CliftonStrengths & Physical Distancing
Let’s utilize the best parts of ourselves as we work to thrive during this time of #socialdistancing. ⠀
On Monday, CliftonStrengths asked the 23 million people who have discovered their Strengths to answer the question, ⠀
"How are you using your Strengths today?" ⠀
What Strengths are you leveraging/investing in to adapt to your new normal? I know it might be hard to focus on right now, but don't forget that your Strengths help you overcome challenges. How can you aim your themes at your current challenges? ⠀
If you're looking to create a healthy and personalized plan for yourself-- things that you can do to honor, utilize, and share your talents with others, check out my IGTV videos over on Instagram @krystalnclark and I'll cover 1 Theme per Domain each day and include tips that will hopefully serve you well.
Because I know everyone is not into Instagram or would rather not watch videos. I will list each theme below, link it to a description from CliftonStrengths and include my social distancing tips. They are listed in the date order of when I reviewed them on Instagram.
Remember, I’m social distancing alone so the way that I would approach these might be different if you’re social distancing with others especially children :).
I hope this is helpful. Use every tool you have available as you social distance. Believe me, you have talents and strengths that will help you continue to be personally and professionally successful.
If you want to take the assessment or schedule a virtual coaching session, please let me know at krystalnclark@gmail.com or fill out the contact form on this site.
3/17/2020
Learner
Learn a new skill. What’s something you’ve always wanted to know how to do?
Begin research on a new topic of interest. Is there a topic that has always sparked your curiosity?
Volunteer to learn about a new paradigm, process or product that is integral to your workplace.
Sign up for the Duo Lingo app and begin learning a new language.
Watch the Cooking Channel or follow a chef who could be offering virtual cooking classes.
Sign up for webinars, online classes (i.e. Udemy, Brit & Co, some universities offer free online learning opportunities, YouTube).
Tune in to all of the documentaries offered on Netflix, AMAZON prime, or ESPN, or The History Channel.
Apply to graduate or professional school.
Study for the entrance exams.
Research financial resources that will help you continue your education.
Track your progress and celebrate your learning milestones.
Engage with learning outlets that match your learning style. If you learn by teaching, this might be a great time for you to launch a platform and share what you’re learning with others perhaps in the form of a YouTube channel or videos on Instagram. If you learn through reflection, carve out time in your day to make meaning of all of the knowledge your ingesting as you learn.
This is really a great time for Learners, as you likely have more time than usual to dig deep into a topic or spend time building your skill set.
Note that the process of learning is important to learners and not necessarily the outcome so you might emerge from social distancing with a lot of unfinished projects and that’s totally fine.
Discipline
Create new work from home or social distancing routines.
Keep the same energy as you usually would in life. You don’t have to go too far to create new routines, adapt your old routines to your new context. For instance, if you work out at 6am regularly, keep doing that now. Wake up at the same time, put on your workout clothes, and do your workout. If you worship on Sunday at 11am, wake up at the same as you would normally, grab breakfast, get dressed, and tune in to online service at 11am. If you would have a cup of coffee in hand at church, do the same at home. If you eat lunch at 11:30 on a daily basis, do that in your new WFH schedule. If you go to bed at 11pm, continue doing so.
Get dressed for the day. Don’t live in your pajamas. One of my friends who WFH on a regular basis, mentioned that putting on her shoes signals that it’s time to begin her workday. She also closes her bedroom door and does not work in that space.
Schedule your day. Perhaps chunk or block schedule tasks.
Create agendas for virtual meetings.
Create timelines and set deadlines for home and work projects. Break projects into small steps and follow through with your plan as scheduled. Try not to get everything done in one sitting.
This will be a great time for you to organize your home. Get into those closets, cabinets, book shelves, music collections, random junk drawers and put them in order.
Develop new systems for yourself, your family, and your team at work.
Share your timelines, tasks, and goals with others. This is a great way for you to share your Discipline talent with other people.
Use alarms or timers to keep you on task. Maybe the Pomodoro Technique will work for you.
You like predictability. During this time which greatly lacks predictability, you will need to DIY!
Relator
If you’re social distancing with other people, you will want to invest in having deep or deeper conversations with whoever you’re with at this time.
Perhaps you choose a meaningful Question of the Day that you ask those you’re with or friends through virtual connections to stimulate fun and interesting conversations with each other.
During virtual meetings, you will likely want to be the one to facilitate the check-in of your team or start the icebreaker or teambuilder to continue building connections during your time away from the office.
Start a group text with your closest friends and utilize it throughout the day. Host ZOOM Happy Hours with your squad.
Send check-in texts, cards, letters, and emails to those who matter to you most. There could be friends that you haven’t spoken to in years and this could be a great time to reach out to them.
Make a list of your friends and schedule a call with at least one of them each day.
Remember, relationship for you are about depth over breadth. Go deeper with people. Remember, you’re socially distant and not isolated. Deep conversations can happen by phone and virtually.
Activator
You are all about ACTION. Because social distancing could be seen as a non action-oriented experience, you are going to have to create meaningful “starts” in your new routine.
What you get done energizes you. Whatever ideas you have go ahead and start bringing them to life.
Make a list of projects and take the first step in their completion. Be the catalyst that gets others on board should you be social distancing with others or have a work team that needs a jolt. This doesn’t have to be a time of lagging or slowing down for you.
Whenever you have a work call or virtual meeting, make sure that you’re super clear about immediate actions that you can take to complete your work and contribute to the team.
If you’re introducing a new idea to your family, work to get them going and into action.
Take a notebook and record any insights or revelations so that you can act on them at the appropriate time.
