6 Ways to Supercharge Your Marketing Agency’s Team Collaboration
Is your marketing team struggling with miscommunication and inefficiency? Discover how understanding your team's unique strengths can unlock peak performance and client satisfaction.
In a small marketing agency, collaboration isn’t a “nice to have”—it’s what keeps the work moving and the clients happy. However, if your team is consistently dropping the ball, miscommunicating, or working twice as hard to achieve half the results, something deeper needs to change.
To improve marketing team collaboration, it starts with understanding how your team members naturally work best, and together.
That’s where strengths-based collaboration comes in. Using a framework like CliftonStrengths, especially when integrated through a tool like the Team Strengths Accelerator, can completely transform how your agency communicates, delegates, and performs.
Here’s how to get started:
1. Lay the Groundwork: Understand Your Team's Unique Styles & Strengths
Before you can optimize how your team works together, you need a clearer picture of who they are as individuals – their natural talents, preferred working styles, communication nuances, and what motivates them. Keen observation and open conversations can reveal a lot about these individual strengths. Some people thrive on data and detail, others excel in big-picture thinking and idea generation. Some are natural organizers, while others are gifted connectors.
Recognizing how people are unique helps you appreciate the diverse ways people approach tasks and solve problems. It’s not about boxing people in, but about understanding the raw materials you’re working with. When you have a sense of these individual aptitudes, you can start to see how they might complement each other or where potential friction points might arise. This initial understanding is less about rigid labels and more about fostering an awareness that everyone brings a unique value to the table, understanding that unlocking the potential within your team through strengths-based development is directly linked to overall agency success.
For agencies looking to formalize this discovery process and gain deeper insights into their team's collective dynamics, programs like our Team Strengths Accelerator can provide a structured approach to uncovering and applying these foundational insights for better collaboration and performance.
2. Foster Crystal-Clear Communication Channels & Practices
Effective communication is the lifeblood of any collaborative team, and in a marketing agency, where ideas, feedback, and project updates flow rapidly, it's absolutely paramount. To improve marketing team collaboration, you need to establish clear channels and promote best practices.
Establish Clear Channels: Define which tools are used for what types of communication (e.g., Slack for quick updates, email for formal documentation, project management software for task-specific conversations). This reduces confusion and ensures messages are seen by the right people.
Promote Active Listening: Encourage team members to truly listen to understand, not just to respond. This means paying attention, asking clarifying questions, and paraphrasing to ensure comprehension.
Encourage Clarity and Conciseness: Especially in written communication, teach your team to be clear, concise, and to the point. Ambiguity is a collaboration killer.
Adapt to Preferences: Understanding if a team member prefers detailed written briefs, quick verbal check-ins, or visual aids can make communication more effective. For example, a highly visual thinker might grasp a concept better from a quick sketch than a long email.
Regular Team Huddles: Short daily or weekly huddles can keep everyone aligned, address immediate roadblocks, and foster a sense of connection.
Clear communication minimizes misunderstandings, streamlines workflows, and ensures everyone is on the same page, thereby dramatically boosting collaborative efforts.
3. Define Clear Roles, Responsibilities, and Accountabilities
"I thought they were doing that!" is a phrase that signals a breakdown in collaboration. Ambiguity around roles and responsibilities is a major source of friction, duplicated effort, and dropped balls. Supercharged collaboration requires clarity.
Document Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly define who is responsible for what in ongoing roles and specific projects. This doesn’t mean creating rigid silos, but rather ensuring every critical task has an owner.
Use RACI Charts (or similar): For complex projects, a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) matrix can be invaluable for clarifying expectations.
Empower Ownership: When someone is given clear ownership of a task or area that aligns with their capabilities, they are more likely to be proactive and see it through. This sense of ownership can be enhanced when the role taps into their natural way of working effectively.
Set Clear Boundaries: Helping team members understand their scope and, as we've explored before, realize that learning to set clear boundaries is crucial for agency success, which also supports collaborative capacity.
Regular Review: Roles can evolve. Periodically review if the current distribution of responsibilities still makes sense and if everyone feels their contributions are being effectively utilized.
When everyone knows what's expected of them and who to turn to for specific needs, the team can operate with greater efficiency and less frustration.
4. Cultivate a Culture of Trust and Psychological Safety
Collaboration thrives in an environment where team members trust each other and feel psychologically safe – safe to voice opinions, share nascent ideas, admit mistakes, and even disagree respectfully. Building such a culture is an ongoing effort.
Lead by Example: Leaders must demonstrate vulnerability, admit their own mistakes, and show respect for all team members.
Encourage Openness: Create forums where people feel comfortable sharing different perspectives without fear of judgment. This is where understanding that people have different communication and thinking styles (their "strengths") can help build tolerance and appreciation for diverse viewpoints.
Celebrate Efforts and Learning from Failures: Don't just reward successes; acknowledge the effort and learning that comes from experiments, even if they don't pan out. This encourages risk-taking, which is vital for innovation.
Promote Authenticity: Allow people to bring their whole selves to work, because as we've previously detailed, building an authentic company culture goes far beyond superficial perks and is founded on genuine connections and shared values.
Assume Positive Intent: Encourage team members to assume their colleagues are acting with good intentions, which can diffuse defensiveness and promote more open dialogue.
A high-trust environment allows for the free flow of ideas and constructive feedback, which are essential components of dynamic collaboration.
5. Optimize Meetings and Collaborative Workflows
Meetings and established workflows can either be powerful collaboration enhancers or major drains on time and energy. Optimizing these is key to improving team efficiency.
Purposeful Meetings: Ensure every meeting has a clear purpose, a concise agenda, and defined desired outcomes. If it doesn't, question if the meeting is necessary at all.
Right People, Right Time: Only invite those who genuinely need to be there. Respect everyone's time.
Active Facilitation: Guide discussions, ensure all relevant voices are heard (especially from those whose natural style might be quieter but who have valuable insights), and keep the meeting on track.
Visual Collaboration Tools: Utilize whiteboards (physical or virtual), shared documents, and other tools that allow for real-time co-creation and idea visualization.
Streamline Workflows: Map out common agency processes (e.g., content creation, campaign launch, client reporting). Identify bottlenecks or areas of friction and collaboratively redesign them for smoother handoffs and clearer steps. This is where understanding individual preferences for structuring work can be beneficial.
Iterate and Improve: Regularly ask the team for feedback on meetings and workflows. What’s working? What’s frustrating? Be willing to adapt.
Efficient, well-run meetings and streamlined workflows reduce wasted time and ensure that collaborative efforts are focused and productive.
6. Implement Effective Feedback Loops and Conflict Resolution Strategies
No team, no matter how collaborative, will agree on everything all the time. Differing opinions are natural and can even be healthy if managed constructively. Similarly, regular, constructive feedback is vital for growth and alignment.
Normalize Feedback: Make giving and receiving feedback a regular, expected part of your agency culture. It shouldn’t be reserved just for annual reviews.
Focus on Behavior and Impact, Not Personality: Train your team to provide specific, actionable feedback that addresses the work or behavior, not the person.
Establish a Conflict Resolution Process: Develop a clear and straightforward process for addressing disagreements. This might involve direct conversation, mediation by a team lead, or a structured discussion focused on finding common ground.
Encourage Diverse Solutions: When conflict arises from different approaches, remind the team that often various paths can lead to success. Understanding that team members might approach a problem based on their unique problem-solving strengths can be helpful here.
Learn and Move Forward: The goal of conflict resolution should be to find the best path forward for the project and the team, and to learn from the experience. Avoid a "winner takes all" mentality.
Robust feedback mechanisms and effective conflict resolution strategies ensure that issues are addressed constructively, preventing resentment and maintaining strong collaborative relationships.
Conclusion: Building Your Collaborative Powerhouse
Supercharging your marketing agency's team collaboration is an intentional act, not an accident. While it truly does start with an appreciation for the individuals on your team – understanding their working styles, preferences, and general strengths – it extends into fostering clear communication, defining roles with precision, building a culture of deep trust, optimizing your operational rhythms, and navigating feedback and conflict with grace.
By consistently working on these six areas, you’ll not only improve marketing team collaboration but also create a more resilient, innovative, and engaged agency where people feel empowered to do their best work together. Pick one area to focus on this week, and start building the collaborative synergy that will set your agency apart, because true marketing agency growth isn't an accident but the result of purposeful strategies.
Ready to build a team that doesn’t just work—but works together?
