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Creating a Strengths-Based Culture · The Strength Catalyst

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Strength Catalyst.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: What actually creates a healthy organizational culture?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: We often think it's the result of a strategic plan or a leadership retreat or an exciting initiative.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: But what if culture is built in much smaller moments?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's the conversations we have every day, the questions we ask, the way we choose to see one another, and the intention we bring to helping people become their best selves.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, today's podcast episode is a little different.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than exploring the strengths of a single nonprofit leader, we're looking at what can happen when an entire organization becomes very intentional about helping people better understand themselves and one another.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: My guest is Amanda D.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oliveira from WeCan, a nonprofit on Cape Cod that has fully embraced a strengths-focused approach to helping women thrive.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, Amanda wanted to have this conversation because she hoped that sharing some of what WeCAN has learned might give other nonprofit leaders ideas they can adapt for their own organizations.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need a particular assessment or a specific process to learn from WeCan's experience.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: What you need is a willingness to be intentional.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because a strength-focused culture is built over time in the way people talk, listen, collaborate, and help one another thrive.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my conversation with Amanda.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: It warms my heart to know that you have fully embraced your strengths to the extent that not only is that awareness helpful to you, but it's permeated the organization.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd love to begin by helping our listeners get to know both you and WeCAND.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So can you paint a picture of the organization, who you serve, what kinds of services that you provide, and specifically, of course, what role you play for WeCAN?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for having me, Colleen.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very excited to be here.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we owe a lot of how we use the strengths and the skills to you.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: So let's start about Weekend.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: So WeCAN happens to be one of my favorite places on earth, and we are a nonprofit that helps women thrive in times of transition.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: So we offer five types of services: legal help, financial empowerment, career support, small business support, and personal development through workshops and mentoring.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And for those of you who aren't where Colleen and I are, we are located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and we help women who work or live in one of the 15 towns of Barstable County.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: And each year we serve over 1,500 women through our one-on-one consultations and our workshops.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a lot of volunteers.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: We have over 350 volunteers that make that possible.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: And more than half of our participants return for a second service after their initial encounter with us at WeCAN.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people don't realize that we actually help men too, more in a one-on-one setting, but we market to women, but we also help men as well.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we try to help every person that walks through our doors or call.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if we can't, we will refer them to another source on Cape Cod or in the area in which they live.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I am the finance and administrative coordinator for WeCAN, which is really a fancy title for anything related to finance, human resources, and strategic planning.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: A big part of my daily function and role at WeCAN is to provide information and support for the wellness of our staff in an HR capacity.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I work very closely with our assistant director, Beth Bowman, and I work directly under our executive director.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for providing that background.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking maybe I should also provide a little background on my involvement with uh WeCAN before we dive in.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to let the listeners know that I've had the privilege of working with WeCAN for probably almost four years now.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And during this time, I've really seen firsthand how a strengths-based approach can become woven into the fabric of an organization, not because of people who took a strengths assessment, but really because of leaders like you who are creating opportunities for people to understand themselves and one another more deeply.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we should start with your own strengths.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk a little bit about your strengths and how you use them in your role?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: My strengths, I if I'm looking at my realized strengths, first of all, I have to say, because I love your podcast and I've listened to the previous episodes, I think it's really cool that you're doing this spin-off HR episode because not all of the people that you've interviewed so far are familiar with the profile yet.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so cool to hear them work that out with you live in a recording.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And now I get to, you know, work with the ones that I've been working with for two years.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really cool.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: In my real life strengths, the top things that I use in my capacity at Weekend would be adherence, organizer, planner, and relationship deepener.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of those sound the same or similar.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I've learned that they are, but they're all a little bit uniquely different.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And adherence, I use that's my number one realized strength.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I use it whether it's good or bad.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a very black and white person.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: I like structure, I like rules when you're dealing with people's benefits, with their pay, with the finances of a you know, very profitable multi-million dollar organization.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: You have a budget that you have to be accountable for and an executive director you have to report to.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Playing by the rules is important.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that um I use a lot, but I've also learned, and I know we'll probably talk about this later, but you can also overuse your strengths.