3/18/20
Woo
Schedule check-ins and catch-up sessions with acquaintances.
Offer to chat with folks who might be interested in an organization you belong to or a meaningful cause that you do work for in your community. Send a message out through social media or email and invite in folks for a virtual information session or Q&A.
Create a connection map. It’s a great way to organize and leverage your broad network. If you want to make a change in your career, networks matter. For example, if you want to work at AMAZON, create a list of those folks you know who work at AMAZON or who has a connection to someone who works at the company. If you’re attempting to get a seat on a community board, map your network in a way that helps you reach out to the best people to get you closer to your goal.
Hold a virtual happy hour for your work team and perhaps have them invite a friend or acquaintance.
Organize your business cards. Attempt to remember how you met each of the people and do some online research on them and their company. Keep good notes. These will come in handy.
Spend time on LinkedIn making new connections. Send messages to folks who peak your interest and check in on those who you connected with in the past. Maybe post your thoughts on something happening in your industry asking for feedback from others. Go through that Facebook Friend list and make it make sense.
Host a virtual meeting of peers in your field. If you have a side hustle as an event planner, put out a call to your professional organization or to contacts in the field and facilitate a check-in session.
Join webinars and other virtual communities. Message people during the experience and follow-up with them post the webinar.
Make a list of who you want to connect with IRL once our time of social distancing is complete.
This could be a great time to send out a connection message. People may have more openings and might be more charitable with their time. Send a strong cold email with an invitation to connect virtually or by phone.
Help others feel comfortable during virtual interactions. Bring your energy to these experiences the same way you would IRL.
Restorative
You go towards problems. You’re energized by solving problems, removing obstacles, fixing things, and bringing things back to life.
This could be a great time to work on any broken objects in your home whether it’s a lawnmower or a toy that’s no longer working.
Are there programs, events, or processes at work that are no longer meeting expectations? A fundraiser you might have to sunset due to lack of success? A Restorative person may now have time to deeply analyze the problem and generate a list of solutions.
Volunteer for problem solving tasks, committees, or task forces. There are so many layers to figuring out what is currently happen and how do we deal with future repercussions and recovery.
Celebrate achievements and any problems solved.
Share solutions with others. If you’ve figured out a way with your kids to make homeschool a smoother experience, tell people about it. If you’ve figured out a grocery store best practice, share it with others.
Engage in solution-oriented conversations about your new routines and any issues that you might see on a micro and macro level.
Keep a list of the problems you diagnose and proposed solutions. This will come in super handy during the big debrief that is likely to take place post social distancing and hopefully the end of this era.
Give yourself a break! Restorative people can often be self-critical. This is not the time to beat yourself up for not getting this right on the first try. We’re all learning together! Show grace to yourself and to those around you who may not always be ready to acknowledge or fix problems immediately.
Context
Is there any historian type work that could be done for an organization that you’re involved with in your community? Maybe they need someone to tend to the archives or update digital records.
Set up a call with an older relative and ask them to tell you the stories of your family and the things they remember about the past. Sit at their feet, virtually, unless you live with them and let them be the storyteller. Ask them questions. Document what you learn.
Go through your artifacts. Revisit photo albums and boxes of treasures. Organize and share with others. Develop clarity on your history and how you’ve arrived in your current state. What’s your story? Perhaps it’s time to start writing your memoir or autobiography :).
Develop case studies for future usage.
Perhaps there is a senior member of your staff or a longstanding member of your organization that you can reach out to at this time to discuss the history of the organization and how you got to your current state.
Ask context building questions, like WHY?, Has this happened before? What did we do last time? What did we learn from our past response? How were decisions made?
You will likely want to explore past pandemics. Watch documentaries, research online, and watch documentaries.
Help others learn from your findings. Share with others by sending out a newsletter, social media posts, or hosting a virtual conversation for those that are interested.
Knowing the history, the background, past perspectives will help you make decisions and help you feel confident in your decisions. You don’t necessarily want to recreate the wheel. Instead, you want to learn all about the wheel, keep the parts that work, and address the shortcomings.
Individualization
Check in with each human/animal in your life on a 1:1 level. You want to know how they are doing.
Continue 1:1 meetings with colleagues virtually.
For each of your friends and family members learn the way they want to be connected with and cared for during social distancing and honor their desires. You may have a brother who wants to be called each day and you may have a sister who might begrudgingly respond to a twice a week text message.
If you’re homeschooling, you will likely want to design, implement, and adhere to a unique routine for each child. You will observe and care about what works best for them and not create a blanket solution.
Study successful people and what makes them unique that has led to their success. I suggested listening to the “How I Built This” podcast.
Equity matters in virtual work and you’ll be the person who wants each co-workers needs to be honored as they WFH. Everyone won’t be able to thrive if they are held to the same standards because we each have different home situations and are different people. Advocate for others as needed.
You will likely have more insight into the unique qualities of your colleagues and you might want to share these with leadership when virtual teams are being created or tasks are delegated.
This is a great time to dig deeper into what makes you unique. Get in touch with your Strengths. Create a narrative about your style that can be used as you pursue career or community opportunities. To do this, try Gallup’s Best of Us activity and answer the following four questions while keeping your talents and Strengths in mind:
You get the best of me when…
You get the worst of me when…
You can count on me too…
This is what I need from you…
Keep celebrating what makes people unique. Recognize them in the way that is the most comfortable for them.
This could be a great time to do some virtual 1:1 mentor or coaching as you inform people what you’ve noticed about their gifts and how you feel they can use them for career progression.
3/19/20
Competition
Create contests. It could be anything from challenging your colleagues while working to achieve tasks at work. It could be challenging others in your home as you clean the garage. Anything that allows you to compete will be energizing for you.