👉Explore the Team Strengths Accelerator and see how your agency can collaborate smarter, scale faster, and grow stronger.
Stronger Agency Sales: Driving Revenue Growth with Your Top 5 CliftonStrengths
Harness your innate sales talent and go beyond just hitting targets to strategically dominate the sales landscape by unleashing the power of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths.
As the Director of Sales in a competitive marketing agency, you are the spearhead of growth, the closer of deals, and the energizing force that propels the entire business forward. You thrive on the thrill of the chase, the satisfaction of a win, and the tangible impact of seeing your efforts translate into revenue and expansion. Your world is one of targets, strategy, and unwavering drive. But in the high-stakes game of agency sales, how do you sustain that momentum and inspire your team to consistently overdeliver?
The secret weapon in your arsenal is a profound understanding of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths. For a results-oriented leader like you, knowing your innate talents isn’t just insightful; it’s a strategic imperative. It allows you to refine your sales approach, build a high-octane sales team, and collaborate more powerfully with other agency leaders, ensuring that the promises you make are promises the agency can keep. Being strategic with your unique CliftonStrengths is about channeling your natural drive into even more potent, sustainable success.
(Remember, CliftonStrengths reveal your inherent patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior – your most natural pathways to success, distinct from skills you’ve acquired.)
Your Strengths in the Arena: Dominating the Sales Landscape
Your unique blend of CliftonStrengths dictates how you approach the art and science of sales, from prospecting to closing. Here’s a few ways CliftonStrengths manifests for agency sales professionals:
The Goal Gladiator (e.g., Achiever, Competition, Focus): If themes like Achiever, Competition, or Focus burn brightly within you, you are inherently wired to pursue and conquer goals. You don’t just aim for targets; you relentlessly drive towards them, energized by the challenge and the taste of victory. This innate drive is infectious, setting a powerful pace for your entire sales operation.
The Master Persuader (e.g., Woo, Self-Assurance, Command): Strengths such as Woo, Self-Assurance, or Command equip you to confidently engage prospects, build quick rapport, and steer conversations towards a decisive close. You articulate the agency's value proposition with conviction and expertly navigate objections with an assuredness that inspires trust and action.
The Opportunity Architect (e.g., Strategic, Ideation): If you possess strengths like Strategic or Ideation, your sales approach transcends the transactional. You’re adept at seeing the bigger picture, crafting tailored solutions that address deep client needs, and identifying untapped market segments or innovative service bundles. This foresight allows you to upsell and cross-sell with panache.
Understanding these innate drivers allows you to play to your advantages, refining your personal sales strategy and leading your team by powerful example.
Every Strength Can Do Anything
Explore all the Clifton Strengths and how they can drive excellence in no matter what role you fill.
Power Alliances: Multiplying Sales Impact with Accounts & Operations
While you spearhead the acquisition of new business, the long-term success and profitability of those deals rely heavily on the capabilities of your colleagues in Account Management and Operations.
Partnering with Accounts for Lasting Revenue & Referrals: Our Director of Accounts, who excels at cultivating deep client loyalty (as detailed here), can be your greatest ally. Their insights into client satisfaction and emerging needs, often driven by strengths like Relator or Developer, can provide warm leads for upselling or cross-selling. Furthermore, strong account management ensures high client retention, making your job of hitting overall revenue targets more achievable by securing the base.
Ensuring Sales Promises are Operational Realities (with Operations): The Director of Operations, with their mastery of process and efficiency (discover their strengths-based methods here), ensures that the exciting deals you close can actually be delivered to the promised standard and timeline. Your Focus might drive you to close deals swiftly, but their Analytical or Restorative strengths help build the reliable systems that prevent those victories from becoming "operational burnout" for the delivery teams. This synergy is fundamental to building a trustworthy agency brand.
When Sales, Account Management, and Operations are aligned through an understanding of each other's strengths and goals, the agency doesn’t just win clients; it keeps them and serves them profitably. This directly addresses the challenge of "overextending resources" during growth phases.
Igniting Your Sales Team: Building a Culture of High Performance
Your leadership is pivotal in shaping a sales team that is not just skilled, but also motivated, resilient, and aligned.
Coaching for Peak Performance: By understanding your own strengths, you develop a keener eye for the diverse talents within your sales team. You can tailor your coaching, assign leads to the reps best wired to handle them (e.g., the natural networker for referrals, the tenacious researcher for cold outreach), and create an environment where everyone can contribute their best.
Fueling a Winning, Yet Supportive, Sales Culture: A strengths like Competition can inspire a high-energy sales floor. Balancing this with an appreciation for collaborative strengths (perhaps by recognizing team assists or shared wins) creates an environment that’s both driven and supportive. This insight is central to programs like the Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator, which helps build this "implementation roadmap" for a balanced and powerful team culture.
Sales as the Agency's Growth Catalyst: Fueling Future Success
The revenue your team generates is the fuel for the entire agency. It enables investment in talent, technology, and innovation across all departments.
Driving Strategic Growth & ROI: When you lead from your strengths, you’re not just hitting monthly numbers; you’re strategically shaping the agency's future. The quality of clients you attract and the profitability of the deals you close directly impact the agency's capacity for strategic investments and long-term success. A strengths-based sales approach inherently focuses on better qualification and fit, improving the ROI on every sales and marketing dollar spent.
Energizing the Entire Agency: Sales wins create a palpable buzz throughout the agency. They validate the hard work of every department and create a sense of excitement and forward momentum. Your strengths-driven triumphs become a powerful current that lifts all boats.
The Vanguard of Agency Prosperity
As Director of Sales, your innate drive and strategic acumen are critical to your agency's vitality and growth. By harnessing the power of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, you elevate your leadership, forge an indomitable sales team, and forge powerful alliances with your fellow leaders, ensuring every win is a win for the entire agency.
See how your strengths-powered sales engine integrates with the rest of your agency's leadership: Read about the approaches of your Director of Accounts, Director of Operations, and Senior Agency Leadership.
Ready to build an agency where the synergy of collective strengths leads to unprecedented growth and market leadership? The Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator provides the expert facilitation and strategic framework.
FAQs on CliftonStrengths
Where can I learn more about cliftonstrengths?
Who Can I speak to to learn how CliftonStrengths Can Help My Agency?
Book a free consultation with our experts here.
What CliftonStrengths Programs Does Learn to Scale Offer?
Our introductory Team Strengths Accelerator is the starting point for agencies looking to apply their strengths in practical ways. Learn more about the Team Strengths Accelerator here.
Our menu of standard and custom training programs can easily integrate your CliftonStrengths results into that specific training offering. Learn more about our training offerings here.
If I want to simply take the CliftonStrengths Assessment, where do I go?
The CliftonStrengths Assessment is a 30-45 minute multiple-choice quiz facilitated by the Gallup organization. You can purchase your own individual access code on their store here.
Note: The Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator program includes up to ten access codes.
Stronger Agency Operations: Building Operational Excellence with Your Top 5 CliftonStrengths
Unleash your natural talents to stop just managing your agency's operations and start architecting them for flawless, peak performance.
Stronger Agency Operations: Building Operational Excellence with Your Top 5 CliftonStrengths
As Director of Operations in a fast-moving marketing agency, you are the master strategist behind the scenes, the one who ensures the brilliant ideas and ambitious campaigns actually see the light of day, flawlessly. While others focus on client charm or the thrill of the sale, your domain is the agency's engine room. You wrestle with "workflow optimization," strive to "increase agency efficiency," and are constantly on the lookout for ways to eliminate the "bottlenecks" that can plague a growing business. Your satisfaction comes from a perfectly executed project, a system that sings, and a team that operates like a well-oiled machine.
But even the most skilled operational leader faces challenges. It may look like "scaling pains" that stretch old processes to their breaking point, or "project delays” that are an embarassing result of miscommunication. How can you amplify your natural talent for order and problem-solving to build an even more resilient and efficient agency? The answer lies in the strategic application of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths. Understanding your strengths is like discovering a more powerful set of blueprints for success. It’s about leveraging your core genius to not just manage operations, but to truly architect them for peak performance.
(Quick definition: CliftonStrengths identify your most natural and potent patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior – your inherent talents that serve as your unique operational command center.)
