Personal Branding & Gallup CliftonStrengths: Play to Your Talents in Business with Sara Harvey

We’re diving into the magic of CliftonStrengths with none other than Sara Harvey—a Gallup-certified strengths coach and team trainer. We’re breaking down how this tool helps you identify your natural talents, boost productivity, and actually enjoy how you work. We even put ourselves under the microscope, sharing our own strengths profiles and how they shape our personal brands and business moves. This episode is packed with insights to help you lean into your strengths and work smarter, not harder.

In addition to being a former C-suite executive and now business owner, Sara Harvey is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and Team Trainer.  She helps business leaders at all levels access the natural strengths within them to lead with confidence and authenticity. 

www.innertelligencecoaching.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-harvey-bba8767/

https://www.instagram.com/innertelligencecoaching/

Time Stamps:

01:21 Understanding CliftonStrengths

01:45 The Science Behind CliftonStrengths

03:42 Applying CliftonStrengths in Business

04:26 Personal Experiences with CliftonStrengths

06:21 Strengths in Team Dynamics

07:23 Balancing Strengths and Weaknesses

12:55 Michelle's Strengths Profile

24:48 Joanna's Strengths Profile

29:11 Balancing Strategic and Activator Strengths

29:46 Understanding the Significance Theme

30:45 Navigating Chaos with Confidence

31:32 The Importance of Clear Communication

32:24 Leveraging Strengths for Relationship Building

34:46 Exploring Command and Individualization

38:12 The Power of Strategic and Arranger Partnership

47:17 Applying Strengths to Personal Branding

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Transcript

Episode 083: Sara Harvey

Sara Harvey: [00:00:00] You can't always outsource to everybody in the beginning, right? Sometimes in the very beginning you are doing all things. You are trying on things to see what works and what doesn't. And sometimes even if you can do something, if it takes a lot of detail and a lot of time and it's using up a lot of your time, and not helping your business grow.

It's still a good outsourcing opportunity or a partnership opportunity. So your strengths will help you in every capacity. It'll help you to brand in a way that feels natural to you, in a way that is aligned with who you are. 

Joanna Newton: Welcome back to another episode of the Her First Podcast. I'm really excited to talk today about CliftonStrengths. Now we've talked a lot on this podcast about different tools that you can use to better understand yourself, the way you work, and how to be better at what you do. And CliftonStrengths is one of those tools that can really give you a [00:01:00] lot of insight into yourself to better understand how to apply your skills to be the best version of you. Now, today we have a very special guest. Sarah Harvey is a former C suite executive turned business owner. She is a Gallup certified strengths coach and team trainer. She helps business leaders at all levels, access natural strengths within them to lead with confidence and authenticity. Sarah. We're so happy to have you on the show today.

Sara Harvey: Joanna. And thank you, Michelle. Good to be here with both of you.

Joanna Newton: Before we dive into the meat of this episode where we're actually going to reveal my strengths and Michelle's strengths and talk about us and us as a team and all of that, I'd love to give our listeners just an overview of what CliftonStrengths is. If they haven't heard about it before, Sarah, can you just share the overview of what the tool is and how it works?

Sara Harvey: Definitely. So CliftonStrengths is a Gallup tool. And I ask everybody if they've ever heard of Gallup. And [00:02:00] people say, yeah, the polling company. And I say, yes. And for the past 20 plus years, they have had a talent assessment available that Over 34 million people have taken from around the world. So it is a scientific tool that has been validated by science. Gallup is a research organization, so they are consistently researching the impact of of understanding your talents and strengths, and they are a company who is extremely generous and rich with their content to share with anybody who takes these, the strengths assessment or not. So I have a lot of confidence in Gallup they are research based and it's been validated by science and so many people have taken the assessment.

So there's a lot to pull from. The assessment is A talent assessment. It's not a personality assessment. So you might have heard of Myers Briggs or DISC. Those are personality assessments. This is different. It's a talent [00:03:00] assessment. it's forward what it is that you are naturally good at. So it's less about who you are more about how you go about things. What gives you energy versus what depletes you. Uh, strengths is rooted in positive psychology. So it's really about cultivating the best in everybody. what it's not. It is not a tool to determine right or wrong. is not a tool to determine, leadership traits from non leadership traits. It's not a hiring tool. We don't use it as a hiring tool, but what it is. is a tool to help improve your productivity. It's designed to enhance cultures and increase engagement. It's particularly designed to maximize human potential. So it's something that helps you to strive for excellence. And when people take the strengths assessment, they get their results back.

And what they get back is a rank order list of 34 Neutral [00:04:00] talent themes. How they bring those talent themes to life will actually determine if it's a strength or a weakness. Because sometimes your number one talent Could be getting in your way and could be a weakness. we, as a coach and as a team trainer, I help business leaders to understand the dynamics at play with their natural talents and the gifts that each of them bring, and then also what to watch out for.

because, because they can go into overdrive or they could be under expressed and not as, not contributing as much as they possibly could. So that's the background. 

Michelle Pualani: Clifton strengths is something that I took several years ago as you're listening. And it's something that I've taken multiple times since, and it does change. And in comparison to kind of what Sarah was mentioning, it's not a personality test. And so when you look at the Myers Briggs, when you look at the disc assessment, you're not looking at things that, Are going to draw from, you know, how you maybe feel one day, right? These are more centered around things that are gonna be [00:05:00] longstanding and how you approach work, how you approach your life, and I have found that the value of this assessment is so much more.