Other examples of this includes virtual fitness challenges through IGTV or through use of your Apple Watch of FitBit. Challenge each others virtually to meet fitness and other health/wellness goals. It could be a water drinking contest or a squat challenge. Make sure you all are able to connect and share your results at the end of the day or week.
It could be a great time to break out or purchase a game system. You can challenge others virtually or other people you’re social distancing with to play against you.
Host a ZOOM trivia or game night.
Turn ordinary tasks into games. Gamification is going to help you compete against others or just yourself. That means it needs to include points scoring, rules of play and other typical elements of game playing. If your workplace has been toying with integrating gamification into their work, you’d be a great person to work on this task.
Create daily measure of success. Write down your goals and benchmarks. Define success for each day, check-in with your progress, and celebrate your wins.
Measure your work achievements. Keep a record of what you’ve accomplished.
Always create ways to celebrate your wins.
You have the ability to stimulate yourself and others to higher standard of performance. You can serve as a leader in your organization by creating and fostering a culture of winning. You can still play this role on your team during this time of social distancing. People still want to feel accomplished. Bring this energy to your work life and challenge people to rise to the occasion. Celebrate the teams’s successes.
Make sure that you’re not a sore loser or winner. You will need to continue competing during this time and if you have a sour attitude, folks are going to stop playing with you. Make sure folks are in the mood for your games, everything doesn’t HAVE to be a competition AND at this point in time, some people are just doing the best they can with what they have.
You might have to accept that your best competition right now is yourself.
Consistency
Develop policies and procedures that help team members and organizations maintain their integrity while accomplishing your mission and work. If possible, be a part of the conversation or committees that are developing guidelines for this time of working during social distancing.
Create routines and structure your day. Adapt your existing routine to social distancing. This is similar to Discipline (see above).
Design a standard method for how you reach out to others and perhaps schedule it.
Perhaps post some new social distancing/WFH guidelines in your home.
You care about people being treated equally and fairly. Are there ways that you can help people that are getting left behind during this time period get to a level playing field? Inequities bother you.
You like predictability and situations and people being treated fairly and equally. You want a consistent environment with clear rules that apply to EVERYONE. You will likely have to DIY during this non predictable time in life.
Futuristic
Take the time to refine and articulate your vision for the future post social distancing and COVID-19. Carve out time to write about, think about, and plan your future. Make it detailed oriented which will be important when you share your thoughts and plans with others.
Share your vision with others.
Answer future-oriented questions like “What difference would I like to make in the world?” , “If I could, what problem do I want to solve?” , “What is the future that I want to create?” , “Who do I need to share my vision with to make it happen?”
Your favorite question is, “What could be?” Ask that question of any organization, team, relationship you’re a part of and then start working on how to make this come to life.
Help others cope and move through the pain and problems of the present by sharing your positive and optimistic view of the future.
Encourage others to imagine their future. Perhaps create an opportunity for them to produce a physical representation of their future. This could be a great time for vision boards, journaling, and goal setting exercises.
Include time on work agendas or advocate for the chance to continue chatting about future projects in your company. People might be in the now at this moment in time because the future is quite hazy BUT you have a positive view about what’s next and want to make sure that the company keeps dreaming and making progress.
Connect with other Futuristic people and set up a ZOOM chat that allows you all to vibe together over your thoughts about the future. Create and plan together. Energize each other as you continue to support each other’s notion about the future.
Find information that supports your perspective about the future.
Do the “ideal day” activity. Get really specific about your ideal day. In the future, what does your ideal day look like, what does it feel like, what are you doing, who are you with, where do you live? — Get into the weeds and design your ideal day. Maybe write your personal mission statement.
Imagine that you’re already where you want to be in life and then reverse engineer your actions while you’re social distancing. Work backwards towards your future.
Empathy
Ask people how they really feel and be there ready and open for the response.
Remember to take your feelings into account. You have a tendency to prioritize others . Check-in with yourself.
It’s okay to become emotional. Let it all out— the high, low, and in between.
Be a place of comfort and stability to others.
Trust your gut instincts. You are highly in tune with not only the feelings of others but also your own.
Connect with positive and optimistic people. You absorb whatever energy is around you. Make sure it’s good supportive energy.
You need supportive partnerships. Who are the people in your life that allow you to unload your feelings? Create consistent check-in points with these people.
Build boundaries around how much information you ingest during this time period. Use your phone to place limits on social media. Stop watching the news at a certain time of the evening. Unfollow or unfriend accounts that bring you great anxiety or crippling sadness. You will feel the pain of people — near and far— and it will weigh heavily on you.
Develop a decompression routine. What are ways for you to exhale, calm down, and pour out all that you’ve collected during the day. This might mean establishing a quite space or time. Engaging in meditation, prayer, yoga, taking a solo 10-minute walk around the block , dancing it out to your favorite music before bed, dumping it all in a general.
Help others express their feelings in healthy ways. This might just be through conversations but others might want to be more creative. Encourage art projects, compiling a playlist of songs that express emotions, dance, physical activity. Help people understand the practice the best way for them to express themselves.
Because you can sense what is not being said and you are in tune with unexpressed feelings, help your co-workers during this time of change. Advocate for their needs to leaders.
People will seek you for counsel during this time because of how you make them feel. Create the environment for that to occur virtually.
3/20/2020
Belief
Seek out virtual opportunities that allow you to connect with others who share your same values. For instance, a virtual Bible study or discussion group.
Are there ways to virtually connect or safely volunteer to continue to engage in passion projects or causes that are meaningful to you? Sign up.