Your Strengths as the Master Blueprint: Designing Flawless Agency Systems
Your CliftonStrengths are the tools you use to build strong, efficient systems for your agency's marketing projects. Here’s a few examples of how different CliftonStrengths can manifest for an operations-heavy role:
The Process Perfecter (e.g., Restorative, Analytical, Discipline): If themes like Restorative, Analytical, or Discipline are dominant for you, you possess an exceptional ability to diagnose system weaknesses, dissect complex problems, and implement meticulously structured solutions. You don’t just patch holes; you re-engineer processes to prevent future "operational burnout" and ensure consistent quality, a critical factor when trying to "streamline agency processes."
The Guardian of Order (e.g., Consistency, Responsibility): Strengths such as Consistency or Responsibility drive your commitment to fairness, predictability, and unwavering follow-through. You build the clear guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that ensure every project, from a small social campaign to a major brand launch, adheres to the agency’s quality standards and timelines. This creates stability amidst the creative buzz.
The Strategic Optimizer (e.g., Deliberative, Optimizer): Leading with Deliberative or Optimizer means you’re perpetually assessing how to elevate good systems to greatness. You’re not content with "good enough." Instead, you meticulously evaluate risks, anticipate potential "workflow roadblocks," and identify opportunities for continuous improvement, ensuring your agency’s operational infrastructure is not just keeping up, but staying ahead.
No matter what combination of strengths you possess (and they change over time, too!), playing to your strong suits empowers you to transform strategic objectives into flawlessly executed realities, ensuring your agency consistently delivers on its promises.
Every Strength Can Do Anything
Explore all the Clifton Strengths and how they can drive excellence in no matter what role you fill.
Engineering Peak Performance: Aligning with Accounts and Sales
The efficiency of your operations directly impacts – and is impacted by – your colleagues in Account Management and Sales. A strengths-based understanding fosters more productive, less siloed collaboration.
Streamlining for Client Success (with Accounts): Our Director of Accounts, as you may have explored here, excels in navigating client relationships, likely leveraging strengths such as Empathy or Adaptability. Your operational strengths, perhaps a robust Analytical approach or your Discipline in process, provide the essential framework to ensure their client promises are not just met, but exceeded efficiently. You help translate the often fluid nature of client requests into structured, manageable projects, mitigating "scope creep" before it impacts the bottom line.
Building a Scalable Sales Funnel (with Sales): The Director of Sales is focused on driving growth, perhaps powered by strengths like Achiever or Competition (see their perspective here). Your role is to ensure the operational capacity can seamlessly absorb this new business. By collaborating with a shared understanding of strengths, you can design client onboarding processes and project workflows that are both efficient for your team and responsive to the promises made during the sales cycle. This is key to avoiding the "feast-famine" cycle some agencies experience.
When operations, accounts, and sales are aligned through a mutual appreciation of diverse strengths, the agency operates with a powerful, unified rhythm, reducing "internal friction" and improving overall "team performance."
Architecting Your Operations Dream Team
Your leadership within the operations department – encompassing project managers, traffic coordinators, tech support, and more – is crucial for setting the standard for precision and reliability.
Precision-Guided Mentorship: Recognizing your teams’ individual strengths allows you to assign tasks that play to their natural talents—some might excel at detailed quality control, others at big-picture process mapping.
Fostering a Culture of Solution-Seekers: By championing your own strengths, you cultivate a culture where team members are empowered to identify inefficiencies and proactively suggest improvements. This shared ownership is a hallmark of high-performing teams and a key outcome of strengths-based initiatives like the Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator, which focuses on creating "actionable implementation roadmaps" for lasting change.
Operations: The Unseen Engine of Agency Profitability and Growth
While your work might often be behind the curtain, the operational excellence you engineer is absolutely fundamental to your agency's ability to grow profitably, satisfy clients, and maintain a healthy work environment.
Designing for Scalability: Meticulously designed and documented processes are the backbone that allows your agency to scale without imploding. This is essential for any agency serious about scaling.
Maximizing Profitability Through Efficiency: Every refined workflow, every automated task, every error caught before it becomes a costly redo – these operational wins translate directly into improved margins and a healthier bottom line. Your strengths are, in essence, profit drivers.
When your agency's operational engine is running on all cylinders, the entire organization benefits from reduced stress, increased capacity, and the ability to consistently deliver exceptional work.
The Master Builder of Agency Success
As Director of Operations, your talents for order, systemization, and relentless improvement are the invisible scaffolding that supports your agency's every success. By embracing your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, you move beyond managing daily tasks into strategically architecting the operational heart of your agency, ensuring it’s built for today’s demands and tomorrow’s growth.
Discover how your operational strengths create synergy with other agency leaders: Read about the approaches of our Director of Accounts (Stronger Agency Account Management), our Director of Sales (Stronger Agency Sales), and Senior Agency Leadership (Stronger Agency Leadership).
Ready to learn how to build an agency where every team member, not just leadership, operates from their strengths? The Team Strengths Accelerator from Learn to Scale provides the blueprint and expert facilitation.
FAQs on CliftonStrengths
Where can I learn more about cliftonstrengths?
Who Can I speak to to learn how CliftonStrengths Can Help My Agency?
Book a free consultation with our experts here.
What CliftonStrengths Programs Does Learn to Scale Offer?
Our introductory Team Strengths Accelerator is the starting point for agencies looking to apply their strengths in practical ways. Learn more about the Team Strengths Accelerator here.
Our menu of standard and custom training programs can easily integrate your CliftonStrengths results into that specific training offering. Learn more about our training offerings here.
If I want to simply take the CliftonStrengths Assessment, where do I go?
The CliftonStrengths Assessment is a 30-45 minute multiple-choice quiz facilitated by the Gallup organization. You can purchase your own individual access code on their store here.
Note: The Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator program includes up to ten access codes.
Stronger Agency Account Management: Using Your Top 5 Strengths to Master Agency Account Leadership
For the Director of Accounts focused on the critical job of client retention, learn how to transform your natural relational talents into your most powerful strategic advantage.
Stronger Agency Account Management: Using Your Top 5 Strengths to Master Agency Account Leadership
As the Director of Accounts in a thriving marketing agency, you are the conductor of client harmony, the weaver of lasting partnerships. Your days are a whirlwind of emails, calls, strategic counsel, and expectation management. You possess an almost intuitive ability to connect with clients, understand their unspoken needs, and guide them toward success. Yet, even for a natural people person, the pressure to maintain stellar client satisfaction, prevent churn, and lead a high-performing account team can feel immense, especially when facing "communication breakdowns" or the challenge of managing scope creep.
What if you could elevate your innate relational gifts to an even higher level of strategic impact? The key isn't to reinvent yourself, but to deeply understand and intentionally leverage your natural strengths. The CliftonStrengths Assessment is one way to define those strengths.
For a leader whose success hinges on the art of connection, knowing yourself at a deeper level is transformative. It helps you pinpoint the source of your client management magic, navigate complex interpersonal dynamics with greater ease, and inspire your team to deliver exceptional service that turns clients into lifelong advocates.
(Quick recap: CliftonStrengths highlight your inherent talents – your most natural and effective ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving, which are foundational to your unique leadership style.)
Your Strengths in Full Display: Forging Unbreakable Client Bonds
Your role is deeply intertwined with your ability to build and maintain strong, positive relationships. Understanding your Top 5 CliftonStrengths reveals the unique ways you naturally excel at this, allowing you to be even more intentional.
The Empathy Advantage (e.g., Empathy, Developer): If themes like Empathy or Developer are at your core, you don’t just hear your clients; you feel with them. You're genuinely invested in their success and can anticipate their anxieties and aspirations. This allows you to proactively address concerns, offer tailored solutions, and build a profound level of trust that directly combats "client retention issues."
The Master Communicator (e.g., Communication, Woo): Strengths like Communication or Woo enable you to articulate complex marketing strategies with engaging clarity and to win over even the most skeptical stakeholders. You can transform a routine update into an inspiring vision for the future, ensuring clients feel both understood and excited. This is crucial when navigating "misaligned client expectations."
The Relationship Architect (e.g., Relator, Positivity): With dominant Relator talents, you build deep, authentic connections that go beyond mere professional courtesy. Clients see you as a trusted partner. Couple this with Positivity, and you become a beacon of optimism, adept at maintaining morale and steering relationships through inevitable challenges, keeping them strong and forward-moving.
By consciously deploying these talents, you can turn potential client friction into opportunities for stronger partnership and navigate the "endless feedback loops" with grace and effectiveness.