Thoreau, it's so much more successful at having you make choices in the way that you approach your day, in the way that you approach your work life, in the way that you approach productivity, it's been huge and incredibly helpful for me from a leadership perspective, from a business owner perspective, as an entrepreneur, who's governing their own schedule, who has to maximize their potential output and really focus on the efficient ways to.

Do more, less time, really figure those kinds of things out and also recognize the ways in which I'm not necessarily strong so that I can hire out for consultants, employees, whatever that looks like, so that I'm not always butting up against a wall. If I continuously find projects or things within my business that I feel like I quote unquote have to do, but struggle to do or procrastinate, recognizing my strengths has made me realize.

I'm not necessarily [00:06:00] adept at these types of activities. Therefore I can find other people to help support me in that role in order to get to where I'm going. So as you're listening today, thinking of this assessment in that way, how can I help support you in your productivity, your work life, how you're showing up as a leader, and then how you can eventually have people in place on your team or those that you work with that can also kind of help you build out the pie, bridge the gap, and really provide what you need in order to reach and obtain the goals that you're working towards.

Sara Harvey: speaking into that a little bit, Michelle, one of the things we teach is that individuals don't need to be well-rounded. But teams do. So this takes a lot of heat off of individuals who feel like they need to be all things, do all things, be exceptional at everything. We're just not wired that way, each have a given set of talents that make us exceptional at certain things. like you said, in those areas that are not our natural talents, we get to partner with somebody else who [00:07:00] maybe brings that strength that we don't, right? That takes the heat off of us. maybe we look at the strengths that we do have and we ask, I take what I do have to get me through this struggle that I'm having or this area that's not my strength. We also get to create processes, systems, and automation to support us in areas that are not natural talents. So there's always a way through and Gallup focuses on strengths. That's the core of it, we don't say that you get to ignore your weaknesses. still get to manage your weaknesses, if weakness fixing is your strategy for excellence, You're probably going to fall short. On the other hand, if you invest in what you're naturally adept at, what you're naturally good at, you have that opportunity to take a quantum leap in growth. that's why, that's the why behind strengths is that The opportunity for excellence comes so much easier when you lean into what you're naturally good at, as opposed to saying, I have to be all [00:08:00] things to all people, or I have to focus most of my time on fixing what's not working, where I'm weak, you know, what's getting in my way. But there, but there's a way around that, If we are up against something that is one of our weaknesses. 

Joanna Newton: And I really think that learning how to operate in your strengths and manage your weaknesses, is such a way for someone to really explode, right? Explode their leadership, explode their career. When I think about myself in like the early stages of my career, I 100 percent tried to be all things for, for everybody, like in an entry level role. I'm like, I could do that. I could do that. I could do that. I could do that. And it didn't really help me make more money. Yeah. and as I learned to say, these are the things that I'm best at.

These are my strengths. And I started like branding myself that way in the corporate world. That's when I started being able to get executive level leadership roles. And I think if you're also someone who's moving into, from employee mode to. Entrepreneur, you can have this tendency to try to be all do [00:09:00] all versus actually taking the time to operate in your strength.

So taking some time to think about these things, taking CliftonStrengths or even just like assessing for yourself, like, what are the things I'm best at? What are my areas of weakness and how do I build a life that's actually helping me operate? in my strengths versus just doing everything.

Sara Harvey: you haven't taken the strengths assessment, a couple of things that we recommend is to ask yourself what gives me energy versus what depletes me, because it's highly likely that what gives you energy is an area of strength and what depletes you is probably an area of weakness. So that's the first test. Another test that people, if they haven't taken the strengths assessment, but they want to know, Hey, am I working in the strength zone or not? I'm actually. Not even sure because I've never really named my strengths. So we'll have them do a little exercise where they'll write the sentence. I'm working in my strengths every day. I'm working in my strengths every day. Just write it down with your hand, And then we'll have them take their writing utensil and put it in their non dominant hand. And we'll [00:10:00] have them write that same sentence. It takes twice as long. messier. takes more concentration. It doesn't look as good. And so that is sort of an analogy with, for what it feels like to work in your strengths. When you write with your dominant hand, Don't think about it. Looks good, Quick. You can get it done. But when you're working in your non dominant hand, in other words, focused on your weaknesses, There's going to be struggle it's not that you can't make improvement.

you can make incremental improvement by hard on your strengths. in that same time, you put your attention on your natural talents, You're going to see much more return on investment for that same amount of effort.

Michelle Pualani: I think this is a critical discussion for solopreneurs and Joanna and I have chatted about this on the podcast before, but so often we're expected to wear all the hats. If you are in the digital space, if you're a coach, a content creator, or are following some of the preachings of solopreneurs, it can feel like you have to do every aspect of the business, everything from social media, content creation, to the posting and the scheduling, [00:11:00] to the email marketing, to the landing page building, to the Product creation.

And so once you kind of get into it, you're like, wow, I have to be adept and have all of these different skill sets. When really, when you look at your strengths, profile execution is not very strong in your top 10, and then you can feel like you're failing or not measuring up to expectation or how is this creator able to do millions of dollars a year in business?

And I'm not. Well, that creator may be operating off of different strengths and have a totally different profile. So when you start to learn the way in which you work best, it can really help you overcome those things that you may feel are insecurities, doubts, frustrations, challenges, struggles, and recognize them in a way that you're actually shifting the perspective of what you're dealing with.

And so that can completely change the narrative of your working operations, daily systems, and the way that you're approaching your business as a whole. So we're going to dive into our strengths and really highlight some of [00:12:00] the things that Joanna and I have. And then as you're listening, we highly encourage you to take the cliff to the strengths, reach out to Sarah, move through this process and start to learn a little bit more about yourself so that you can optimize.