Take on existing work tasks or create work tasks that match your beliefs. For instance, if you care about the well being and equitable treatment of women in the workplace, perhaps you should take on creating your company’s women’s initiative.
Research organizations that mirror your values and make a list so that you can pursue IRL membership post social distancing.
Develop ways to continue giving voice to your beliefs. Facebook posts, tweets, a blog, starting a podcast, writing an article, or hosting a webinar are all ways that you can share your beliefs with others and spread values filled messages.
If you’re family-oriented and social distancing away from them, please carve out time to intentionally and regularly contact your family members. If your parents share your beliefs, engage in conversations that allow your family members to affirm and encourage your core values. Your values are often unchanging and they likely have many stories to remind you of who you are in this world.
Most people with a dominant Belief Strength are altruistic. Find ways to help others whether through direct service or philanthropic efforts. Perhaps you help elderly neighbors with grocery shopping or picking up medications. Maybe you volunteer to sew masks for healthcare professionals or donate funding to a hardship fund for those who work in local restaurants.
If you have a spiritual or religious practice, integrate this into your daily routine. If you pray, keep praying. If you meditate, keep meditating. If you read scripture or passages from the Koran or Book of Mormon, keep reading. Include virtual worship services into your schedule. Attempt to attend on the same day and time as usual.
Follow social media accounts that espouse your beliefs.
You will have high expectations of your leaders and if they are making choices that do not align with your values, you may feel a need to make your beliefs known and reach out to who you feel can help create change in policy.
Make sure that you’re clear about the “why” of any guideline offered by your company at this time of social distancing and WFH.
Any lack of values congruence will throw you, therefore, keep using your values as your North Star.
Adaptability
Long planning and goal setting conversations will get tiresome for you. Set time limits so that you can stay engaged and decrease your level of frustration.
Make room for spontaneous plans. Let your day unfold as it may if at all possible. You need variety in your day.
Influence others with your relaxed attitude. Keep people in the “now” and encourage them to not ruminate about the past or anxiously think themselves into an unknown future.
Check in to see if others needs your assistance during this time. You’re not bothered by unplanned additions to your schedule.
Create alternative social distancing celebrations for you and your loved ones. If loved ones are missing out on vacations, graduations, birthdays, showers, or weddings, etc. Help create a stand-in for this milestone.
Offer counsel to those on your team who are not dealing well with change. Help to relieve pressure and soothe them.
Ask yourself, “What needs to be done now?” and DO IT!
Make hourly or daily to-do lists for yourself. NOW oriented lists that allow you to meet immediate demands.
Be the person on-call for your family or workplace.
Negotiate a flexible WFH schedule without a great deal of oversight and with lots of autonomy. You need an environment that will focus more on your results and not your process.
If you are with children who might struggle with routine, perhaps you spend time engaging with them in case others in the household are in need of structure and routine to calm anxiety during social distancing.
Step in to take over work or community projects on which others have not been able to complete due to our current circumstances. You enjoy taking on new challenges especially on short-term assignments that require immediate action.
Self-Assurance
Lead the way. You will likely be the person who will lead the plan for your family or team. Your sense of confidence in your abilities and judgement inspires others to trust you.
Any work projects or initiatives that are having to pivot due to COVID-19 might be right up your alley. These items might cause uncertainty in others but your self-confidence and ability to take risks, meet new challenges, and deliver quality results will push you to raise your hand for these opportunities.
You are a person who anticipates risk so that it can be engaged and overcome— you don’t run from risk. What impending risks do you see at this time of the pandemic? How can you and your family or team engage with it and overcome it?
For you, everything can be figured out. Use this belief to instill confidence in others.
Be in contact with authorities or experts that you trust. You may or may not be on the best path of self-assurance at this time. It’s important that you make well-informed decisions and that you engage with credible sources. Healthcare professionals and the CDC— people from belief backgrounds different than yours. Get a well-rounded view.
Develop a process or a routine to include others in your decision-making process. Hold an open team meeting or a family check-in. Ask a friend who you know will tell you the truth. You’re actually not always right and you don’t want your confidence to lead to the detriment of others.
Seek blank page projects at work. You love the autonomy of creating something from scratch without any rules attached to it.
Connect with people who are strong planners. You often always have the goal but your plan could lack depth and detail. Your goal doesn’t necessarily have to change but you’ll need some help with steps to get to your destination.
Input
READ. It’s time to pull up a stack of books. Schedule time to read everything on your bookshelf or tablet.
Create a list of books to read during social distancing and share it with others.
Make a list of what you want to learn about or people that you want to learn from during social distancing. Make progress on the list.
Engage with those you find intellectually stimulating through their readings, podcasts, social media, webinars, send them messages and questions.
Learn a new word each day. Use it!
Get clear on your Input specialty. On what topic do you want to be a subject matter expert?
Learn what your people need and use your resources to deliver it to them.
Are there any topics at work that need to be researched? Volunteer for this task.
Organize your goldmine of information. Make your resources useful and accessible to others. Clean up the server, organize your bookshelves, create a scrapbook, update your Dropbox, tidy up or update archives.
Create a manual or instruction guide for a process or program at work.
Crowdsource for new information sources. You might post a call on Facebook for new movies to watch or musicians to listen to during social distancing.
Take in relevant news. Stay informed.
Share what you know or learn with other people on virtual platforms. You want to provide relevant and tangible help to others. Figure out the best way for you to do. For instance, I’ve been sharing all Instagram fitness and fun opportunities with friends and followers through my social media platforms.
3/22/20
Strategic
Serve as a sounding board for people who are being asked to make very hard decisions in our current environment. Be open to listening and reviewing information to help serve as counsel or an advisor.