Every Strength Can Do Anything
Explore all the Clifton Strengths and how they can drive excellence in no matter what role you fill.
Orchestrating Harmony: Syncing with Operations and Sales for Client Delight
Your success in delighting clients is a team sport, heavily reliant on seamless collaboration with other vital agency leaders, particularly the Director of Operations and the Director of Sales.
Smoothing the Path with Operations: Our Director of Operations, as you may have seen here, is likely driven by strengths such as Analytical or Restorative, focusing on efficient processes that ensure flawless execution. Your relational strengths, perhaps Adaptability or Harmony, can be invaluable in translating evolving client needs into actionable, clear requests that fit their structured systems. You act as the crucial empathetic bridge, ensuring client desires don’t become operational headaches, a common source of "internal misalignment & conflict."
Partnering with Sales for Seamless Handoffs & Growth: The Director of Sales, on the other hand, is the agency's growth engine, probably powered by strengths like Achiever or Focus (read about their strengths-driven strategies here). Your deep understanding of existing client satisfaction and emerging needs (perhaps gleaned through your Individualization talent) can feed crucial intelligence back to the sales team, highlighting opportunities for organic growth with current clients or providing powerful testimonials that attract new ones. This ensures a smoother transition from prospect to happy, long-term partner.
When agency leaders operate with an awareness of their own and others' strengths, it minimizes "work silos" and cultivates a leadership synergy that clients can feel.
Nurturing Your Account Team: A Hothouse for Strengths
Your leadership is instrumental in developing an account team that consistently delivers excellence and embodies the agency's commitment to client success.
Insightful Mentorship: Knowing your own strengths sharpens your ability to recognize and cultivate the diverse talents within your account team. You can assign clients and projects not just based on workload, but on which team member's natural talents align best with the client's personality and project demands. This proactive approach is key to preventing "talent burnout" and improving "team performance."
Building a Culture of Trust and Collaboration: When your team members feel their unique contributions are understood and valued—a core tenet of a strengths-based approach—it fosters a more open, supportive, and collaborative internal culture. This positive dynamic radiates outward, enhancing every client interaction. Embedding this ethos agency-wide is precisely what comprehensive programs like the Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator aim to achieve, moving beyond just assessment to "actionable development plans."
Client Success as an Agency Superpower: Your Strategic Impact
The quality of your client relationships and the satisfaction levels you maintain are not just departmental metrics; they are critical indicators of the entire agency's health and future prospects.
Leading with your strengths enables you to manage these vital relationships with greater authenticity and impact. It allows you to strategically invest your energy where it yields the greatest return – in building client loyalty, identifying growth opportunities, and ensuring your agency is perceived not just as a vendor, but as an indispensable partner. This directly contributes to a more stable revenue stream and a stellar market reputation.
The Art of Lasting Client Partnerships: Perfected by Your Strengths
As a Director of Accounts, your innate ability to connect, understand, and advocate for your clients is your superpower. By consciously identifying, understanding, and applying your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, you elevate these talents into a strategic leadership advantage. You become more than a manager; you become a true "Client Whisperer," fostering relationships that fuel your agency's growth and solidify its success.
Interested in how your colleagues in Operations and Sales leverage their distinct strengths? Explore their unique perspectives here: Stronger Agency Operations and Stronger Agency Sales.
Ready to explore how a unified, strengths-based strategy can transform client service and internal collaboration across your entire agency? The Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator offers a facilitated journey to unlock this collective potential.
FAQs on CliftonStrengths
Where can I learn more about cliftonstrengths?
Who Can I speak to to learn how CliftonStrengths Can Help My Agency?
Book a free consultation with our experts here.
What CliftonStrengths Programs Does Learn to Scale Offer?
Our introductory Team Strengths Accelerator is the starting point for agencies looking to apply their strengths in practical ways. Learn more about the Team Strengths Accelerator here.
Our menu of standard and custom training programs can easily integrate your CliftonStrengths results into that specific training offering. Learn more about our training offerings here.
If I want to simply take the CliftonStrengths Assessment, where do I go?
The CliftonStrengths Assessment is a 30-45 minute multiple-choice quiz facilitated by the Gallup organization. You can purchase your own individual access code on their store here.
Note: The Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator program includes up to ten access codes.
Stronger Agency Leadership: How Your Top 5 CliftonStrengths Solve Agency Leadership Puzzles
If you're a brilliant practitioner struggling with the shift to powerful leader, learn how your innate talents—not another new system—are the true key to solving your agency's biggest team and growth challenges.
Stronger Agency Leadership: How Your Top 5 CliftonStrengths Solve Agency Leadership Puzzles
You’re a visionary, a risk-taker, a master of your marketing craft. You’ve poured your heart into building your agency, often navigating the "feast or famine" cycle and the relentless pressure to innovate. But as your agency grows, do you find yourself wrestling with new challenges – a "founder's dilemma" where your role shifts from doing the work to leading others who do the work? Perhaps you're facing communication breakdowns that lead to project delays, or struggling with how to retain top talent in a demanding industry. These are common growing pains for small marketing agencies.
Many agency owners and senior leaders are "accidental managers" – brilliant practitioners who now face the complex art of leadership, often without extensive formal training. If the weight of team performance, scaling operations, and fostering a positive culture feels overwhelming, you’re not alone. The good news? A powerful key to unlocking your next level of leadership effectiveness, and solving these persistent agency puzzles, lies within understanding your innate talents. Discovering and applying your Top 5 CliftonStrengths isn't just a self-improvement exercise; it’s a foundational strategy for transforming how you lead, inspiring your team, and scaling your agency with renewed clarity and confidence.
(A quick primer: CliftonStrengths identify your naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior – your inherent talents, distinct from your learned skills. Think of them as your unique leadership DNA.)
1. Your Strengths as a Leadership Compass: Navigating the Fog of Growth
As an agency leader, you’re constantly making high-stakes decisions. Knowing your Top 5 CliftonStrengths is like having a reliable compass, especially when the path forward seems foggy due to scaling pains or internal team friction.
Clarity Amidst Chaos: Understanding your dominant talents illuminates your natural leadership style. If Strategic is a top theme, you instinctively cut through clutter to see future possibilities, invaluable for guiding your agency’s vision when facing market shifts or internal scaling challenges. If Relator is prominent, you build deep, genuine connections, which is crucial for fostering loyalty and navigating the "backchannel conversations" that can undermine agency culture.
Authentic Decision-Making: This self-awareness helps you lead from your core, reducing that "winging it" feeling many leaders experience. It allows you to tackle problems like "ineffective meetings" or "poor communication" with approaches that feel natural and sustainable for you.
Understanding Your Unique Impact: Recognizing your strengths also clarifies how your leadership approach is perceived. A leader with strong Command might make swift decisions – a huge asset when deadlines loom. Yet, without awareness, this could inadvertently sideline team input, a critical insight when addressing "leadership and management gaps".
This journey of self-discovery is vital. It provides a framework for understanding your unique leverage in solving problems, from "challenges scaling marketing agency team" to improving overall team performance.
2. From Expert Doer to Empowered Leader: The Art of Strengths-Based Delegation
One of the toughest transitions for agency founders is shifting from being the primary expert doer to an empowering leader. This is where the "founder's dilemma" often hits hard. Your strengths provide the key to making this shift successfully.
Focus Your Brilliance: Instead of stretching yourself thin trying to oversee every detail (a recipe for burnout), you can consciously lean into activities that energize you and utilize your core talents.
Delegate with Precision: Understanding your strengths also illuminates tasks that drain you or where others on your team might naturally excel. This transforms delegation from a hopeful hand-off into a strategic deployment of talent. This is crucial for addressing "talent retention issues" – people thrive when they can use their strengths.
Cultivate Psychological Safety: When you lead from your authentic strengths, you model vulnerability and create an environment where others feel safe to contribute their unique talents. This is essential for fostering the creativity that marketing agencies depend on.
3. Seeing Your Team Through a New Lens: Unlocking Collective Genius
The true power of CliftonStrengths unfolds when you begin to see not only your own talents but also those of your team.
Beyond Job Titles: You move past looking at skills and experience alone to recognizing the unique ways each person is wired to contribute. This helps you tackle "teamwork & collaboration deficits" by understanding why certain team members approach tasks differently.
Building Complementary Partnerships: This insight allows you to assemble project teams or assign responsibilities in a way that maximizes strengths, mitigates weaknesses, and reduces "internal misalignment & conflict".