Your ability to work efficiently and be able to find the resources, the support, the team, whatever it looks like in order to kind of build out that more well rounded business that you're hoping to accomplish.

Sara Harvey: I love those points, Michelle. I think that one of the things that beginning to understand your strengths and working in your strengths helps you to do is to find your authenticity. And we know that when we're creating our own brand. needs to be authentic, right? It needs to reflect who we are naturally. And when we understand our strengths, we begin to have a vocabulary. We begin to have terminology that can help define our brand in a way that feels natural to us. So the most basic gift of these strengths is that you can find the authenticity of your brand and begin to build it out [00:13:00] around your strengths. And that feels natural and easy. 

So I'm pulling up Michelle's strengths right now. And what we're looking at on the screen is a rank order list of 34 neutral talent themes. This list got created when Michelle took the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment. Let me point out a few tidbits about this list. Um, Michelle's superpowers are her strengths one through five. So Michelle's strengths one through five, strategic, ideation, futuristic, arranger, and learner. What we know about those strengths is that we're starting to see a lot of strategic thinking themes come forward in Michelle's top talents. So that is the, the, the leaning or the tendency for Michelle is to be particularly good strategic thinking. So her strategic number one, her ideation, her [00:14:00] futuristic and her learner. Four out of five are strategic thinking themes. These come naturally to Michelle. Michelle, probably you've been using these since you were a little kid, but now you're getting to name them.

You're getting to call them something and begin to identify yourself through the lens of these strengths. As you do that. And you can see yourself in these strengths. Your next step is to say, okay, how do I bring these to life in a way that helps me achieve my goals, build relationships, think strategically, and influence the business. And know that these strengths have impact in your personal life as well as your work life. So they're, they're very holistic in nature. Michelle, I'll ask you, was your first impression when you saw this list of strengths?

Michelle Pualani: So as I mentioned, I've taken CliftonStrengths before for work and for my own business and Although things have evolved and slightly shifted over time with the top five, the top 10, I always [00:15:00] lean towards strategic thinking. I always lean towards influence, execution and relationship building, which are the four themes of CliftonStrengths, are always lower on my DNA kind of portfolio.

So what we're looking at, if you're just listening, is sort of the 34 DNA output or makeup of the strengths. Now, I do want to point out, and I'm sure Sarah, you have to encourage people of remembering this all the time, is that none of these are better or worse than the other. It's not about what's good or what's right.

It's about understanding yourself and building self awareness. So each of these skills is in its own right. Incredibly powerful, and it's about leveraging them and how you apply them in your day to day in your work life. So for me, this isn't surprising because I have always leaned more strategic. Joanne and I have had the conversation in terms of like the visionary profile.

If you're looking at the EOS model and operating system, I tend to be more. Planning futuristic. [00:16:00] I'm creating the vision, like building that. And I do struggle and procrastinate some more executive skills in terms of execution, consistency, being able to manage tasks over time, as well as, uh, Relationship, empathy, like, things like that tend to be things that I don't necessarily lead with on a consistent basis.

Sara Harvey: So as I mentioned, these are neutral talent themes. They sit on a spectrum of expression. how Michelle brings strategic to life, her number one may be different than how Joanna brings strategic to life. And we want to respect and appreciate that. the only way we can do that is to be in dialogue with each other and we can say, Hey, Michelle, what does strategic mean to you?

How do I recognize it in you? And hey, Joanna, how do I recognize it in you? There's no right or wrong. It's not like, Oh, well, this one is a leadership trade and this one isn't. No, they're all leadership traits, secret is to embrace them, appreciate them, and understand [00:17:00] their power and edge. Know also that because they sit on a spectrum of expression, there is a possibility that they get overexpressed. And what that means is that you're leaning too hard into one's strength, and that can result in some friction. Right? Some emotional friction that can result in being a little blindsided about something. we want to be able to take in feedback from others to say, Hey, there a blind spot that I don't see? Or do you feel like my ideation, Michelle's number two is dialed up too high. Let me just say a word about that. Sometimes we call that the popcorn popper of ideas. So ideation is really good at brainstorming on the front end of a project and bringing a lot of fresh ideas to the table. If ideation is turned up, dialed up too high, sometimes what happens is they're continually presenting ideas. we've already [00:18:00] decided this is the direction we're going. We're no longer in idea generation. So we need to pull back on that strength, right? So it's a timing question for ideation. Pull back on that a little bit. Lean into a different strength. Or maybe at that point, Michelle, you allow Joanna to come in and start contributing, right? So that there's the flow from your ideas to a strategic plan to an execution. the other thing I would say is that there are four domains.

The 34 talent themes are categorized into four domains. the first domain is strategic thinking. That's the domain that Michelle leads with. The second domain is influencing. That's the one Joanna leads with. third one is relationship building. And the fourth is executing. Right? So I like to make an analogy with that, thinking about this executing hands and the feet, doers, right? Strategic thinking, the head, the thinkers, the planners, the analyzers. Relationship builders, the [00:19:00] heart, thinking about people first. And the influencing, the mouth, giving voice to the voiceless. So, need all those parts and pieces. We may not be excellent at all of those parts and pieces. There's, that's when we get to partner.

That's when we get to outsource. But we need all that, right? Because we can't just think and think and think and think and think and not do, right? Because we're not executing. We're not bringing something, a brilliant idea to life. So that's how we have to say who's good at what, so that we can put together a full and finished product that's valued by our audience.