Ask for time to reflect on information before you make decisions. You need time to come up with possibilities and routes to success before you present your thoughts and findings to others.
Engage in worst/best case scenario planning.
Use your “What if?” habit to bring hope to this situation. Help people dream about the future in a positive manner. Share your vision with people and any steps needed to bring it to life.
Communicate to others how you’ve arrived at your decision. We are all on edge right now when it comes to the credibility of information and are struggling with trust. Walk others through how you got to your final destination.
Make sure that as you think through possibilities that you keep the people in mind that will likely be affected by this choice.
Carve out daily quiet time to think through the next round of issues, tasks or challenges connected to the pandemic. Sit down and think through grocery shopping, financial matters, homeschool, and how to recover or pivot when services are canceled or postponed.
Trust your instincts as much as possible.
Find people who are doing important work and contribute your strategic thinking to the group. If there are community organizations, nonprofits, or companies that need some help during this time, this might be a great time for you to volunteer to lend your mind and your ability to help people and organizations find their best path to success.
Achiever
Create a daily to-do list even for the weekends.
Safely volunteer for community and workplace tasks.
Set goals. What are some things that you’ve wanted to get done? Make progress on your goals during this time period.
You set the pace and productivity of your workgroup. If you’re WFH, share with people your plan of action. Be the energy that drives people to produce and meet goals.
Direct your Achiever energy to all areas of your life. You work ethic doesn’t just belong at work. Keep the same energy for your relationships and your personal well being.
Offer to step in to help others with extra work. Be a helping hand and have an all hands on deck attitude.
Measure what you get done. It helps you to see progress and productivity.
You like to work hard together with other people. You don’t do well with slackers. If at all possible, use your autonomy to build work teams or develop clear accountability measures to keep people productive.
Figure out your rest plan. You actually do have to rest. It may not feel like it BUT you’ve got to take a break. What does that look like for you?
Figure out your celebration plan. Most Achievers do not take a beat to celebrate their accomplishments they simply move on to the next task or goal. Breathe and take in what you’ve accomplished.
Be thoughtful about your “yes”. You tend to overfill your plate of life and sometimes your commitment to things isn’t focused. Develop a filter, whether it’s your values, a personal mission statement, or your vision that helps you make decisions that match your priorities.
You will likely enjoy the autonomy of working from home because you can work as hard as you want and manage your productivity.
Command
Seek areas that need a person to take charge. Step up to take over projects that are needed but have fallen by the wayside.
What do you want to lead in the future? What tables do you want to have a seat? Write those down and do some research to figure out your path to leadership.
If there are persuasive conversations that need to be had in the home, community, or workplace, these would be a great place for you to serve as a catalyst or facilitator.
The same goes for any critical conversations that need to be had or confrontations. You don’t shy away from confrontation and in fact, you think it’s the first step to resolution.
Refine how you choose your battles and which battles you pick. You can’t die on every hill or constantly ruffle feathers or burn bridges.
Be sure that you’re assertive and not aggressive or offensive. It’s all in your tone.
Serve as a model by being candid especially when others are keeping feelings bottled up. If everyone is saying “I’m fine.” , it’s your role to say, “Actually, I’m not fine and here’s why…” This will give others permission to speak their truth.
Surround yourself with truthtellers. Sometimes, you can be intimidating to others and you are not easy to confront. You have to surround yourself with people who can handle your energy and aren’t afraid to challenge you. Being surrounded by “yes” people is a quick way to lead you to delusion and to neglecting the wellbeing of other people.
Find a cause that you believe in and support it with your persuasive voice.
Help others make and keep their commitments. Be the spark!
Positivity
Create opportunities for others to have fun. Plan a virtual Happy Hour, game night, brunch, or birthday party.
Use your platforms as a positivity oasis for others. You can be a go-to source for feel good moments.
Send others positive messages.
Be thoughtful and send intentional things that you know will make someone smile.
Be a cheerleader for your team; inject your energy into new work arrangements.
Remind your team members of what they are doing well, that people are doing great work, and that there are upsides within our current situation.
This doesn’t mean that you’re always in a good mood. Your humor and attitude will move you faster to a silver lining than others.
Connect with other positive people and positive outlets. Limit your time with negative people. If at all possible, set boundaries if there are negative others social distancing in the same home as you. Perhaps, go to a room with a door and take some quiet time, put on headphones, don’t engage these people in conversations, or take a walk if negative feelings escalate. Cut off media that outlets, including social media, that might cause negative feelings for you.
Create celebrations for milestones that might be missed or easy to not recognize during our time of social distancing.
You are not naive. You know when bad things are happening and you choose to focus on the good things.
3/24/20
Ideation
Share your ideas. You might have ideas about what’s happening during the pandemic, or ideas about homeschool, at home workouts, or ANYTHING! Use a platform to share your ideas or share them in conversations with others.
Make a list of your ideas. You can refer to it when you’re ready to pursue them or share them in the future.
Offer your ideas to your manager, supervisor, or team members to improve processes. Perhaps you’ve now become a virtual workplace and you have some insight as to how to create an efficient, effective, and encouraging experience.
Create blank space in your life to dream. You might want to get a new notebook, pull up a blank GoogleDoc, or fill a wall with large post-it notes or flipchart paper. Have at it and let all the ideas fly! Thinking of new ideas energizes you.
Take creativity breaks during the day. Your brain needs space to breathe.
You likely have an ability to design. Put it to use by designing new strategies as we work to transfer many aspects of lives to the virtual world, marketing campaigns for small businesses that are working to pivot their services, customer service solutions, or new products/offerings.