Targeted Mentorship & Development: You can guide your team members’ growth by helping them identify and apply their own strengths, leading to higher engagement, better performance, and increased job satisfaction – directly impacting "employee engagement ideas for small agencies" and addressing the pain of "talent retention and burnout".
A comprehensive approach, like our Team Strengths Accelerator, helps embed this understanding across your entire agency, turning individual talents into a collective force. This program is more than an assessment; it offers an "actionable implementation roadmap" and "expert facilitation" to ensure lasting change.
4. Leading with Intent: Crafting a Resilient and Thriving Agency
Leadership in a fast-paced agency is a continuous journey of growth and adaptation. Understanding your Top 5 CliftonStrengths is a pivotal first step in evolving from an "accidental manager" into an intentional, impactful leader.
This knowledge helps you:
Build a Stronger Culture: Address issues like "toxic agency culture" by fostering an environment of appreciation for diverse talents.
Improve Communication: Equip yourself and your team to have more effective conversations, reducing misunderstandings.
Scale Sustainably: Make more informed decisions about team structure, roles, and responsibilities as your agency grows.
Your ability to lead effectively, leveraging your authentic strengths, is the ultimate multiplier for your agency’s success, helping you build a business that is not only profitable but also a genuinely great place to work.
The Journey to Stronger Leadership Starts Within
Uncovering and applying your Top 5 CliftonStrengths is a profound investment in your leadership and your agency's future. It equips you to lead with greater confidence, foster a high-performing team culture, and navigate the complexities of agency growth with a clear, authentic vision.
Ready to explore how your unique strengths can transform your leadership and tackle pressing agency challenges? This is just the beginning! Dive deeper into how understanding and applying strengths can revolutionize your team dynamics and business outcomes.
Explore our resources on strengths-based leadership, starting with our overview of Clifton Strengths for leaders on our blog.
Curious about how a strengths-based approach, complete with an actionable roadmap and sustained support, can be systematically embedded within your agency's DNA? The Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator is designed specifically to help marketing agencies like yours unlock this potential. Click here to learn more or schedule a chat with our experts.
FAQs on CliftonStrengths
Where can I learn more about cliftonstrengths?
Who Can I speak to to learn how CliftonStrengths Can Help My Agency?
Book a free consultation with our experts here.
What CliftonStrengths Programs Does Learn to Scale Offer?
Our introductory Team Strengths Accelerator is the starting point for agencies looking to apply their strengths in practical ways. Learn more about the Team Strengths Accelerator here.
Our menu of standard and custom training programs can easily integrate your CliftonStrengths results into that specific training offering. Learn more about our training offerings here.
If I want to simply take the CliftonStrengths Assessment, where do I go?
The CliftonStrengths Assessment is a 30-45 minute multiple-choice quiz facilitated by the Gallup organization. You can purchase your own individual access code on their store here.
Note: The Learn to Scale Team Strengths Accelerator program includes up to ten access codes.
A Deep Dive Into The Strategic Thinking Domain of CliftonStrengths
Chart the best way forward in our deep dive of the Strategic Thinking CliftonStrengths domain.
Figuring It Out: The Strategic Thinking Domain of CliftonStrengths
The CliftonStrengths personality assessment is like a treasure map, guiding individuals to uncover and celebrate the unique blend of natural talents and learned skills tucked within them. The assessment categorizes these attributes into four domains: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. Learn more about each domain here!
Today, we delve into the Strategic Thinking domain, where we uncover the mental powerhouses driving visionary planning and problem-solving.
“There’s a better way!”
The Strategic Thinking domain is where the magic of planning, analyzing, and visioning happens. Those who excel in this domain are the masterminds who see through the chaos, devise plans, and navigate complexities with ease. The specific strengths in this domain are:
Analytical
Context
Futuristic
Ideation
Input
Intellection
Learner
Strategic
We’ll explore each of these strengths, understand their role in shaping strategic insights, and provide strategies to leverage these capabilities effectively.
Think More Strategically
Understanding the theory is the first step. To get regular, actionable advice on applying strategic thinking in your daily work, sign up for Learn to Scale’s free bi-weekly newsletter.
1. Analytical, Master of Details
Individuals with the Analytical strength dissect information to understand the underlying principles. They thrive on data and facts, bringing clarity and objectivity.
Leadership Technique: Establish a Discovery phase into key meetings that highlights important data points before diving into discussions. Encourage evidence-based discussions and challenge assumptions using examples sourced during the Discovery phase.
Bonus Technique: Develop a 'Data Storytelling' workshop where you can teach your team how to turn complex data into compelling narratives, enhancing decision-making processes and client presentations.
Suggested Software: Tableau, for its robust data visualization and analysis capabilities, complements the analytical mindset perfectly.
2. Context, Learning from the Past
Those strong in Context utilize the lessons from the past to make better decisions in the present. They bring depth and understanding to current challenges.
Leadership Technique: Share historical insights to give perspective on current projects. Use past successes and failures as learning tools for your team.
Bonus Technique: Host 'Historical Retrospective' sessions where you use your deep understanding of the past to lead discussions on historical successes and failures, drawing parallels to current challenges and opportunities.
Suggested Software: Evernote is excellent for organizing historical data and notes, aiding in quick retrieval of past insights.
3. Futuristic, Visionary by Nature
Futuristic individuals are the visionaries who see what could be. They inspire others with their vivid descriptions of a promising future.
Leadership Technique: Use visual imagery to articulate your visions in a way that motivates and guides your team.
Bonus Technique: Initiate 'Future Forecasting Panels' where you bring together diverse thinkers to discuss and predict industry trends, enabling your team to stay ahead of the curve and foster a culture of proactive strategy.
Suggested Software: MindMeister helps in brainstorming and visualizing future possibilities and strategic plans.
Need a Few Ideas?
Whether you feature or fumble the Ideation strength, steal a few of our ideas to help you engage your employees creatively.
4. Ideation, The Idea Generator
The Ideation strength lies in innovative and creative thinking. These individuals bring a flow of fresh and novel ideas to the table.
Leadership Technique: Foster an environment where brainstorming and creative thinking are encouraged. Share good and outlandish ideas to signal that all ideas are welcome.
Bonus Technique: Establish an 'Innovation Lab’, a space where team members can experiment with new ideas without the pressure of immediate implementation, encouraging creative problem-solving and innovation.
Suggested Software: Canva helps clarify and accelerate creative design, especially for non-creative types.
5. Input, The Knowledge Collector
Input-focused individuals have a craving to know more. They accumulate information, ideas, and resources, becoming a repository of knowledge.
Leadership Technique: Share what you are reading/learning on your own with your team by posting a reading list or Topic of the Week. Make knowledge curation a part of every week for your team.
Bonus Technique: Create an 'Expertise Exchange' program to facilitate knowledge sharing sessions where team members can both teach and learn from each other's expertise.
Suggested Software: Notion is an excellent tool for organizing and sharing the vast information and resources collected.
6. Intellection, Deep Thinker
Intellection signifies a deep capacity for introspection and intellectual activity. These individuals are introspective, thoughtful, and philosophical.
Leadership Technique: Enable others on your team to think deeply by sharing agendas of upcoming meetings early and scheduling additional dialogue time on high-risk topics.
Bonus Technique: Implement 'Think Weeks'. Schedule periodic times for deep thinking and exploration, away from day-to-day operations, to generate new insights and strategies.
Suggested Software: An AI chatbot like ChatGPT can provide a thought partner for complex questions.
7. Learner, Ever-Evolving Knowledge Seekers
Learners have a great desire to continuously improve and learn. They are energized by the journey of learning.
Leadership Technique: Promote a culture of continuous learning and development within your team by making professional development funds easy to access.
Bonus Technique: Organize 'Advanced Learning Circles' that focuses on advanced topics relevant to your industry, inviting external experts and thought leaders to stimulate learning and discussion at a high level.
Suggested Software: LinkedIn Learning offers a diverse range of courses suitable for continuous personal and professional development.
8. Strategic, The Master Planners
Strategic individuals are adept at spotting relevant patterns and issues. They quickly weigh alternatives to chart the best course forward.
Leadership Technique: Develop a standard strategic plan template for team members to plan out new initiatives in a standardized format, making it easier to identify optimizations or pitfalls.
Bonus Technique: Run 'Scenario Planning Workshops' where you use your ability to anticipate and plan for different futures to guide your team through strategic scenario planning exercises, enhancing their ability to think critically and adaptively.
