care and stay safe. Bye everyone.