Partner with people who will help you put your ideas into action. This might include a person with Analytical as a Strength who will challenge your ideas and help you make them stronger, and someone dominant in Executing Strengths who will help you create a work plan. A person with Influencing Strengths will help you develop a communication plan to share your ideas with others.
Schedule time to read. Other people’s ideas and stories inspire you and help you come up with new ideas.
Host virtual brainstorming sessions. Invite a group of folks and cheer each other on as you throw spaghetti at the wall :).
Create a communication plan for your ideas. Make your plans clear and detailed.
You get bored easily. Make small changes in your home/work life. Experiment with your routine.
Arranger
You thrive on responsibility. You want and need to do more than others. Pile some extra projects on your place. Ask for what you want/need as far as work related tasks.
If there are any work or community projects that need a project manager or lead, this would be a great opportunity for you to step up and offer your Arranger talents.
If a process is not effective, offer your talents to make it better.
You do well with constant incoming changes and information, perhaps you are the person who in charge of taking in information pertaining to COVID- 19 and making adjustments to the plans that are shared with others. Every new update could impact many layers of your business or your family’s life and someone needs to be in charge orchestrating people and resources.
Many events have been postponed or canceled due to the pandemic and as someone who is great at devising new options you might be the best person to reschedule, postpone, negotiate contracts, address each area of logistics, and create contingency plans.
Nonprofits will need to be agile during this time and might need to form new partnerships. Help nonprofits think through other nonprofits to collaborate or partnering with new funding sources or organizations that help fill in for them if they’re not able to continue offering direct service.
Be in charge of resource allocation for your workplace or family. This could be as micro-level as making sure that you all have enough food, toilet paper, and money until your next trip to the grocery store. This could be as macro as ensuring that every employee has what they need to be successful while they WFH.
Organize a virtual event for your company. Conferences have had to be postponed or canceled and you’d be great on a planning team of a new internet based opportunity.
Outline and document your strategies for how you get things done. If you have systems or guidelines for process improvement, share those with others.
Many of us are reevaluating our work lives based on being forced to WFH. Keep a list of improvements or suggestions that you can offer once you return to the office. You might come to realize that being “in the office” isn’t as necessary as we all thought or engaging in a team builder at the beginning of every meeting or holding a Friday virtual lunch are things we need to retain once all of this is over.
Communication
Jump into crisis communication mode. Engage clients/customers through emails.
Volunteer to host virtual experiences including WFH staff meetings. You’ll infuse energy into these settings and increase engagement of others.
Collect the stories of the pandemic. Connect with others and encourage them to share with you how their lives have been affected by COVID-19. Create a compilation or devise other ways to share them with others.
What are the key messages people need to hear and put a voice to them. Target your audience with relevant messages.
Start writing your memoirs or autobiography.
Tell mini stories through your social media captions. Have fun with it and be creative. People are spending even more time than usual on social media.
Find an online journal that’s accepting submissions and send them your writings.
Read to children or the elderly virtually. Families are looking for ways to entertain the little ones and its super cute to see people creating videos reading fun children’s books.
As you read, keep track of words, phrases, and articles that inspire you.
Look into advanced virtual public speaking training opportunities. This could also be a great time to record yourself speaking and engage in productive self-critique or send the recording to peers who can offer you constructive criticism.
Are there presentations in your workplace that need to be created or updated? Jump in and help out using your storytelling and engagement talents.
Collect your family folklore. Reach out to an elderly relative and ask them to tell you the story of their life. Record it.
Connectedness
The #stayathome #flattenthecurve #weinthistogether messaging is going to resonate strongly with you. Help to spread it among your network.
Seek to make a contribution or a greater contribution to a social issue that is of great importance to you.
Help others see the bigger picture. Help them find meaning or purpose during this time period.
Create time to engage in contemplation so that you can explore the interconnection of all that is happening right now in the world.
Remind yourself and your team of your workplace’s mission and how what you all are doing at work matters in the greater scheme of things even at a time like now.
Expand your personal sense of connection through virtual book clubs, faith based groups, attending online conferences.
Continue practicing your faith or spirituality.
Everyone does not see the world as you do. You connected nature is highly intuitive. Try not to burn too much energy or exasperate yourself convincing others of your theories.
3/25/20
Focus
Ask yourself, “What has to happen NOW?” When it comes to altering personal or work plan, you will want to zoom in on absolutes. What programs or services MUST be pivoted to a virtual platform? If it doesn’t have to be done, you’re likely to suggest it be put on the back burner by postponing it or canceling it. You’d be great to help with an audit or inventory to determine the green lights for your company or family. The essentials is your focus.
Engage in or facilitate goal setting sessions with timelines and measurements of success. Write all goals down for accountability purposes. Set some #stayathome goals, share them with others, and track your progress.
Continue check-ins with your supervisor and those you supervise. You’ll want to be kept on track, made aware of pressing updates, and let others know that you’re accomplishing your goals and that you still care about their goals. If you need friends or family to serve as your accountability check-ins, please let them know and schedule times to connect virtually.
You might enjoy the autonomous WFH life because you get to work at your own pace and as hard as you’d like to throughout the day. You get to focus on your work and your goals.
You will want virtual meetings, just like IRL meetings, to be on task. You’ll want to leave the meeting knowing what was decided, the timeline, and the directly responsible individual. This will allow you to be clear on where to place your focus post the meeting. HOWEVER, show some grace and allow detours to happen as you they could be quite helpful when discussing new ideas. Also, our current situation might mean that this is the only social engagement your co-workers have that day and the detours could also be healing for others.
CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL! This will be your mantra.