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so um sometimes I maybe lean on my strength a little too hard.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: But organizer and planner, those come in handy with deadlines, explaining things to people.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have people that maybe this is their first grown-up job or their first job out of college, and they don't understand benefits and health insurance and the structure of how things work and enrollment timelines.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so those skills come in handy.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then relationship deepener, we are as an organization, a very relationship-focused organization within each other, within our team.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: We have a very collaborative approach, but also because we are so participant focused, we are deepening relationships all the time.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And even though I'm in a little office in the back doing spreadsheets, I really get to lean on that when I meet one-on-one with staff or HR matters or just getting to know who they are.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very lucky that my executive director allows me in my HR capacity to take time each day, each week to sit with different staff members and just say, Hey, how are you doing?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: What are you working on?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: What's going on in your life?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so my relationship deepener skill I've really leaned into in the last uh two years.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And when things get kind of hectic with your workload or the amount of activity in the office or the calls coming in, which of your strengths help you stay strong and are kind of your go-to strengths for resilience?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny you said resilience, and I think you did that on purpose because that's my number two weakness.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I don't like change and I'm not very good at resilience.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but to lean on that, I would say one of my unrealized strengths, which is that I don't use it as much, but I perform well, is action.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that helps me because if I'm stressed out or thing like, like you said, there's a lot of people calling or walk-ins, or maybe we have like a crisis in the lobby, something like that.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's kind of all hands on deck.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: If I can come up with a plan or an action item that can get us, okay, what's the next step?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: And just focus on what do we do next?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: How do we get past this?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my unrealized strength of action, I think, comes in handy the most.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I know you're very action-oriented around strengths, because when you and I have our monthly conversations, you are always seemingly eager to share with me something that you've discovered or you've tried with the staff in order to help others become self-aware and intentional in their strength use.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd love to hear you talk about that, telling our listeners like, how did this whole value of having a strength-based mindset kind of click for you?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: What you know, what what spurred your motivation and your interest in this way of operating?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: So this is embarrassing, but when I first started at WeCAN on paid staff, I really wanted to impress the board of directors and the executive director because those are the two people I work with closely in my areas.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I was new to this field.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so what I did after my onboarding period, and I was assigned to you and we met, I did the assessment, you went over my profile with me, showed me how it could be in use.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: I sat down with my whole profile and I made a plan.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, okay, now that I have this tool in my tool belt, how can I use this during our board of directors meetings and my weekly one-on-ones with my supervisor to communicate what I'm doing, what I need, ask for feedback, what am I not doing right?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: What should I do differently?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And something very early on in our conversations, Colleen, really hit me.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's that overplaying the strengths uh concept.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that hit me like a ton of bricks.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I realized, hey, like growing up and through school and being a working adult professional, you know, there's some people in the work world you really vibe with and you you're in that flow, that state of flow, like you mesh really well together.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's other people that you're like, man, did I make them mad or am I like rubbing them the wrong way?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I realized that it could be because simply maybe we have not opposing strengths, but different strengths, or you know, they're in different quadrants of the four quadrants.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I realized that maybe overplaying my adherence strength might make an impact on my work with the board of directors and our executive director, that really opened my eyes to how the strengths profile can really adjust how I can grow professionally.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, we'd have to ask Lisa, but I think it's it's for my part, it's helped me kind of take a step back and see, okay, maybe we don't have to follow the rules exactly.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe not everything is still black and white.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: How can I look at her and the board and see how they see things at a high level and um are able to approach things a little more loosey-goosey and have a little bit of room for flexibility rather than being so stringent?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I want to explore that a little bit further with you.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So when you take your foot off the gas on your adherence strength because you're acknowledging in your mind that maybe it's not serving me as well in this particular scenario, how do you do that in a way that is still authentic to you, that enables you to still show up in that board meeting with confidence, but not leaning on one of the strengths that typically helps you feel strong and in control?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think what I've learned about myself, and I would not have been able to do this without your help, is that I can lean on a different strength or I can switch something up.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so if I'm looking at my quadrant, my four quadrants, like I do right now and all the time, if I'm like, okay, I want to take a step back from the adherence, in order for me to still be authentic and be myself, like you said, if I lean maybe more on that planner or explainer strength, then I can go into a board meeting knowing or a meeting with Lisa, knowing, okay, I'm prepared.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: But if something goes a little bit differently, I'm prepared to be flexible, I'm prepared to be right on schedule, I'm prepared if we go, if something totally blows it up out of the water.