Joanna Newton: I think there can be something really freeing about, about operating like that. Recognizing you don't have to be the best, the brightest at everything and that, you know, You can build a team, a community of people who come together and create amazing things together. When I was working in the corporate world, I always felt like the leaders at my companies really got The value and the reality of collaboration, they would [00:20:00] throw an idea out and they would say it. And then of course, the team would add all of their bits and colors and different things to that idea, make it real, execute it and make it amazing.

But a lot of the leaders that I've worked with, you know, when I was an employee would see their contribution of the idea as the most important thing. And the most pivotal thing here, when reality, The beauty of anything you create in a business is you're getting all of these bits of everybody's talent to become something that no one could actually have created alone, And when every person is contributing in their strengths, I think that that's when a team, a company can really, really shine and nobody's burnt out. Everybody feels valued. Everybody's contributing. that's when magic, I think, really happens. 

Sara Harvey: Through CliftonStrengths, we believe that, diversity and differences are advantages. So we don't, we don't want to create a team of clones that think like we [00:21:00] do, because we're not as good at vetting problems. everybody is sort of has the same lens that they're bringing to the table. So we need to be courageous enough to. with people and invite people into our circle who think differently than we do. And we need to listen for the value that they contribute given their strengths. And those might be quite different than yours. So I noticed Michelle, you have a learner number five. So learner is like a perpetual student always asking what else can I know?

What more can I learn? And that's that can come with that listening ear, Of appreciating who's at that table thinking differently than you are. There's that opportunity for you.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, I think as each, so as I've read these on my own, you're really highlighting how they can be an inhibiting factor, and I think that's really important. That's just as important to recognize how they can also be a strength. So the idea of ideation, right? You talked about brainstorming, but then we have a project in motion and this would drive Joanna crazy.

We have a project in motion. We're doing a thing. And then I'm like, Hey, what about this great [00:22:00] idea? Let's do this thing instead. And she's like, no, let's just stay focused. So there are things that can totally completely derail you. And that can be really inhibiting the learner mode. You're great at learning new things, but if you constantly stay in student and you don't take it into action, then you're never going to produce results, especially as a business owner, content creator coach, you're always going to be limited by not putting things out there by not testing.

And as you're learning, there's only so much you can do from behind the screen or from a book or listening to a podcast. You really have to take it into action mode. That's something that I feel like I got stuck in really early on in my business is just constantly learning. So recognizing that each of these strengths and each of these talents can also be something that's taking over you, that you are doing a little bit too much of and how you can learn to curb that.

I think this all comes back to self awareness and recognizing this is what I'm apt to be doing. This is what I'm capable of. How can I leverage that? How can I also keep it in check? And then how can I apply that to my [00:23:00] working daily operations and all the tasks that I feel like I either have to do or figure out how to make happen in order to work towards what I'm building. 

Sara Harvey: these strengths are at their best when they're in service to others. So let me give learner as an example. So learner loves to just take in new information and gain an expertise. But if learner never takes it. that expertise and shares it and teaches it to somebody else. It's actually, it's actually not at its best. So we always want to think, yes, our strengths benefit us and help us to be more productive, more efficient, work with greater ease. But in the end, The question we get to ask ourselves is how are my talents and strengths in service to my team and to my organization and ultimately to the audience I serve. That's when they're really, really at their best. Um, I will also tell you that with a lot of sort of the drivers, the A type personalities, they go down to the bottom of the list. They go down and look at their top, their bottom five. 

[00:24:00] Okay. So in this case for Michelle, it's developer, harmony, consistency, context, and. Those are her bottom five. It's a common mentality to go, Oh, that's what I need to fix. Oh, I got to work on that. Cause that's way at the bottom. Those are my weaknesses. That's not a strength space strategy. Just so you know, if any of those bottom five are getting in your way, you need to go down there and look at them and see what's going on. But if they're not getting in your way, move your attention right back up to your top five strengths or even top 10 strengths, because that's where your leverage exists.

Joanna Newton: Such great feedback. Such great points. But now, let's talk about me.

It's my turn now. I want to know what my strengths are so I can feel good about myself. We 

Sara Harvey: And when you look at top 10, you share even more. So when we look at our team grid, there's a lot of juicy nuggets that we're going to be looking at together. All right, so here we have Joanna. Joanna leads with [00:25:00] influencing, okay? That is the, that is the voice for the voiceless, the persuaders, the advocators, the influencers. 

Influencing themes bring a lot of energy. They bring a lot of heat. when someone who has a lot of influencing themes walks in the room, you generally know it. So as somebody who has a lot of influencing, you want to moderate that and you want to notice what impact are my influencing themes in particular having on the people around me. And how am I moderating them to get the biggest bang for the buck? So, Joanna's top five. Arranger, Strategic, Achiever, and Significance. Let me ask you the same question, Joanna, that I asked Michelle. What was your first impression when you saw these strengths?

Joanna Newton: So when I read them, they felt, they felt very accurate to me. it felt like, okay, this makes a lot of sense and, makes a lot of sense with the role that I ended up at my own [00:26:00] company and what I do there and all of that. What is funny is I did take StrengthsFinder. It was called StrengthsFinder then, now it's just Strengths, but I took it when I was 19. And I know, Sarah, I shared this with you, but I'll share this with everyone on the podcast. When I took the assessment when I was 19, I was very close to this. It wasn't quite these, these top five, but I actually had a very negative emotional response. being, I was, A young woman was very opinionated, a little impatient, was talked a lot, talked a lot in groups, and these were all things that received a lot of negative feedback to be perfectly honest about, like people had a very hard time with who I am. So when I took the assessment and I got my strengths and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is everything everybody hates about me, but they're my strengths. so what the heck do I do with this? They're the things I'm best at, but everyone I know hates this about me. So putting that together. Was hard as a 19 year old [00:27:00] who I think was, to be perfectly honest, out of place in the world in so many ways.