All resources are seemingly in short supply. Use your focus talents to get people to zone in on necessities. This includes spending money during what could be an economically strapped time for your family.
To soothe anxiety, simplify your days and your life by doing what matters most. Help others do the same.
Significance
Engage in some personal brand development or enhancement.
Sign-up for an online certificate program.
Expand your network virtually through social media or Linked-In.
Send words of praise to others — you enjoy making others feel successful.
Legacy planning— Do some visioning and journaling about what you want your legacy to be in this world. What do you want to be known for? When people think about you, what do you hope are their thoughts? What important thing do you want to be connected to? What change do you want to create in this world? Problem you want to solve?
You’ll likely spend a lot of time on social media providing updates about what you’re doing during this time of #stayathome- you want others to know how you’re being helpful and you want to offer your advice to help them.
Apply for opportunities that interest you including jobs, committee roles, ambassador positions, anything that feels worthy to you.
Get clear on your Strengths and your self-narrative.
Send your boss regular updates on your work. Let your supervisor know that you’re still excelling during this time.
Make a list of your goals including any achievements you’d like to accomplish, qualifications, and accolades. Post it in your home or publicly.
Update your resume/CV/LinkedIn.
Intellection
Offer yourself as a sounding board to help others solve problems related to COVID-19.
#stayathome could be great for you because you get to be alone in your thoughts. You must carve out time to think. Thinking energizes you. If you’re not alone during this time, perhaps take a solo walk, take extra time in the shower, wake up earlier than the rest or stay up later than the rest. Set a boundary around “you” time during the day.
Ask to be sent any meeting materials prior to virtual meetings so that you have time to think through the information which will increase your readiness and ability to contribute to the conversation and make decisions.
Host or join virtual discussion groups to engage in intellectual conversations with other people.
Keep a list of any ideas or insights that result from your thinking. WRITE them down!
Engage with thought leaders in your industry or in your field of interest. Perhaps they are hosting a webinar or posting on social media. Learn from and connect with them virtually.
Post your thoughts and invite feedback from others.
Practice meditation.
Make sure that you’re making your thought process and outcomes approachable and digestible to those around you and those who need to hear it.
Your intellection could turn into rumination. Don’t think your way into a negative space. Often, you think so much about what could be or what was that you lose the power of the present moment. Remember, that you can steer thoughts. Set time limits around thinking and decision making and invite others into your process.
Harmony
Our political climate is less than harmonious, you will likely want to steer clear of debates about how COVID-19 is being handled by our government leaders and try to find ways to calm it down if it’s happening in your home. You will offer elements of common ground or practicality that you know people can agree on at this time.
Find a place of retreat if conflict should happen in your home. Create an oasis for yourself, if possible. Perhaps there’s an area where you can place things that make you calm including a blanket, candle, pillow, oils, white noise machine, and soft sweatshirt, etc.
This might be a great time to invest in your conflict resolution skills. Read a book like “Critical Conversations” or enroll in an online mediation course.
Expertise is important to you. Identify credible sources during this time so that you can offer information you believe in when trying to help others.
Stay out of the comments section on social media. It will not bring you emotional balance or calm.
Be a good and dependable team member that works to elevate the voices of others during discussions. You believe in hearing all viewpoints so that the best decision can be made that serves the most people.
Open yourself up to learn from those that have differing viewpoints than yours. This will help you as you work to settle disagreements. Watch a different news channel, listen to a podcast, read a book, or strike up a developmental virtual conversation with a peer.
You may need to play the mediator role. Your talents will serve you well in this role.
Pick your battles. Remember, your opinion matters. Speak up — keeping things bottled up could have negative ramifications, especially as our #stayathome order has been extended. Conflict can be productive and healthy.
4/1/20
Developer
Reach out to people who might need your encouragement. This could be in your workplace with folks that are transitioning from IRL to WFH and need some motivation to keep going during this time. Just because our work life might have shifted, it doesn’t mean that people have given up on making progress and developing their potential. Your growth hasn’t stopped during this time. It just may look different. Because motivation might lag during this time because of the weight of what we’re carrying around with us, your encouragement is going to mean even more to people than usual.
Create moments of recognition for your colleagues. When performance goals are met, personal life celebrations, when you see people giving you their best during this time, maybe going the extra mile, or offering new ideas to enhance the workplace experience, make sure to recognize them in the way they want to be recognized.
Continue with 1:1 and team check-ins.
Create a list of people that you’d like to help develop virtually or IRL. Make a list of their Strengths and offer to help develop them in those ways. Make sure that you’re developing people in the areas of their greatest strengths.
Keep encouraging the helpers who are making sure that we are surviving this time period. Creating fun signs, sending food to healthcare workers, making donations to relief funds, and respecting “physical distancing” policies.
Reconnect with those that have developed you. This is a great time to send a card or make a phone call to the people who have mentored you through the years. It could be a teacher, counselor, coach, or faith leader.
If you see that people are struggling in their current roles or not using the best of what they have to offer at this time, use your Developer talents to coach them into roles that are better for them. Sometimes, your belief in the potential of people could lead you to continue supporting and encouraging them in roles that are not in their Strengths zone. Be mindful of this and create an exit for those that need a change.
Includer
This is your time to use your talents to include those who might lack connection and community during this time. Perhaps you send cards/letters to the elderly who are living in retirement/nursing homes .
Make it your mission to invite people to virtual experiences. Perhaps you can host these opportunities and invite those from different social networks.
Ensure the everyone on your ZOOM meetings feels included in the call. Ask intentional questions to engage them in the conversation. Perhaps start meetings with teambuilders/icebreakers to create an inclusive environment. Use basic facilitation skills on your virtual meetings same as your IRL meetings. Make usage of the chat , poll, and breakout room features to engage people.