Suggested Software: Use the Lean Canvas template from LeanStack to lay out all the pieces for a business strategy.
Empowering Strategic Minds for Future Success
Ready to harness your Strategic Thinking strengths? Our team provides assessments and workshops to help you and your organization unlock the power of strategic foresight and planning.
Dive into the world of Strategic Thinking and shape a smarter, more prepared future!
A Deep Dive Into The Relationship Building Domain of CliftonStrengths
Feel the beating heart of a team through the CliftonStrengths Relationship Building domain.
Teamwork Makes The Dream Work: The Relationship Building Domain of CliftonStrengths
The CliftonStrengths personality assessment is a powerful tool designed to help individuals recognize and harness their innate talents and learned skills/experiences. The assessment categorizes these strengths into four domains: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. Learn more about each domain here!
Today, we'll explore the Relationship Building domain, uncovering the strengths that forge stronger and more meaningful connections between people. As we go through this deep dive, we’ll pull out specific leadership strategies and software to help build better bonds.
“Like peanut butter and jelly, we’re better together 🤝”
The Relationship Building domain is centered around creating strong, cohesive teams and those who excel in this domain are the glue that holds teams and communities together. The specific strengths in this domain are:
Adaptability
Connectedness
Developer
Empathy
Harmony
Includer
Individualization
Positivity
Relator
We’ll explore each of these strengths, understand how they contribute to building robust relationships, and detail strategies to harness these qualities effectively.
Never Be Alone
Relationship building ain’t a solitary activity. Join the thousands of other leaders who subscribe to the Learn to Scale newsletter and get actionable relationship building advice every other week.
1. Adaptability, Flexing Flexible Approaches
Individuals with Adaptability strength thrive in change and are adept at adjusting to new conditions. They bring a sense of calm and resilience to their teams, especially in times of uncertainty.
Leadership Technique: Utilize your flexible nature to help your team navigate change by developing contingency plans, enabling others to shift gears when necessary.
Bonus Technique: Lean into your “Make It Work” mindset to set a culture that values flexibility and quick response to change.
Suggested Software: Asana is great for managing projects that require frequent adjustments.
2. Connectedness, Embracing Kismet
Those with the Connectedness strength believe in the bigger picture and how everything is interconnected. They are adept at building bridges between people and ideas.
Leadership Technique: Use your sense of unity to foster a collaborative environment where success is shared. Encourage your team to celebrate others when they contribute to shared goals.
Bonus Technique: You will find teambuilding activities that highlight commonalities to be easy for you: find opportunities to add these moments into regular meetings and role model different approaches to praise.
Suggested Software: Miro can be helpful for creating mind maps that illustrate interconnected ideas and projects.
3. Developer, Nurturing Others’ Growth
Developers excel in recognizing and cultivating the potential in others. They are patient and dedicated to helping individuals grow and develop.
Leadership Technique: Balance your drive for regular and constructive feedback with recognition and empathy: strive to identify excellence alongside opportunities for improvement.
Bonus Technique: Establish a mentorship program within your team or organization.
Suggested Software: 15Five is superb at making feedback and growth measurable and easy to navigate.
4. Empathy, High Emotional Intelligence
Empathy-strong leaders can sense the feelings of others and understand their perspectives. This makes them invaluable in creating an emotionally intelligent and sensitive environment.
Leadership Technique: Practice active listening and encourage open, honest communication in your team. Don’t undersell the value of being a good listener!
Bonus Technique: Get out of your routine to hear the perspectives from people outside the normal cadence of your work life. Be intentional about setting aside time for check-ins with overlooked team members.
Suggested Software: CultureAmp is a marvelous platform to solicit organizational feedback and action it into business operations.
5. Harmony, Seeking Balance
Those with Harmony strengths seek to reduce friction and find consensus. They are excellent at navigating conflicts and finding common ground.
Leadership Technique: When mediating discussions, focus on what unites the team as you move discussions towards more agreeable solutions.
Bonus Technique: Host conflict-resolution workshops to enhance team cohesion for when you’re not in the room.
Suggested Software: Hosting surveys on Typeform makes it easy to unearth discontent before it becomes too toxic.
6. Includer, Advocate for Inclusivity
Includers are champions of diversity and inclusivity, ensuring everyone feels part of the group. They are crucial in creating an open and welcoming environment.
Leadership Technique: Actively seek out and elevate diverse perspectives and voices in your team. Preserve time in monthly meetings to recognize quiet excellence.
Bonus Technique: Help managers craft diversity and equity guidelines that ensures a level playing field for everyone.
Suggested Software: Use Equal Time in virtual meetings to identify whose voice isn’t being heard.
7. Individualization, Valuing Unique Contributions
Individualization strength lies in recognizing and valuing the unique characteristics of each person. This strength is key in personalizing interactions and roles to fit individual strengths.
Leadership Technique: When tailoring your approach to each team member, share how their unique strengths and work styles can drive the same level of success as other team members.
Bonus Technique: Use personality assessments like CliftonStrengths to better understand and cater to individual differences. (PS- we’d love to help you with that!)
Suggested Software: Metaverse-based platforms like FrameVR can let people virtually meet while expressing themselves in a wide range of ways.
8. Positivity, Beacon of Optimism
Those with Positivity strengths are the beacons of hope and optimism. They energize teams and create an uplifting and enthusiastic environment.
Leadership Technique: Celebrate successes, no matter how small. Role model a positive and hopeful outlook, especially during challenging times.
Bonus Technique: Initiate and maintain traditions that celebrate team spirit and achievements. Do a little research to make sure your “fundatory” tradition is actually perceived to be fun by other people.
Suggested Software: Use recognition software like Bonusly to facilitate positive feedback and recognition among team members.
9. Relator, Deepening Personal Connections
Relators excel in creating deep and meaningful connections. They are trustworthy and caring, making them excellent confidantes and counselors.
Leadership Technique: You’ll naturally create an environment where team members may trust you, but be clear about where you draw boundaries in your professional relationships.
Bonus Technique: When facilitating teambuilding activities, offer Challenge-by-Choice options for team members that may take longer to open up about personal topics.
Suggested Software: Donut is a straightforward Slackbot that can help foster connections regularly amongst team members.
Cultivating Relationships for Success
Are you ready to explore and harness your Relationship Building strengths? Our team offers assessments and workshops tailored to enhance your organization's relational dynamics.
Let's strengthen your connections and build lasting relationships!
Embrace the Power of Connection NOW!
A Deep Dive Into The Influencing Domain of CliftonStrengths
Be an agent of change and get activated with this deep dive into the Influencing domain of CliftonStrengths.
I’m Convinced: The Influencing Domain of CliftonStrengths
Harnessing one's innate abilities and learned skills is crucial for personal and professional development. The CliftonStrengths personality assessment is an invaluable tool in this journey, offering insights into individual strengths across four domains: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking (read our overview of all four domains here). Today, we turn our focus to the Influencing domain, diving deep into its unique strengths and how they can be leveraged in leadership roles.
“I am an agent of change!”
The Influencing domain is all about making an impact, persuading, and leading others. Those with strengths in this domain are often seen as natural leaders and motivators, adept at selling ideas and bringing visions to life. They're the voices that rally teams and influence change. Here are the key strengths within this domain:
Activator
Command
Communication
Competition
Maximizer
Self-Assurance
Significance
Woo
Let's delve into each strength, exploring how they can be maximized for effective leadership and detailing specific strategies and tools to harness these abilities.
Go Deeper on Leadership
This post covers one of the four CliftonStrengths domains. In the Learn to Scale newsletter, you’ll get regular insights on all four, plus actionable advice on how to turn these strengths into effective leadership.
1. Activator
Activators are the catalysts for action, turning thoughts into tangible deeds. As leaders, they excel in kickstarting projects and motivating teams to move from planning to execution swiftly.
Leadership Technique: Use your natural urgency to set the pace for your team. Create quick-start guides and action plans to help team members transition from planning to doing.
Bonus Technique: Encourage an 'action-oriented' culture where rapid execution is valued and rewarded.
Suggested Software: Consider using Trello for its simplicity in tracking tasks from 'To Do' to 'Done'.
2. Command
Those with Command strengths have a presence that can take charge of a situation and make decisions confidently. They are not afraid to steer the ship during a storm.
Leadership Technique: Establish standard operating procedures that drives team members to consult with you in ambiguous situations. Your confidence can be a beacon for others in times of uncertainty.