I like honestly wasn't where I belonged in that moment in my life. And even in my early career, a lot of my strengths were things that the executives above me would, would in my reviews be like, Joanna, if you just didn't do this, you could succeed. If you didn't do this, you couldn't succeed. But they were always pointing at my strengths being the reason. That I was problematic. think that as I, you know, grew up and, you know, I probably got some tact and some, uh, better relationship skills over time, but I think I also got to a point where I had enough experience to back up. Who I was and how I acted that those things actually now people respect me for them and, but it took a lot of time to get there.

So taking it this time and seeing them, I felt a lot of like confidence and acceptance of myself that I didn't have 30 years ago, No, not 30. No, 20 years ago.

Sara Harvey: So what happens early in our careers often is that we can [00:28:00] show up in a way that's a little bit raw with our talent themes and we don't even realize it because one, we don't have a name for them and we're just starting to kind of massage them and bring them forward and find our voice. So it can be a little raw, it can be a little dialed up extra high, right?

Where people are like, Whoa, girl, settle down. And so, over time, right, as we go through our careers and we go through our lives, we begin to notice, Hey, this isn't working, this is working. And I think the secret too, is to ask ourselves. What does this moment need from me? Because every moment and every relationship and every situation need something different from us. And so, as you go into one situation, like, let's say for example, Activator is your number one. When Activator is Dialed up too high. It is in ready, fire, aim. And so the problem with that is that you haven't allowed enough time for the [00:29:00] strategic thinking, for the planning, for the, just being very thoughtful about things because you're, the activator is a spark and it's ready to move into action quickly. That's why activator and strategic can make really good partnership, And for you, the beautiful thing is Joanna, you have both. In your top five. So you can notice. And be aware, as Michelle said, self aware that in this situation, I need a little more strategic and a little less activator the reverse.

If the 2 of you have sat again and again and again to discuss something, And now you're feeling a little impatient and frustrated. It is time for that activator to jump into gear and say, It's not perfect. But we got to take action, right? We got to execute on this and make it happen because otherwise we're just going to keep talking about it. that's a strength that you have to pull from both of those, depending on what the situation needs from you. But those, orange themes, like, significance is Joanna's number 5 and [00:30:00] significance. A lot of people don't necessarily understand that. And I'm going to tell you, significance is. The least common theme of the 34. So, interesting that that's, it's right up there in your top five. Not that common. is a very independent theme. It has a strong sense of self, and a lot of confidence. So, in chaotic times, helps to stabilize, because it just knows. Significance. But what significance has to watch out for is that it's not acting like a lone wolf, okay, and operating in its own silo because it just knows, it already knows, it's still coming back to the team and to the partnerships and saying, okay, this is what I know to be true.

What do you know? let me hear what you have to say. So bringing that to the table is really, really important. is your experience with significance in your life? 

Joanna Newton: I love that you brought up the, it's great under chaos because I'm particularly good under [00:31:00] chaos. Whenever, this during COVID as an example, when COVID happened and everything was crazy, it was an amazing time of growth for my career I just, Found the ability to do what needed to be done most.

And my company was like affected by some things in COVID. And I just always felt like I could pinpoint what we had to do to keep going and like, get rid of the noise. So when I saw significance, I was like, Oh, this makes a lot of sense of being able to kind of pick up projects and the things that happen that need to get The job done, you know what I mean?

And that need to happen to keep going. And what's interesting, I didn't think about, what you shared about, needing to go back and get everybody on the same page. Something I have struggled with as I've gone into the, consulting world and started my own business, is, When I first started doing consulting, I started in like social media marketing consulting and one of the feedback I would get from some clients is they never understood the strategy. So they would come to me and be like, we [00:32:00] don't have a strategy. They would tell me we didn't have one. and I would be so confused because I would be like, we discussed the strategy. I wrote the strategy down. I shared the strategy with you. We're doing the strategy. How do we not have a strategy? And I couldn't, I knew something was happening to this day.

To be honest, I don't always know what happens. I'm like, I think we have, I have a strategy. shared the strategy, but there's like this lack of connection. Sometimes that I have with that, I feel like I know what it is. We've decided we've moved on. We're onto execution, but like, I missed everybody. Along the way,

Sara Harvey: When I look at your themes, like all the way through top 10, right? And we look at significance, command, self assurance, maximizer. a lot of knowingness in those themes. Right. A lot of confidence and knowingness. to double check your confidence and knowingness and to help integrate others into the conversation. One of the most important things you can cultivate is inquiry. Curious questions. No, don't assume. Right. Because it [00:33:00] is, it is. In your mind, you're like, we have a strategy. I've shared it. Everybody knows it. What is the problem? But do they really know it? Or is it just that you've told them the strategy? But maybe they didn't internalize it.

Maybe it didn't make sense. Maybe they forgot, like who knows what, but really cultivating that questioning with the people around you to ensure that they have the degree of buy in that you have. Okay. Because if you don't have strategic high, like it's down in my bottom five personally, it's not a strength for me. So first I love to partner with somebody who's high and strategic, but I also need them. shine the flashlight around the corner that I can see what they're talking about and I can understand the why when strategic comes forward and shares the plan in a way that makes sense in language that I can hear and that's where, you know, when we get really finessed with these strengths, we get to look at the people around us. And we get to say, okay, Michelle comes with a [00:34:00] lot of strategic thinking. So when I talk to Michelle, that I might ask her is, what do you think? What are your thoughts on this? Would you like some more time to think about that before we move forward? Cause that's not your automatic language, Joanna, but you will tap into Michelle's language she will feel heard.

