Gallup Research on Building Stronger Teams with CliftonStrengths

This made me stop and think about something I’ve seen often in my own work with employee listening. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. And perhaps that’s one reason I’ve always connected with the idea of 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. I’m naturally curious about what makes people different, what they notice, what energises them and what brings out their best. 𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺. Sometimes, the strength of a team is precisely in those differences. That’s what I found interesting in this research. 💜

Strong teams don’t happen by accident. Gallup research shows that clarity, belonging, and continuous improvement are key to a strong team experience. As a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, I help teams use CliftonStrengths to better understand each other, improve communication, build trust, and work better together. Your team already has strengths. Let’s turn them into stronger relationships and better results. Message me if your team is ready to grow. Schedule a time for us to chat: https://lnkd.in/gy_VJAkt #CliftonStrengths #TeamDevelopment #Leadership #StrengthsCoaching

I keep returning to one finding in this research: people can work on the same team, with the same goals and leadership, and still experience that team differently. This connects closely to ideas I have been exploring in my graduate work about how strong teams are built. Clarity, belonging, and continuous improvement require us to understand not only what people do, but how they naturally think, contribute, communicate, and solve problems. This is exactly where CliftonStrengths can be so useful. It gives teams a shared language for recognizing what each person brings and for knowing whose strengths they can borrow when something does not come naturally to them. When people understand both their own strengths and those around them, individual differences become resources the whole team can use!

A strong team does not need everyone to think or work the same way. In fact, that can become a weakness. - A team full of fast decision-makers may create momentum but overlook risk. - A highly analytical team may produce careful work but struggle to move. - A group that values harmony may collaborate well but avoid necessary disagreement. Our latest article looks at how complementary work styles can strengthen a team when different people bring different kinds of attention to the same problem. - One employee may focus on practical execution. - Another may want to understand the root cause. - Someone else may notice how a change will affect the people doing the work. Another may make sure the process is documented and repeatable. The value is not in assembling a perfect mix of personality types. It is in understanding what the work requires, where the team is already strong, and where its blind spots may be. The article looks at this through DISC, Holland Codes, and 16 Personalities, with practical examples of how different work styles can improve team composition and collaboration. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/g2f6k4W7

People-pleasing inside a team can look like agreement. It can sound helpful, flexible and positive. Then the real cost appears later: resentment, avoidance, unclear decisions and work that nobody properly agreed to. This is nervous system work as much as communication work. I work with founders, senior leaders and teams through The Starck Method.

A healthy team isn’t defined by constant agreement—it’s built on the psychological safety to speak up. True strength isn't quiet consensus or polite head-nodding; it’s the courage to share different perspectives, challenge standard practices, and surface hard truths. High trust transforms disagreement from conflict into a catalyst for results, proving that team members care enough about collective success to push past comfortable silence. Fear breeds silence and kills innovation. Psychological safety, however, replaces self-protection with genuine collaboration, unlocking the candid dialogue and creative friction that propel performance. Equip your team to build a culture of trust and open dialogue. Empower every member to speak up, contribute fully, and lead together.

the concept of an 'entangled field' is incredibly relevant in professional settings it's defined by four markers, a lack of clarity on agreements, who's involved, reciprocity, and a high degree of friction think of a project with vague roles, unclear deliverables, or where team members don't know who's responsible for what, that's an entangled field, and it drains productivity and morale recognizing these signs is the first step to creating clarity and healthier team dynamics how do you navigate unclear expectations at work

One of the things I started to understand differently recently is that disagreement within Teams is not always a problem I used to think that disagreement was something that slows things down but over time I started to see that a lot of the time it actually reveals assumptions and problems that would never show up if everyone agreed from the beginning The strange thing is that over time you might notice that Meetings become calmer decisions become faster and Arguments become fewer And that could mean the Team became more aligned Or it could simply mean that people learned when to speak and when to save their energy That’s why I started to think that the way you deal with disagreement is more important than the disagreement itself Not every opinion needs to turn into an Argument and not every decision needs Consensus What matters is that someone can say I see it differently without feeling like they just started a fight Because sometimes the best thing that can happen to a Decision is for someone to be able to say "Wait... but why?"

“Vulnerability” is commonly misunderstood in top management teams as “weakness” or being “too exposed”. This is a problem. When team members are not comfortable saying “I don’t know” or “I need help”, it is a clear sign that there’s not enough trust amongst peers. Without it, it’s virtually impossible for a team to achieve high performance and accomplish goals sustainably. Being part of a team where we can be authentic and that wins consistently, brings a lot of meaning to our work.