Bonus Technique: Host regular office hours where team members can benefit from your direct and decisive nature. By setting the scene to be an opt-in environment, teammates are already signaling that they are open to hearing your input.
Suggested Software: Use Slack for instant communication and quick decision-making processes.
3. Communication
Individuals with Communication strengths are natural storytellers, able to convey messages in engaging and relatable ways. Leaders who leverage their Communication strength shine when they are articulating information, decisions, and visions.
Leadership Technique: Harness your storytelling ability to describe visions, goals, and values in a way that resonates with your team. Identify and share user stories from customers and employees to communicate your decisions.
Bonus Technique: Curate times during the week for sharing success stories and lessons learned within the team. This will fill your mental library with more details and examples for you to integrate into your work.
Suggested Software: Medium can be a great platform for sharing longer-form stories and insights, as well as providing content that can be used for internal and external marketing.
4. Competition
Competition strengths lie in the desire to win and the understanding of what it takes to be the best. These individuals thrive on comparison and competition.
Leadership Technique: Foster a healthy competitive environment where team members are motivated to excel and exceed benchmarks. Celebrate failure to make the learning process positive, rather than punitive.
Bonus Technique: Implement regular performance metrics and leaderboards to celebrate high achievers. Incentivize these high performers to share their tricks and strategies alongside honing their own skills to surpass their own performance.
Suggested Software: Use gamification platforms like Kahoot! for team-building and performance tracking.
5. Maximizer
Maximizers focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.
Leadership Technique: Focus on each team member's strengths and develop strategies to leverage these for team success. Help those team members reframe their work to lean into strengths, rather than compensate for weaknesses.
Bonus Technique: Implement a strengths-based development program within your team. This will give everyone a common language around working preferences.
Suggested Software: The CliftonStrengths Assessment is an excellent tool for identifying and maximizing individual strengths. BONUS: We at Learn to Scale provide a full leadership program for teams using the CliftonStrengths Assessment —> Learn More
6. Self-Assurance
Self-Assurance is marked by confidence in one's ability to manage their own life and decisions. Such leaders are often seen as steadfast and resolute.
Leadership Technique: Lead by example, showing confidence in your decisions and actions, inspiring your team to do the same. Get out from behind a screen and into in-person events and situations.
Bonus Technique: Mentor others in developing their self-assurance and decision-making skills. Early-career or under-represented team members can find great value in seeing what confidence looks like on a day-to-day basis.
Suggested Software: Consider sharing your experience through a course creation platform like Teachable.
7. Significance
Those with Significance strengths want to be seen as important in the eyes of others. These leaders are motivated by recognition and status while helping others see the diamonds in the rough.
Leadership Technique: Use your drive for recognition to set high standards and achieve visible results. Role model how to celebrate success and navigate failure gracefully.
Bonus Technique: Encourage public recognition of team and individual achievements by curating and filling physical and virtual spaces with regular praise.
Suggested Software: Recognize integrates with Slack and Teams for easy and public employee recognition.
8. Woo
Woo stands for 'winning others over'. Individuals with this strength enjoy meeting new people and gaining their trust with charm and persuasion.
Leadership Technique: Use your social skills to build networks and alliances both within and outside your organization. Bring along a teammate for the ride to both see your strength in action as well as build connections.
Bonus Technique: Host networking events and team-building activities to foster connections, specially at auspicious times of the year (holidays, cultural events, etc.) or when new team members join.
Suggested Software: LunchClub can help you professionally connect with a whole range of people on a regular basis.
Are you ready to harness your Influencing strengths and lead with impact? Our team is here to guide you through leadership assessments and workshops tailored to your organization's needs.
Let’s transform your influence into action!
A Deep Dive Into The Executing Domain of CliftonStrengths
Execute effective leadership with this comprehensive guide on harnessing Executing domain strengths.
Get ‘er Done: The Executing Domain of CliftonStrengths
The CliftonStrengths personality assessment is a powerful tool designed to help individuals recognize and harness their innate talents and learned skills/experiences. The assessment categorizes these strengths into four domains: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. Learn more about each domain here!
In this in-depth analysis, we will explore the Executing domain, focusing on strengths associated with task completion, productivity, and achieving tangible results. As we go along, we will delve into specific leadership techniques that play particularly well for each strength.
“Let’s do it!”
The Executing domain of CliftonStrengths encompasses strengths that revolve around translating ideas into actions, effectively managing tasks, and driving outcomes. Individuals with Executing strengths are known for their ability to get things done efficiently and with precision. Here are the nine strengths within this domain:
Achiever
Arranger
Belief
Consistency
Deliberative
Discipline
Focus
Responsibility
Restorative
Let's delve into each of these strengths, examining how they can be harnessed for leadership and providing specific methods and tools for doing so.
Turn Plans into Action
If you're someone who loves to execute, you need fuel. The Learn to Scale newsletter is packed with no-fluff, actionable strategies to help you and your team get more done.
1. Achiever
Achievers are relentless in their pursuit of goals and are constantly striving for productivity. As leaders, individuals with the Achiever strength can inspire and motivate their teams through their tireless work ethic.
Leadership Technique: Set clear, measurable objectives for your team. Continuously track progress, celebrate achievements, and use your relentless drive to inspire your team to accomplish their goals.
Bonus technique: Implement a mentorship program where Achievers guide and support other team members. This leverages their productivity and goal-driven nature to foster a culture of growth and achievement within the team.
Suggested software: Project management platform Asana rewards task completion with unicorns of delight. Talk to us about getting a demo!
2. Arranger
Arrangers are skilled at coordinating resources and people to optimize efficiency. They excel in dynamic environments and can adapt quickly to change. Leaders with Arranger strengths are adept at managing complex teams and finding innovative solutions to challenges.
Leadership Technique: Encourage collaboration by leveraging the Arranger's ability to organize and adapt. Assign tasks that align with team members' strengths, and create an environment that values flexibility and problem-solving.
Bonus technique: Use digital tools and project management software to enhance the Arranger's natural organizing abilities. This will enable them to manage tasks and resources more effectively, and track team progress in real-time.
Suggested software: Hubspot helps go-to-market teams track and organize their activities and establish a single source of truth. Talk to us about getting a demo!
3. Belief
Leaders with Belief strengths are guided by strong core values and principles. They lead by example, earning the trust and respect of their teams. They can unite their teams around a common purpose.
Leadership Technique: Foster a sense of purpose within your team by connecting their work to your organization's values and mission. Seek out opportunities to demonstrate your commitment to these principles, role modeling behaviors for your team to follow.
Bonus technique: Establish open forums for team discussions where members can share their values and perspectives. This will strengthen the team's alignment with the organization's mission and promote a more inclusive and value-driven culture.
Suggested software: If you aren’t collecting data on employee feedback and engagement with your employer brand, CultureAmp is a great tool to add to your HR tech stack.
Want to see how your agency is really doing?
Explore our Small Agency Assessment and get a clear understanding of what’s keeping your all stars from getting all-star results.
4. Consistency
Consistency strengths emphasize the importance of structure, stability, and predictability. Leaders with this strength excel at establishing order and reliability in their teams and processes.
Leadership Technique: Define clear processes and guidelines to ensure consistency in team operations. Acknowledge and reward team members who consistently meet expectations and adhere to established procedures, especially if you have guidelines around risk-taking and processing failure in productive ways.
Bonus technique: Implement regular team check-ins or audits to ensure that all members are adhering to the set guidelines and processes. This will reinforce the value of consistency and help maintain a stable and predictable working environment.
Suggested software: 15Five helps managers hold more consistent and high quality 1-1s. Talk to us about getting a demo!
5. Deliberative
Individuals with Deliberative strengths are cautious and thoughtful in their decision-making. They excel at identifying potential risks and mitigating them. Leaders with Deliberative strengths can be valuable in avoiding costly mistakes and ensuring thorough planning.
Leadership Technique: Involve the Deliberative individuals in critical decision-making processes. Encourage them to share their insights and help your team anticipate and prepare for potential pitfalls.
Bonus technique: Develop a risk management plan that Deliberative leaders can oversee. This plan should include steps for identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks, thus capitalizing on their strength in cautious decision-making.
Suggested software: Mapping out workflows, rollout plans, and strategy sessions using Miro helps make key decision points a lot more tangible and easy to communicate to non-Deliberative colleagues.