She will feel like, Oh, she gets me, And reverse is true as well. When Michelle is speaking to Joanna, who's really all about the, impact and the impact and legacy and significance of what we're doing and, and really making this. It's not just a task, but something very meaningful. We get to ask Joanna, Hey, tell me more about the why behind that. How do you see that impacting our audience in a really significant way? Right? So we get to use the language of the people around us and ask the kind of questions that allow their talents and their strengths to come forward and be heard. Does that make sense? command is another one that you have number six. So command is in the absence of leadership. Command is like, [00:35:00] I got it. Give it to me. I'll do it. got it right. They will step in and lead. So again, super powerful when the, the earth is a little shaky, right? Really? Cause we need that kind of confident leadership when nobody else is doing it.

Otherwise we're going to flounder. But you want to make sure, too, that you are not coming across as, the only one, right? It's my way or the highway. I'm in command mode. You still get to formulate relationships, bring the others along with you carefully and thoughtfully, engage in relationship building. So, like, I would ask you this. We see, one relationship building theme in your top 10, Joanna. We see it at number nine, and it's individualization, means that you're quite good at finding what's unique about others and really calling that forward, right? You're really good at that. And you might use that to build relationships.

But if you look at any of your other strengths that are not relationship building strengths, do you use them to build relationships? 

Joanna Newton: [00:36:00] well, definitely. I think most of my relationships are people who I probably when I look at a ranger, a lot of friendships and relationships are like, Me helping other people like figure out their lives, you know what I mean? Like, I'm a person people come to and are like, how do I do this?

What should I do here? What should I do here? So I have a few close friends versus like big groups of relationships I don't have I'm not the kind of person who's like going out with big groups of people for fun I have a couple of like close relationships like that, 

Sara Harvey: you're more interested in social depth social breadth with your friendships. Yeah. that's a way of being not right, not wrong and not, but not everybody's like that either. Joanna, some people are like the more, the better, bring them in. Love it. I want to meet everyone in the room. strength. That's the strength that we call woo, others over.

Joanna Newton: I think was in Michelle's top ten.

Sara Harvey: yes. Woo is number nine, Michelle. 

Joanna Newton: I'd

love to talk about, you're talking about this grid of us together. And I would love to talk about that. [00:37:00] And because I think that truly, right, we have our individual strengths. Those are great things for us to learn about and leverage and do, but as business owners, we work in community, we work with partners, we work with all kinds of people.

So thinking about how those things work together, I think will be really, really interesting and how Michelle and I can work better more people to listen to our podcast.

Michelle Pualani: I think looking at both mine and Joanna's profile demonstrates that we're in the right field, like having such a high influence score in terms of the domains in our top 10. Really, I believe, you know, creating podcasts, Doing content, you know, having some sort of products, programs, and offerings that we do kind of solidifies like, Oh, I'm on the right career path, right?

Like I'm not meant to be an accountant. I'm not meant to be a nurse. I'm not meant to be in a field that has like heavy relationship building skills. That's always been really helpful to me with CliftonStrengths is kind of identifying like, okay, I'm on the right track because there are a million and [00:38:00] one things that we can do out there.

And this helps kind of narrow the scope and the lens of what we can focus on to stay in our strengths and really focus on those places in which we can show up with excellence. 

Sara Harvey: right. Really, really good point. And, um, segue into looking at and Joanna's strengths in a grid. So what we're looking at is what we call a team grid. And we're looking at Joanna and Michelle's top 10 strengths. Plus their bottom five strengths. So there was a lot of really insights, I would say here that can benefit your partnership and your business. First of all, the two of you both have strategic and a ranger in your top five. So you both share that. And you both share five of the same top ten strengths. That's a lot to share for two individuals because I'm going to tell you something. The likelihood that anyone has the same top five in the same order is [00:39:00] one in 33 million. The likelihood that anyone has the same top five in any order is one in 278, 000. You are unique. Your voice is needed at this table. Okay, so you holding back means that we're not going to be as good at solutioning for a problem, right? Or creating a business. So really know that your strengths are needed and Nobody in the room brings them in the way that you do, you both share five of the same top ten. Not five, but top ten, Interestingly enough, four of your bottom five are the same. of the bottom five are the same. So, that's something to look at. So, in the bottom five, you both have context, you both have developer, a harmony, The other interesting point is that 50 percent of your strengths. as a duo, as a pair, sit in the influencing domain. And I will tell you in my six years of coaching into strengths doing team trainings, most of the time, and when I say most, I would say [00:40:00] 85 to 90 percent of the time, influencing is the smallest domain where the least amount of talents exist. So this is something very special about the two of you. And a lot of power and edge exists in those themes. we want to be able to harness those in a way that serves, and yet not overuse them because you're both bringing them in a way that things get too fiery or too heated. and also note that there are eight influencing themes. Between the two of you, you cover all eight themes. That is not true in strategic thinking. There's some themes you don't have in your top 10 or in executing or in relationship building, but in influencing everything is represented. Pretty interesting. So let's talk a little bit about the power of your partnership. So the first thing I want to call forward is the fact that strategic and arranger is something that both of you have in your top five. Strategic and arranger. So that's a superpower between the two of you. You can flip flop. listen, Joanna, [00:41:00] I need you to bring your arranger to this. I need you to bring your strategic to this. aware, choose what themes you're going to bring forward because you both have them. For the best outcome that you can create. So let me stop and ask, does strategic and arranger play out between the two of you? 