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I try to plan for other scenarios, and that helps me feel like I'm still being true to myself, but allowing room for growth.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Makes sense to me.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully it makes sense to our listeners that when you can you can successfully take your foot off the gas of one strength if you simultaneously put your foot down on the gas of another one of your strengths.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: We all have many different strengths that give us energy and help us feel authentic and confident.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: And our goal as strengths-based colleagues here is to use them in the right sort of balance, you know, relative to the situation that we're trying to use them in.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and Mandel, let's run it out a little bit.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we've been talking about you and how you used your strengths uh in the specifics of your job description, but I know from what you tell me and from what I hear from your colleagues that your belief in a strength-based approach has permeated the organization.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So talk to me a little bit about um why you do that and how you do that.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, I'm gonna flip the coin to you now.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it would help our listeners if they understand what happens when someone comes on as staff at weekend.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: So they come on, they have their first day, they have an onboarding plan.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: After their 90 days of onboarding, we may be an HR person, introduce them to you.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we say, This is uh executive coach that we work with, this is an assessment you're gonna be taking, and we let you take it from there.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, then they have the option after they meet with you a couple of times to meet with you every month, which has been life-changing for a lot of us in our professional lives.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, do you kind of want to tell the listeners what happens when they meet up with you?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Usually I spend an hour with each person, um, at least to start, and we walk through the now-called skills discovery assessment that you've been referring to in this conversation.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I try to do is help them uh embrace what it shows and to help them figure out the best ways that they might employ those strengths in their role, as well as an acknowledgement that your colleagues, even though they all work at the same place you work, all have their own unique set of strengths.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I talk about the fact that as they get deeper into their role, they will hopefully be able to uh recognize the fact that some people have similar strengths and some people have different strengths.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: How that translates on a day-to-day basis, I would bounce it back over to you because I know that's where you come in because you're meeting with people on a daily basis uh and helping motivate them or help them solve problems.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us a little bit more about that, Amanda.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: So once they meet with you, they are usually rip-worn, ready to go.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're excited, they're like, oh my gosh, have you heard of this thing?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Positive psychology, strength, skills discovery.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: And we're like, yeah, yeah, that's why we sent you to her.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing, isn't it?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So every morning at Weekend, um, we have multiple locations now.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: And in our Harwich port and Hyana's office, we have what we call a morning huddle.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we get together and it's our time to talk about appointments, what participants are coming in for which services, if we have any special volunteers coming in, if anybody's coming into the building, who's taking lunch at what time, scheduling things, things like that.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of places, you know, have things like this, especially in the corporate culture.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's been really beneficial for our team.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then after learning about the introspective cards that you and Shannon have put together and are selling, we decided to give them as a gift at one of our retreats to all of our staff members from the organization, and we decided to bring them into the morning huddles.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So these are cards that um, I don't want to explain your product, but go for it.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: They have all the strengths and skills on them, and they have either a quote or a question, and they're sort of like challenge cards, affirmation cards, sort of something like that.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so we spread them out and we've used them in so many different ways.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a way to keep strength top of mind for our staff.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, one of the rituals that we do is in the morning huddle, someone might say, Hey, like we want to all pull a card.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll just go around, I'll shuffle down like a deck of cards and go across the morning huddle, and everyone will pick a card and they'll either read the quote or they'll read the question and ponder out loud with the group.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we pick one card on a Monday morning.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's our biggest huddle where we have all the staff mostly in location.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll pick one card and it'll be one for us all to focus on for the week.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Or we'll say, How could we use this?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is it a strength or is it a weakness?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: How could we use this better?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Should we back off on this?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll individually share with the group what that might look like for us in that week, that day, that moment.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Something that we tried relatively recently that went over really well was we identified our realized and unrealized strengths as a group to one another, and then we all chose one out of those two quadrants.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: I pulled the card for those people and they took the card with them.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: So whether they were working in Hyanis, Falmouth, Harwichport, if they were working remotely, if they had off-site meetings, if they were going to a conference, they took the card with them throughout the whole week to help them try to focus on that particular strength, realized or unrealized, throughout the week.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that seemed to go over really well with the group.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: I know when something is successful or working for us, when someone requests it, like, hey, can we pull a card today at Morning Huddle?
