The CliftonStrengths Summit has come and gone (sad) and we’ll have to wait for June 2019 for the next one. Since it was a strengths summit, I would be remiss if I didn’t reflect on how I used my strengths at the event itself.

That’s the point of strengths anyway—to utilize your strengths to achieve your intended outcomes. Knowing and using your strengths is supposed to be utterly practical.

Here are the ways I used my top five talents at the Summit:

"Responsibility"

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Last week I taught a leadership workshop to Human Resources (HR) professionals on keys for boosting employee engagement. There were various organizations represented from landscaping to higher education to temp agencies to transportation, but despite their differences, one thing was the same—they all wanted to increase employee engagement.

Why would they want to do that? Because according to Glassdoor, organizations with engagement programs report 26% greater year-after-year revenue...

Regardless of the type of work you do, you’re expecting some things from your workplace. They may not be top of mind, but they’re there, further down, lingering deep. Or they may be top of mind, like a checklist running through your head. Either way, your expectations will find their way out and into your work, relationships, and attitude.

It would be nice to know what employees are expecting. That’s where Gallup comes in. As I shared in “The Epidemic of the...

What does it cost your organization to replace an employee? According to the Society for Human Resource Management, replacing an employee can cost 6 to 9 months of the employee's salary. The numbers can go up depending on the specific role.

For this reason, last year EnergyCAP, Inc. introduced a ten-step hiring process for open jobs. Since implementing the new process, we've seen zero percent turnover by employees. With this said, no hiring process is perfect. Even the best organizations...

According to the 2016 Global Coaching Study released by the International Coach Federation, there are over 53,000 coaching practitioners who earn income through professional coaching. In addition, there are about 11,000 managers or leaders who use coaching skills to benefit their organizations.

But what about the rest of us? Do you have to be a professional coach or organizational leader to use coaching skills? Of course not.

The coach approach has great value for every sphere of life, and in...

(January 15, 2016)

One finds difficulty putting words to an entire life. It’s like trying to describe the smell of the beach air at the Jersey Shore, where we learned to fish, or to capture the cabiney smell of Mountain Springs Lake, where we would catch turtles and race them, or to explain the tantalizing smell of Pat’s brownies and then the sight of brownie blocks crisply wrapped in tin foil—the assurance you were being given a very special gift for the road, and not just...

Some very exciting news.

Colette and I have a son. Asia and Rex have a brother. His name is Asher, he's three, and he's from the Philippines. Probably in June we'll go get him, when the process runs its course.

"Ten thousand thousand precious Gifts
My Daily Thanks employ,
Nor is the least a cheerful Heart,
That tastes those Gifts with Joy." (Joseph Addison, 1712)

You could say it's been a bit busy in our home. I was in Asia for two weeks, then a few days upon returning, flew to Las Vegas for a...

We’ve written previously about employee engagement within the workplace. This reader wonders if the same principles apply to congregations: “What you’ve written about engagement...does it also apply to church members? What does engagement look like in a church?” That’s an excellent question and as a leader in a new church, a question that personally interests me.

I like to turn to Gallup for engagement questions because they’ve researched and reported on...

In my experience of being an internal coach at a software company and having a private coaching practice, there are five main reasons people get coached. The details may be different, and the clients may explain their situations in different ways, but when boiled down to the essential, the reasons for getting coached can be counted on one hand.

Once you learn these five reasons, you can discern what clients are really looking for. And once you discern their real need, you can make clear the...

I was fortunate to be asked to write eulogies for two of my grandparents, and there are family members who have put their requests in for the same. I consider writing a eulogy to be a sacred honor, and although I cry my way through, I’m grateful for the opportunity.

To eulogize someone is to call attention to their essence and celebrate that rare light and warmth that makes them irreplaceable. This may sound strange, but I actually enjoy writing eulogies. I don’t enjoy that to...