Create a collaborative Spotify playlist and include your friends in adding their favorite dance songs for a IG or ZOOM dance party.
You might want to explore connecting with like minded others to have identity based conversations in connection with COVID-19. You’re not going to be happy to see folks left out of relief efforts or their needs being glossed over by national and local leaders. Are there ways that you can help people during this time?
Reach out to newer team members that didn’t have the ability to acclimate to the work environment or team prior to “physically distancing”. Check in on them and offer to engage in on boarding or serve as their “buddy” while they attempt to learn the ropes.
If there are people in neighborhood that you know are “physically distancing” alone. Check in on them and make sure they have what they need and have points of connection. Include them in safe activities.
Create experiences that are inclusive of the entire family or those you are living with at this time. I’ve seen scavenger hunts, game nights, karaoke competitions, dances on Tik Toc, cooking competitions, and workouts for the whole family.
Analytical
You will likely be highly critical of every decision being made in connection to COVID-19. Make sure that you listen to credible sources that provide you with data sources and have a high level of expertise. Share your list of trustworthy outlets with others in your life. The CDC, Dr. Fauci, the Cuomo brothers are great places to start.
Be involved in making data driven decisions in the workplace, community, or at home.
Carve out time to think about the issues we are facing. Apply your Analytical talents to uncover useful insights that could lead to solutions.
Virtually connect with other Analytical folks in your focus area to share ideas.
Keep people in mind as you review the data and make judgement. You often think with your head and this is a very human matter at hand.
Deliberative
Take the time to plan ahead for anything that needs to occur for you or your family. This could include grocery shopping, home school, or activities for the week. Spontaneity isn’t your strength.
You have a highly curated friend group, please keep in contact with your circle during this time.
You are often a person who values privacy, therefore working from home and showing others your living space might bother you. Use virtual backgrounds on ZOOM meetings, keep your camera off if acceptable, or offer to meet by phone.
If at all possible, this would not be the best time for you to join a new team. It takes you a while to develop trust and confidence in other people’s competence.
Be prepared to explain your decision making process to people due to your often conservative process. Highlight for them the risks you see and obstacles that need to be avoided or removed.
Do what you think is sensible regardless of popularity. Just because your neighbors are allowing their children to run amok during this time of “physically distancing” doesn’t mean that you have to do the same.
Offer yourself as a sounding board to help others develop a process for decision making.
Create “you” time to think.
You see things that others don’t so when new plans are presented to you, help people see the risks and possible obstacles.
Help people make good financial decisions during time. Lots of people are jumping into the stock market and making other money based decisions because it looks like a great time to buy or sell depending on the market at hand. Help slow people down and make informed decisions that take into account future ramifications.
Maximizer
Study success. Read about and connect with highly talented individuals.
Help other people succeed/ reach their potential. This could be a great time to coach, mentor, teach colleagues or peers.
Unfortunately, people have had career upheavals and are looking for new jobs. Help them to understand what they do best and which roles might be great for them. Assist with resume and interview prep. All of this can be done virtually.
Stay connected with your mentors, role models, and supervisors during this time. Your strive for excellence right now may look different but it isn’t gone. You’ll still want to offer the best you have to offer at this time.
Create a plan for using your Strengths outside of the workplace. Perhaps there are community initiatives that need your excellence. Also, it will be helpful for you to always make sure that your Strengths are integrated into your personal mission and that they benefit others around you.
Responsibility
You will find it hard to cancel/postpone anything that you’ve committed yourself to due to your intense desire to always follow through on your word. It’s important to take into account that “no” is being said for you in many cases. Take the time to figure out alternative plans - - move towards postponement over cancellation. Take an IRL experience to virtual.
You may have to alter timelines and develop flexibility in deadlines. Don’t expect the same level of productivity and commitment from yourself or others during this time. I keep seeing the quote on social media that loosely states, “You are not working from home. You are at home due to a crisis and attempting to work from home.” Your responsibility lens will need to shift and the magnitude of it may have to be turned down a notch. Have grace and show yourself and others compassion.
Volunteer safely for tasks in your community and workplace. Be mindful of your capacity. Say “no” and understand that this is okay. If you are anxious about a particular invite — it’s okay to not accept it.
Quality can still exist AND it’s important to manage expectations. This goes for you, your family, and your colleagues. We’re all carrying around something very heavy right now and we’re working to give the best we can with what we have.
You are a self-starter so it would great to remind your boss of this in case their are autonomous projects that you can take on and perhaps alleviate any stress on the team.
Create a to-do list of task on a regular basis. Fulfilling these will help you feel productive and like you’re a contributing member of society.
Realize that your greatest responsibility right now is to flatten the curve and #stayathome. By saying “no”, backing away from commitments, managing expectations, and showing grace, you are engaging in very pro-social and responsible acts that are necessary.
And those are all 34 CliftonStrengths and ideas to aim your talents while we’re “physically distancing” , choosing to #staysaferathome, flattening the curve, and attempting to survive and prayerfully thrive during this time.
Even if one thing from this list works for you, that’s a total win for me. Please let me know if this is at all helpful in your life. While you can totally dig into your dominant themes, you can also search for ideas to help serve and care for others in your life. Send me an email (krystalnclark@gmail.com) or a DM over on Instagram (@krystalnclark). I’d love to hear from you.
I know that we will get through this and I don’t know what that means. My goal is just to keep taking it day by day, breath by breath, prayer by prayer, and essential by essential. My Strengths are on the journey with me and I might as well tap into them as tools to help me navigate the unknown.
Love and Health to all of you.