6. Discipline
Discipline strengths emphasize order and structure. Leaders with this strength are skilled at creating routines and maintaining high standards of performance. They can instill a sense of consistency and discipline in their teams.
Leadership Technique: Implement structured routines and processes that promote efficiency and quality in your team's work. Hold team members accountable for adhering to these standards and provide support for individuals who struggle to follow through from start to finish.
Bonus technique: Create a recognition program that highlights and rewards disciplined and high-value conduct within the team. This will encourage adherence to established routines and standards, aligning with the Discipline leader’s strengths.
Suggested software: Launching your first recognition program? Bring in something like Bonusly to help ensure kudos gets distributed effectively and often.
Nurture Your Team’s Unique Strengths
With our Team Strengths Accelerator, identify your team’s greatest assets AND how to practically get them working together effectively.
Customers have described it as “better than therapy.”
7. Focus
Individuals with Focus strengths have an unwavering ability to concentrate on a single task or objective. They excel at eliminating distractions and staying on track. Leaders with Focus can lead their teams to success by maintaining a clear vision and direction.
Leadership Technique: Communicate a clear vision and direction to your team, emphasizing the importance of staying focused on the most critical tasks. Encourage team members to eliminate distractions and prioritize their work accordingly.
Bonus technique: Implement a goal-setting workshop where leaders with Focus strengths help team members set and track personal and professional goals. This aligns with their ability to concentrate on specific objectives and aids in overall team focus.
Suggested software: Another plug for 15Five, where personal and organizational goals can be systematically reviewed and updated. We’re a referral partner for 15Five!
8. Responsibility
Responsibility strengths revolve around reliability and accountability. Leaders with this strength are highly dependable and take ownership of their commitments. They inspire trust and confidence in their teams.
Leadership Technique: Lead by example when it comes to fulfilling commitments and taking responsibility for your actions. Encourage a culture of accountability within your team, where everyone takes ownership of their tasks and responsibilities.
Bonus technique: Develop a system of peer accountability where team members regularly report progress and challenges to each other. This fosters a culture of mutual responsibility and trust, aligning with the Responsibility leader’s traits.
Suggested software: Sending letters through FutureMe is a way of helping team members meaningfully connect goal-setting today with reflection in the future. Getting a letter from yourself in the past is a powerful message!
9. Restorative
Restorative strengths are adept at identifying and solving problems. Leaders with Restorative strengths excel at troubleshooting and finding practical solutions to challenges, making them valuable assets in leadership roles.
Leadership Technique: Encourage your team to approach problems publicly, sharing their progress and challenges with the team. By making problem solving a cultural norm, you make failure less punishing and increase collaboration.
Bonus technique: Organize regular problem-solving sessions or 'hackathons' where Restorative leaders can guide teams through brainstorming and troubleshooting exercises. This not only addresses immediate issues but also develops the team's collective problem-solving skills.
Suggested software: When developing software, features and bug-fixing compete to be solved first. A tool like Product Plan can help prioritize, organize, and schedule what problems to solve today and what can be put off to tomorrow.
Are you a lonely Executing leader at an org that doesn’t seem to value the unique way you get things done? Talk to us about bringing a leadership assessment and team workshop to your organization to catalyze positive change around leadership culture.
Getting Started With The CliftonStrengths Assessment For Leaders
Explore the four leadership strength domains and where a leader can best position their strengths for high impact.
Leadership In Thirty-Four Flavors
Anyone can be a leader, but a great leader knows themselves better than anyone.
And anyone can become a great leader, if they’re willing to discover their unique leadership strengths.
The CliftonStrengths assessment, a tool developed by Donald O. Clifton and grounded in positive psychology, helps individuals identify their unique blend of strengths within four distinct categories: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. Effective leadership comes from leveraging your special strength blend and the categories provide high-level guidance as to where those strengths show up the most.
Everyone has the ability to grow a particular strength, but the you-of-today has a blend of innate talent and learned skills/experiences. Some strengths will simply be easier to apply than others. No strength is categorically better than another, but each domain finds certain tasks easier. Don’t be shocked that people with many Relationship Building strengths find it easier to build relationships.
Let’s dive into each of the domains!
Executing Domain: Implementing Ideas into Action
The Executing domain encapsulates strengths related to taking action and accomplishing tasks. This domain harbors essential strengths for effective leadership, including Achiever, Arranger, and Responsibility:
1. Achiever: Individuals with Achiever possess an inherent drive and a passion for setting and reaching ambitious goals. Achievers get stuff done!
2. Arranger: Those strong in Arranger possess an ability to organize and adjust plans to ensure successful execution. An Arranger can make the most out of limited resources.
3. Responsibility: Responsibility signifies reliability and commitment, showcasing an individual's accountability in leadership roles. You can trust that a leader with Responsibility will see things through to the end.
If you lack Executing domain strengths, that doesn’t mean that you can’t get things done but you might have a tendency to get stuck, either thinking about a problem, negotiating the decision, or chatting with other people.
On the other hand, if you are full of Executing strengths, you may ignore the people you need, lose sight of the bigger picture, or fail to make the best decision. Doing is not always the best choice!
Influencing Domain: Inspiring and Persuading Others
Strengths in the Influencing domain center around effective decision-making, either for yourself or amongst others. The Influencing domain highlights strengths crucial for persuasive leadership, such as Activator, Communication, and Woo.
1. Activator: Activators thrive on initiating change and inspiring others, converting ideas into tangible actions. If you need to get started, get an Activator on the job.
2. Communication: This strength emphasizes the power of effective expression and the ability to engage and motivate others through clear communication. Communicators have an uncanny ability to translate thoughts into words.
3. WOO (Winning Others Over): Individuals with Woo possess remarkable social skills and the ability to form connections effortlessly. That person at the bar who bought everyone drinks? Probably a WOO.
Not having Influencing strengths might mean you get bogged down in debate. You may have to resort to habits or procedures to force a choice and move forward.
If you’re all Influence, be careful of manipulating others, jumping into things, or never finishing. Having a strong network of people to provide friction to your decisions may help you deliver better outcomes.
Relationship Building Domain: Fostering Unity and Support
Building strong relationships and fostering a cohesive team is fundamental in leadership. The Relationship Building domain encompasses strengths that aid in this, including Empathy, Developer, and Harmony.
1. Empathy: Empathy involves understanding and connecting with others on an emotional level, a significant trait in providing support and creating trust. Not every problem is solved through logic: people with the Empathy strength can use emotion to get to consensus.
2. Developer: Developers have an innate ability to recognize and nurture the potential in others, aiding in their growth and development. Great mentors and coaches tend to have this strength.
3. Harmony: Leaders with Harmony focus on creating a balanced and conflict-free environment within a team, emphasizing unity and collaboration. A team in crisis can be mended with a strong Harmony leader.
Not everyone has Relationship Building strengths. This has no bearing on whether you are popular or have a lot of friends, but establishing trust with others may be harder to obtain.
If Relationship Building strengths dominate your top five, you may overemphasize group well-being and emotional health over outcomes, results, and efficiency. Fortunately, Relationship Builders can build a team of people with diverse strengths to offset this tendency.
Strategic Thinking Domain: Problem-Solving and Future Vision
Strategic Thinking is a strong skillset for leadership roles, emphasizing planning and identifying possible solutions.. Strengths in this domain include Analytical, Futuristic, and Strategic.
1. Analytical: The Analytical strength signifies critical thinking and problem-solving skills based on data and evidence. Complexity is delicious to Analytical leaders.
2. Futuristic: Futuristic individuals envision the future and set long-term goals, inspiring their teams towards success. Coming up with an inspirational vision is easy for Futuristic leaders.
3. Strategic: Strategic individuals are skilled at creating effective plans and finding optimal solutions for challenges. You’ll see a Strategic leader get from Point A to Point B more effectively than anyone else.
Strategic Thinking seems like a required domain for leaders, but too much Strategic Thinking tends to produce leaders who think too much and fail to act, let alone gain buy-in to their ideas.
Lacking Strategic Thinking isn’t a leadership handicap, however you should source ideas and plans from trusted people to ensure that alternative options and innovation can flourish.
Go Deeper Into Each Domain
The four domains of Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking is the big-picture perspective for thinking about leadership strengths. Each domain has 8-9 specific strengths that highlight certain preferences and behaviors. Understanding how a specific strength operates opens up deep reflective questions about how you can achieve success.
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This post was featured in the Boston Startup Hub.