Michelle Pualani: I 

Think that the balance that Joanna and I have in our partnership with the Her First podcast is that from a strategic perspective, I tend to look at like the bigger picture, thinking through like where we're headed, whatever that kind of future looks like and working from that place. That's a little bit more, I don't want to use the word inspired because Joanna is definitely inspired, but that's a little bit more like, what are we hoping to accomplish?

What's. What's the goal? What are we working towards? Joanna tends to get in and like get things done a little bit more effectively than I do.

And so she really keeps me on track. So I'm that person that kind of pulls back and is like, let's do all of these things. And she's like, but actually let's just do this one thing and do it well. And so I feel like we balance each other really well in that way. She still ideates, brings things [00:42:00] to the table, sees the vision and plans out, but she really has a way of curbing that in me more successfully.

Sara Harvey: Joanna, what's your experience with those two strengths in partnership? 

Joanna Newton: I mean, I think I would just echo what michelle is saying. I think she has a lot of focus on the, on the bigger picture, the long term, the, when our podcast is where we want it to be, like what that impact will be. And I think that, in this case, I think I probably definitely lean a little more on the arranger side in this partnership of like, how do we get the things done. We need to do done. We're both very busy. We both have other businesses that we focus on and we're part of all of the time. So I think I focus a little bit more on like the smaller details and like the little things that need to happen to reach that strategic goal. And I think that's how those things play into our day to day of the podcast. 

Sara Harvey: so being aware, and choosing the best of each of you to create what you're, what you're co creating is the secret to success. And I would say, you also have [00:43:00] achiever. In addition to a ranger, so both of them are executing themes. Right. So, so that's almost like supercharged. So it does kind of make sense that there's, that's a little bit of a sweet spot for you, right?

Because you really have two themes that are very powerful that can bring the plan to life in a way. also let's look at Michelle's which is number two and Joanna's activator, which is number one. Joanna, how does Michelle's ideation and your activator, how do they become successful together?

Joanna Newton: I think that, and this is a, Relationship I have with a lot of like partners I've worked with. I think Michelle's like, let's do this. Michelle's idea was to do the podcast. we were just wanting to talk about our, our story as we, we met at a conference, let's be accountability buddies and pitch ourselves to be on podcasts together and like check in and, and do that. And then Michelle was like, why don't we just start a podcast? I would have never thought. to just start a podcast. But she's like, why don't we start a podcast? And then I'm like, okay, well, [00:44:00] here's the list of all of the things that we need to do to start the podcast. And then I think the podcast started a month later.

And I think Michelle was like, oops, we started a podcast she's like, let's start one. I'm like, okay, here's how we start one. And then we started one. And then poor Michelle's been stuck with me ever since.

Sara Harvey: I think it's a good partnership. So ideation and activator is like taking good ideas and putting them into action, which is just what you explained, Joanna. So that's, that's something that you two have as a particularly powerful strength. Yeah. You both have command, not top five, but top 10. So one thing that's going to be really important, I think in your partnership is to create clarity about who is the tip of the spear and who is ultimately in charge or responsible you both can have a tendency to want to lead. To take the ownership to say, this is mine, I'm doing this, I'm directing this. And if the other person isn't clear with that, then there can be, Ooh, wait, I thought I was doing that. Wait. Right. And so making sure in your partnership that [00:45:00] who has tip of the spear ownership is crystal clear to both of you can be something that's wise to look out for in that relationship. Michelle, is that ever something that rises up?

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, because we both have our own separate entities, we're involved in our own businesses. You know, the podcast is something that we do collaboratively. It's something that we do consistently. And I think we do it well from an output, an execution perspective. We have a system, we have processes in place, we have the ability to manage all of the pieces.

In addition to that, in terms of like working on the business, so to speak, we're not necessarily applying a lot of effort or energy individually on how we can grow the podcast, expand the reach, you know, like move forward. And I think partly, you know, because we both have our own things, Not necessarily one person is wholly responsible for that.

And so, you know, we have conversations and meetings about how we can expand on that. Joanna's a lot better about getting the word out and promoting. And [00:46:00] that's something that I'd like to do better. But. I think when it comes down to like, who's going to be responsible for this, if we don't assign or aren't very specific, then it's likely not going to get done.

And that's where I feel like the marketing side of it definitely kind of falls to the wayside from an operational perspective, got it nailed. All taken care of. Good to go. 

Sara Harvey: Great point. Great awareness. Around the pros and cons of that theme coming to life in both of you, Joanna, any, comments on that?

Joanna Newton: Yeah, no, I I think that makes a lot of sense in thinking about for us, making sure who, cause I think both of us when we're responsible for something, get it done. we've proven that to be true here in the podcast and, outside in our other responsibilities. And so, um, there's something we want to do to move forward or, do something differently, giving it an owner would probably make it much more successful.

this person's responsible for whatever activity, because that's how we've been successful with the operation. We kind of know who's responsible for what parts operationally.

[00:47:00] thank you so much for walking through our strengths as a team. I think that was really helpful, and I can really see. See how this would be a really helpful exercise for leadership teams, small teams, large teams, all of that to really understand how they work together and how they can really like optimize for each other's strengths. But I want to take a few minutes for us to really talk about how this can apply to you, your business and how that works. Sarah, from your perspective, I think that strengths obviously can play a role in how you build your personal brand. Right. And the messaging you use, the words you use, what you decide to sell, what, you do. And I'd love to get kind of your perspective on how someone can take their strengths and use those to support their personal brand.