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like right when I walk in the door.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how I know, like, yes, this is something that is working, it's benefiting for the staff.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: They are feeling a transformation when we talk about this stuff.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Can you think of an example of how it benefits them?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have two really good examples.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: One is we had a staff member preparing to go out on maternity leave, and she it was her first child, and she was getting ready and she was trying to make a plan, her maternity leave plan.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And she is responsible for a lot here at Weekend, and it was gonna be a heavy load for whoever's coming in to fill in for her to come in and take over.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so she's like, she came and talked to me one day and she said, like, I'm just feeling stuck.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I need a plan for the plan.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to do, and I want to make sure that I'm ready to go when I go into labor.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, okay, well, we're gonna make a plan for the plan.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: So she probably rolled her eyes.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, because everyone rolls their eyes at me when I talk about this.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I said, let's get your strengths profile out.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I pulled her quadrant out from my desk and we looked at it.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we talked about, okay, what can you lean on and what are you struggling with that maybe you could take the foot off the accelerator on a little bit to make this plan so that you feel prepared to go out, have your time off, not think about this place, enjoy motherhood.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so we spent 30 minutes together behind a closed door.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: We just talked about what she could use.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't even come up with her maternity plan.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: That was the thing.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: She can do that on her own.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: She's competent, capable, and strong and can do that on her own.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: What we did is we just made the plan for how is she gonna make the plan?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: That was really impactful for me as the HR person.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I left her office, I was like, wow, we've got someone on the right track using this.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: The science behind this is real.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, she's she's gonna be awesome.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: She's gonna be ready to go when it's time to go into labor.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, the smile on your face that I can see right now.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: I wish our listeners could see it.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, that the deep-rooted satisfaction you have by taking this approach hopefully is really instructive for anybody listening to this.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so one of the things I uh that we also talked about you sharing with listeners is how you use strengths in one on one meetings.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, can you share a little bit about that, please?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, supervisors a lot of times will use strengths in our one to one.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: So at Weekend, we have a practice where a staff member meets.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: With their direct supervisor every week, every other week, once a month.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's whatever is comfortable for you guys and for their schedule, their flow.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I have a really good example for that one.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: So there is a supervisor whose strength, like me, is time optimizer.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like they know what's happening down to the minute, down to the second on a specific day.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's their jam.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: They keep us on schedule, they keep us afloat, like that is their strength, and that's why they make such a good leader.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I noticed that they didn't even tell me they were doing this.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't even think until they listen to this, they're gonna know that I noticed.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I see that they changed their approach with a specific staff member based on the strengths.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so this staff member that they were managing, they have a great rapport together, um, same background.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's fun to watch them work together.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: And this staff member, their strength is not time optimizer, and it's not knowing what's happening at 2.05 minutes and 55 seconds PM on a Tuesday.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was able to watch over the last year that they changed their supervisory style to manage this person using what their strengths were, which was really cool.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, and they both have um overlapping strengths, which are unconditionality and compassion.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: And they used both of those and how they approach their managerial style with this staff member.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just really cool to see the transformation.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know that I would have ever picked that out if I didn't have this knowledge about strengths.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: It never would have clicked.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: And to see that from the outside looking in is really cool because it shows the sign of great leadership and it also shows the sign of a staff member who appreciates who's in charge and who they have to report to and knows that that person listens to them and doesn't judge them, and they both approach participants the same way, which is really awesome.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like the strengths approach from what you're describing here, and from what I know, hanging around all of you, has had an impact on not only the individual level, like you're describing it in these different different scenarios, but also um on the culture of the organization.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: At least certainly that's my impression, because when I'm in coaching sessions with your colleagues and with you, you know, people will, without me prompting, say, I'm I'm gonna use my strength of blah, blah, blah, blah, or I'm recognizing as I'm saying this out loud to you right now, Colleen, that I'm probably overplaying my strength of blah, blah, blah, or I feel vulnerable, you know, because of this weakness, but I know that my colleague such and such, you know, has has a strength in this area, and I probably should lean into them a little bit more.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, my sense, and I know you've heard I've heard you say this too, that it's had an impact on the culture of the organization.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm interested to have you talk about that a little bit, maybe maybe starting with from a communication standpoint, like how how has communication been impacted by the strengths mindset that people share?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: I was just gonna say that the two things that has impacted in my experience has been communication and uh collaboration.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, in terms of communication, communication is very, very important to our staff.