About this Video

• Video Title: Developer: Learning to Love All 34 Talent Themes -- Theme Thursday -- S1
• Channel: CliftonStrengths
• Speakers: Jim Collison, Danny Lee, Ronnie Miller
• Duration: 00:55:19

Introduction

This Gallup Theme Thursday webcast focuses on the "Developer" talent theme from the CliftonStrengths assessment. The episode features a discussion with Ronnie Miller, President of Gallup Federal Credit Union, about how he utilizes his "Developer" talent in his professional and personal life. The presenters explore the characteristics of "Developer," contrasting it with other themes and examining its role in effective leadership and employee engagement.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding the Developer Theme: Individuals with a strong "Developer" theme excel at recognizing and cultivating the potential in others. They identify small improvements and find satisfaction in witnessing others' growth.
• Developer in Action: Developers are patient, encouraging, perceptive, and growth-oriented. They act as mentors, coaches, and advisors, often challenging others to reach their full potential.
• Developer and Leadership: Highly effective managers often demonstrate strong "Developer" tendencies. They genuinely care about their employees' progress, providing praise, coaching, and time investment. However, they must be mindful of potentially being too patient with low performers or pushing employees into areas where their talents don't fit.
• Balancing Developer with Other Talents: Ronnie Miller, the guest speaker, highlights the importance of integrating "Developer" with other talents, such as "Individualization," to provide tailored support and avoid overlooking low performance. He emphasizes the pain, yet necessity, of making difficult personnel decisions even with a strong "Developer" theme.
• Developer's Impact: The webcast emphasizes the significant positive correlation between having a "Developer" at work and employee engagement. Employees with a "Developer" in their workplace are more likely to be engaged and less likely to be actively disengaged.

Here are the answers to your follow-up questions, based solely on the provided transcript:

1. Ronnie Miller's top five CliftonStrengths themes are Positivity, Individualization, Maximizer, Relator, and Developer. He states that he credits his success to his "Developer" strength more than any other, although he acknowledges that all his strengths work together. He uses his "Individualization" strength to complement his "Developer" theme by focusing on the individual needs of those he's developing.

2. Ronnie Miller's wrestling coach, Coach Barnes, exemplified the "Developer" theme by challenging him with an audacious goal (becoming a state champion) in fifth grade. This planted a seed that pushed him in a positive direction, demonstrating the impact of a "Developer's" ability to see potential in others and challenge them to grow. This early experience significantly influenced Miller's understanding of how to encourage positive growth in others.

3. At Gallup Federal Credit Union, Ronnie Miller uses his "Developer" theme by having weekly one-on-one meetings with each team member to identify areas for challenge and cultivation. He cites an example where he presented a development opportunity to a team member interested in learning about the mortgage side of the business, leading to a year of scheduled training and positive impacts on the credit union's performance. He also mentions guiding a team member in learning financial reporting.

4. A potential blind spot of the "Developer" theme is being too patient with low performers. Ronnie Miller acknowledges this, stating that it has happened to him. He mitigates this by leaning on other members of his management team for input and utilizing his "Individualization" theme to understand the source of low performance and tailor his approach to address it. He also mentions the difficulty, yet importance, of recognizing when a person needs to move to a more suitable role.