Sara Harvey: of the things I did when I started my business was I looked at my top five strengths and I said, what can they contribute my new business? I was a first time entrepreneur, feeling a little inhibited in, that realm of business because I'd always been in corporate. but [00:48:00] looking at my strengths. I was able to say I knew that I was a strengths coach that was, I already had that certification, one of the things that is, powerful about a coach is questioning and input is in my top five strengths and input It can take in information. It can take in resources. It can take in questions it takes in. And as a coach, I knew that that talent theme would support me in being a better coach. And my learner I knew would support me in being a great coach because I'm always about developing self. So how can I ask my clients to develop themselves if I'm also not in a growth mode? so I knew those two strengths would be powerful.

And then I looked at Achiever. And I said, well, Achiever has served me my whole life. Achiever helps me get things done. It helps me execute. It helps me move the ball down the field so that, cause you know, entrepreneurship is a long journey. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. And so that Achiever helps me continue to make progress in my business, meaningful [00:49:00] progress that helps me to build, right?

Because Achiever is like a building, talent theme. as you look at them, you may notice that your talents reflect a very strong ability to build relationships. the case, that's a good starting point for you, you and your business and say, wow, have a lot of building strengths. So how do I leverage those strengths to network? How do I leverage those strengths to build an audience? do I leverage those strengths to get a referral? So that's that. If you have a lot of executing strengths, it's like, okay, what needs to be done in the business for me to make progress and lean into the executing themes? If you have a lot of influencing, like Joanna, like Michelle, then you're going to want to say, Where and how can I impact? How can I make a difference in this world? How can the work that I'm doing benefit not only us, but everyone around us right? And how can I in a way that persuades and influences others to join [00:50:00] forces with us to listen into our podcast?

How can I create excitement around that using my influencing themes? And finally, strategic thinking, we don't have a thought through map or plan. It's going to be twice as hard, So that that plan is almost the starting point. And if I'm not strategically oriented, if that's not my natural strengths, I get to find somebody in my world, in my network, who is good at that and ask for support. Like the most important thing you can do is in your areas of weakness, ask for support, if you know somebody who's good at that, because trust me, they want to help you. They want to help you, but they don't if you don't ask because they don't know how to do it. So the themes really act as catalysts for you to build just know you don't have to be all things to all people. And as you begin to build your business and you get to that point, you're like, ah, like I'm at capacity. I don't think I can do any more. Look at areas that are not your strengths. And say, who can outsource to I'm not high analytical. [00:51:00] That's not my thing. I'm not into working spreadsheets and numbers.

I don't like it, but I am responsible for maintaining a good accounting system for my business. So the first thing I did was outsource to a bookkeeper. And I tell you what, as soon as I got that off my plate, My energy rose, my spirit rose, and I was like, wow, I'm back doing the things that I love. So it's a building process, right?

You can't always outsource to everybody in the beginning, right? Sometimes in the very beginning you are doing all things. You are trying on things to see what works and what doesn't. And sometimes even if you can do something, if it takes a lot of detail and a lot of time and it's using up a lot of your time, and not helping your business grow.

It's still a good outsourcing opportunity or a partnership opportunity. So your strengths will help you in every capacity. It'll help you to brand in a way that feels natural to you, in a way that is aligned with who you are. My brand is inner intelligence and I am a big proponent of self awareness, emotional intelligence, all that [00:52:00] inner work, And my strengths reflect that. So it's aligned and when we're aligned, we're in flow and where we're in flow, our business grows. 

Joanna Newton: such great insight. And I think if you're someone who feels like you're, you know, hitting walls in your business, hitting walls in growth, taking some time to really think about your strengths can make that huge quantum leap for you. Like if you can figure out how to operate in your strengths, focus on those things, especially if you don't have funding to have a team, Then cut the thing obviously you have to have good accounting, but don't do the things where you don't do the things that are, that are, you're really struggling with. If you can't outsource right away and really focus on that thing, that's going to bring your business to the next level. If someone were to want to CliftonStrengths and understand their strength profile better, how would they do that?

Sara Harvey: uh, you can reach out to me if you want. Um, I'm on all the platforms and I think Michelle, you're putting this in the show notes or something. So they'll see that, but I'm on Instagram. I'm on LinkedIn. Intertelligence coaching is my handle and I [00:53:00] can help support you in getting your strengths assessment done.

And then we can set up a session to Deep dive or digest in your results. Just like I did with Michelle and Joanna today. So that's an easy thing. And it's an amazing starting point. I encourage you to take it to the next level and get an entire coaching package together so that we can work together for 90 days and really help you harness your strengths for good and for the goals that you want to achieve.

But I'm here for that. That's what I do every day. I work with entrepreneurs. I work with small businesses and, um, commonly work with. Anywhere from a founder to a supervisor level. Uh, so, and I've sat in those seats just so, you know, I'm not speaking, theoretically, I'm actually thinking, speaking to you from experience, my own personal experience as a leader in business,

Joanna Newton: Well, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I really appreciate the insights. I'm going to have to go listen to all of this again. glad we have it recorded because I can go listen again and hear about me and Michelle and our team [00:54:00] together. if you are interested in learning more about CliftonStrength or taking that assessment, make sure you check the show notes to get connected with Sarah to learn more.

We'll see you next time.

Sara Harvey: thanks Joanna. And thanks to everyone in the audience listening.