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: It comes up every year in our staff satisfaction surveys.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that our HR committee takes very seriously, that our leadership takes very seriously.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's something that we put a lot of intentional thought in from a leadership perspective.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Using the strengths has this phrase that I know you liked.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: We take out the drama and the garbage of everything.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we're a very small staff of 13 people, and we're all females and say what you want.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, that's a tough environment at times.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: We're all very passionate.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: We all love food, we love reading, we all get along so well, but we all are very opinionated and strong.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of strong women on our staff.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so, in terms of communication, you might think from the outside looking in, oh man, maybe they have a lot of drama or, you know, I call it the garbage, you know, high school whisperings or gossip, things like that.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: And we don't.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I really think as I was reflecting on how we use strengths in preparation for this conversation, I really think it comes down to the fact that we know our strengths and we use our strengths.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think one of the worst things that an organization could do is to have your people take this assessment and then never talk about it again, never review it, never put it into practice.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that goes for a lot of tools and a lot of things in the workplace, but especially for strengths, because there's so much life that you get from talking about your strengths, even when you're talking in conflict.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: So if there's conflict and it comes down to communication, people get passionate about what when they feel they were wronged.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can reflect on your strengths with the person that you're in conflict with, it really opens up communication.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that has changed our culture for sure.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that reminds me of a situation that I had uh many years ago where I was working with two female executives in a different organization, and they had a very visible to their teams and their man, their shared manager, a very visible um conflict in their working relationship.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it permeated the teams and it made their team members, each of them, each of their team members for each of their teams feel uncomfortable.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the manager came to me and said, Can you help me figure this out?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I had done a similar strength exercise with each one of them, and I was in the midst of coaching engagement with each one of them.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I approached each one and said, How about if we meet at the Starbucks on the corner on Friday afternoon and just talk about how the two of you might be able to work more amicably and respectfully together because your teams want it, your manager wants it, it's important.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I had them each bring with them their list of strengths.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I asked them both first to talk to the other person about why they valued the strengths that they bring into their job and how they're really helpful to their team and to the organization.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then I said, all right, now I want each of you to reflect on the possibility that you might overplay any of your strengths in any certain situations.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I had done a little prep work with each one of them for this conversation, not only for the conversation, but also we'd be discussing similar things anyway through the course of our coaching engagement.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was magical, I would say, when each of them talked about their possible, if not probable, overplaying of their strengths, because it helped the other person feel permitted to acknowledge that.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, and for the person who was overplaying their strength and acknowledging it for them to be vulnerable uh enough to embrace the conversation.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then we went back and said, all right, well, given that you overplay your counterpoint strength and you overplay your prevention, thinking you had to what could go wrong strength, what different strengths could each of you use that are in your toolkit that would enable you to not use that particular problematic strength to the extent that it causes the conflict.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then they both picked other things and they love their other strengths, and it really helped their relationship moving forward.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, the teams relaxed.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love that story.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so awesome.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: I share that a lot because someone everybody can relate to it.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: I would say in my coaching work, um, probably the number one or certainly top five coaching topics that I've addressed over the last 25 years with people relates to interpersonal conflict.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and most of the time it comes down to um one learn learning to be a little bit more patient with the enthusiasm with which their colleague uses their strengths.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a little hard to be appreciative of that until you first recognize your own probable potential conflict-inducing overplaying upper strengths.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I don't want to go off too long of a tangent on that.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love it.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's so true.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it really takes the emotional part out in your workplace relationships because you say, okay, this is who this person is, this is who I am, and this is how we're gonna resolve this conflict.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it works every time, I swear.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and it brings us right back to what you said, you know, kind of helps hopefully most of the time reduce the drama and the garbage that you know, basic human nature just generates.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right, what else?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: What other ways um have you noticed the weekend culture positively impacted by a strengths perspective?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: The second biggest way would be through collaboration.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we are a small team, as I said, there are only 13 of us on staff, typically full-time.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and our programs are all run by over 350 volunteers.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: So the staff is the crux of what's supporting the organization to run, both as the nonprofit and to deliver our services through supporting our volunteers.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so you wear a lot of hats like most people know when you're in a nonprofit.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: And part of that wearing a lot of hats includes collaboration.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: So a really cool thing that I've seen that again was also embarrassing for me because I'm so stringent and adherence is that number one realized strength for me.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I remember Lisa one day called me into the office and I grabbed a pen and paper and I'm like, okay, and so what do you want done when?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and when are we gonna have this?
