When Good Things Go Bad

  

Dear Gallup, 

We are officially getting a divorce. No one on the entire planet loves you like I do but now, in my most desperate time of need, you are turning your back on me. All I want to do is enlighten the employees at my new organization by giving them the power of all 34 of their Strengths. I’d like to do this at a reasonable price but their in lies the problem.

In a desperate attempt to make this marriage of Modeans and Strengths happen I re-assessed our financial situation. Alas, the only way we could afford your full 34 for all 50 employees is if we stopped paying our electricity bills, forced our employees to work for free, and allowed mini-Modeans to starve. I just can’t let this happen. 

I still hold out hope that in our future lives we’ll meet again.

Sincerely, Marisa

 For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Gallup has a Strengths Profile that is simply amazing. It breaks strengths into 34 categories and then ranks them based on what we’re best at. I’ve used this tool for years in several different forms. At a larger company they paid, what I found out today was a ton of money, so employees could get all 34 of their Strengths in rank order. The reason that’s so powerful is because in addition to talking about top Strengths, you can talk about areas where a person isn’t so strong and how they can partner with others who excel in those categories. I’ve seen firsthand how individual and group coaching of this nature can lead to increased success.

I might be down, but I’m not out. For $15 each people can buy the book Strengthsfinder 2.0 which allows them to take the profile to see their top 5 Strengths. From there, I’ll work my magic and will continue to help employees be the best, most engaged, passionate people they can be. Gallup, don’t sweat it. I still heart you.

But in the meantime, I’m going to be keeping my eyes open for some new tools to add to my portfolio. For all you coaches and managers out there, what tools/profiles do you use when coaching employees?