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: And she goes, No, no, no, Amanda, I'm just looking for a thought partner.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I go, a a what?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: And she goes, a thought partner.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm just we're just talking it out.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this isn't something you're assigned.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is something I have to do, but I just wanted to like talk it out and get your opinion on it.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I am so stuck in that black and white, like, gotta have an end goal, gotta have an action item that I that totally that concept just blew me away and I totally went over my head.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I've seen it come up time and time again that the staff will keep, I'm so proud of them, they will keep team profiles and team other team members' quadrants near their desk.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so you may be in the development side of things where you're in the weeds with donors, doing fundraising, focusing on campaigns, and you're not so much involved in the program side of things, talking to participants and the day-to-day actions that involve participants.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: But I have seen our senior development manager go to program members and say, hey, this is what we're working on.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is the latest PR thing, this is the latest newsletter, this is the latest campaign material that we want to go out to people that support the organization.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Can you just take a look at this?
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: Can we talk it out?
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: How does this align with what you're doing in programs?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so cool to see that they use their strengths and they pick the people that they're consulting with based on what their strengths are.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it may not be something that they have.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people will go, I've noticed a pattern in our staff is if someone doesn't have detail oriented as a strength, that their attention to detail is not a strength for them, they will go find someone who it is and they will have them proofread and edit documents before going to the printer.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so cool to see because and I can't talk about it all the time because then they're like, oh, Amanda, yeah, we know strength, strength, strengths.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like is Colleen hiding somewhere in the walls right now.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I can watch it.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: And even though I don't necessarily always point it out, I can see it and it's really cool.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe something I'm thinking like rapport builder.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: If we have someone who is on the program team and maybe they're having trouble connecting with this participant, or maybe a new volunteer, and they're like, I don't know why this isn't working.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: They'll go find someone else in the office that has that strength and say, here, this is what I've tried.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not connecting.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have any feedback for me?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really cool.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Your enthusiasm uh and the very specific examples that you're providing, hopefully really uh motivating people who are listening to this and saying, you know, how can I adopt some of these same practices to help my organization, my nonprofit or whatever kind of organization it is, reap similar rewards.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: That is so fantastic.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so I want to start kind of wrapping this up.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Amanda, since you have the depth of experience and enthusiasm here for the benefits of a strengths-based culture, because you are now in a position to be able to offer some advice to other nonprofit leaders, what might you suggest they do in order to start their journey of creating a strengths-infused organization?
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think the first step is to ask your leadership to take the assessment and see if it's something that you as an organization that it fits with your mission, that it's part of, it's aligned with what you want of your staff or of your participants, of the people you help, whatever it may be.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: Have your leadership take it first because it needs to come from the top and work its way down in order for the people at the bottom to believe in it.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: They're not going to believe in it if you don't believe in it.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm very lucky and very grateful that the top people in my organization, they believe in this, they believe in the science behind this.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: And not only do they just sign off on it, like, yeah, they can people can meet with Colleen, they bring it up in our staff meetings, they bring it up in how they assign people to projects, they bring it up in how we assign teams for our strategic plan that we have every three years over a three-year period.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's in practice.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we believe in it because our leadership believes in it.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I highly, highly doubt that there's any leader that won't be on board with this once they see what it can do.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I would echo that too from my own experience, because having taken a strengths-based approach to my work with for-profit and nonprofit organizations over the last 25 years, there's hardly a situation that I can think of where the individual and then the and often the team didn't find some, if not a lot, of value in having a sharpened focus about the tools that they have on an individual basis and that they as a team have collectively.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Amanda, I want to be sure that we've said enough about we can.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to be sure that a special organization like we can shines.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe what I'd ask you as a final question is if you were to identify a few strengths that the organization exhibits in the marketplace and with volunteers and with participants and with employees, what would you say are the top strengths of WeCAN?
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that softball, Colleen.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I pulled up our team's profile.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: So in the retreats and the things that we do with you, we have the team's profile, uh, the top strengths of every team member at everybody's fingertips.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we talked about this in a morning huddle a few weeks ago.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: And our number one team strength is humility, which is sort of laughable because I see it and I'm like, yep, that's it's that's it, that's it, that's us.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: And all the people that you, if you asked them all individually, they'd be like, oh no, it's because of so-and-so, and oh no, it's because of this team.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: And no, we I I don't do anything here, which just brings us right back to the humility strength.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: So the thing that shines through at we can, you're gonna hear this as you get to know our organization and as people Google us and look us up, it's called the we can way.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the we can way is how every single person that touches this organization describes it, but we don't really have a written definition for what that is.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's because once you walk through the doors, you feel like you're home, you feel like you have a family, you feel like you're accepted and that someone has met you with dignity where you are.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really hard to describe that feeling, and it sounds kind of cringy and cliche, but you can ask any person, donor, staff member, volunteer, participant, and they'll say, yeah, it's it's like the weekend way.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: They just have this way about them.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: And the top strengths that shine through, I think, that could define the weekend way are humility, unconditionality, and service.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: And those are three of our top five strengths as a team.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: This place is life-changing.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: The listeners don't know, but I hear I volunteered here while I had a separate career outside of the nonprofit world for years.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: The strengths that show through in this team and this culture and what happens when you walk through these doors hold me from a completely other career.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I came on board and I changed my entire life to be associated with this organization more fully because a few hours once a week was not enough for me.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's what shows up when you walk through weekends doors.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's heavily what showed up as you explained using your explainer strength today, you know, how the uh strengths-based approach has made an impact for you and for the staff.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you, Amanda, so much for not only sharing kind of the practical tips, but also the really genuine, heartfelt approach that you've taken with your colleagues and with me and toward the organization.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I know our listeners are going to come away with an idea or two or three that they can try with their own teams thanks to you preparing for and committing to this conversation today.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I really hope that they have been inspired to invest a little bit more deeply in helping people around them discover what they do best, just like you have.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: Good luck with um everything you have on your plate for the summer.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know summer is a very busy time at Weekend.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh thank you again for joining me and sharing your special self.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Colleen.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: As I reflected on my conversation with Amanda, one idea stayed with me.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Organizations don't become strengths focused because people complete an assessment.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: They become strengths focused because leaders intentionally create moments that help people understand themselves, appreciate one another, and use what they naturally do best.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: Throughout today's conversation, Amanda shared many examples.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: A question asked during a morning huddle, a strength card that sparked a conversation, a supervisor who adjusted their leadership style to better fit another person's strengths, a colleague helping someone create a plan, not by giving them the answers, but by helping them discover their own way forward.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: Those moments may seem small, but over time they shape the way people communicate, collaborate, solve problems, and trust one another.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how culture changes.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to leave you with a set of questions.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: What's one intentional conversation you could have this week that might help someone feel more deeply understood by you?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: And in what way can you cite the strength you appreciate in that person?
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't require a formal program, it simply requires paying attention to what's already strong in people around you and creating opportunities for those strengths to flourish.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining me for this special episode of the Strength Catalyst.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if this conversation sparked an idea, I'd love it if you'd share it with another leader who cares also about building a culture where people and organizations can truly thrive.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, keep discovering the strengths that already exist within you and creating the conversations that help bring them to life.