Jon Sexton Interview: The Impact of Strengths-based Culture at Vibrant Credit Union

We kicked off the Strengths Navigator show with our very first guest, Jon Sexton, Senior Vice President of Culture and Leadership Development at Vibrant Credit Union, a financial services firm in the United States with a fun and strengths-based culture. We began the interview with Jon sharing how his top five CliftonStrengths talent themes (Includer®, Positivity®, Woo®, Communication®, and Strategic®) are expressed at work and in personal life. Throughout our conversation, Jon covered how a strengths-based culture at Vibrant means that leaders and people managers lead authentically, each person is developed (from the time they onboard) at where they are most talented, and team members form complementary partnerships for a greater level of success. Clearly, we can see that employees at Vibrant feel valued, have the opportunity to do what they do best every day. and their wellbeing is an important focus for the company.

Watch Interview Video (Length 46:55)

Interview Transcript

Jasmine Vincent  00:02

Hey, Jon, a very good evening to you and a very big welcome to the Strengths Navigator show. How are you today?

Jon Sexton  00:09

I'm doing really well. Thanks so much for having me. 

Jasmine Vincent  00:12

Awesome. Well, I'm super excited to have you because first, we are both fellow Gallup Certified Strengths Coach but above all, you are our very first guest. So I am super pumped about today's session.

Jon Sexton  00:25

That's fantastic. I, you know, you talked about both being coaches, and one of the neat things about that, that environment, that community, is just that sense of, you're in Singapore, right?

Jasmine Vincent  00:35

I am.

Jon Sexton  00:36

And I'm in Eastern Iowa. And it's 9:30pm here, on Wednesday, and 11:30am Thursday, Friday for you?

Jasmine Vincent  00:46

Friday for me, yeah.

Jon Sexton  00:47

Yeah, the wonders of technology.

Jasmine Vincent  00:49

Yeah, right? Like, that's one of the really good things that have come out of pandemic or technology, right? Yeah, awesome. So first and foremost, let me just do a very quick introduction of you. For those who do not know, Jon, Jon is a super cool husband, father of four kiddos and two dogs, is that correct?

Jon Sexton  01:11

A dog and cat, but close.

Jasmine Vincent  01:12

That's right, a dog and cat, of course, and they live happily together. And at work. Jon is the Senior Vice President of Culture and Leadership Development at Vibrant Credit Union, where he develops unique leadership development programmes, and he also sustains Vibrant's, surprisingly, different work culture, which we are going to talk about. Now Jon is, like we say, also a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, and this is where I'm going to ask you your top five CliftonStrengths.

Jon Sexton  01:45

Yeah, so my top five is Includer®, Positivity®, Woo®, Communication® and Strategic®.

Jasmine Vincent  01:52

Awesome. Well, for those people who aren't familiar with these terms, could you just tell us a bit about what that means, and how that has helped you in your work?

Jon Sexton  02:05

Oh, that's a, that's a great question, Jasmine. And, you know, I've thought of Includer® since I was young. I've never, well, I've never always frame it that way. But I remember, golly, just super early memories on the playground. And going through this, this idea of picking teams. And one of the things that always drove me a little wild in gym class, was when you would pick teams, there was always the kids who would get picked last, and I just have this vivid recollection of the look on their faces. And eventually, it was like, I don't like gym, why don't you like gym, because I never get picked first on the team, or people don't want me on the team. And I knew it was gonna take a little blowback for it. But I would, whenever I get to be the captain, I'd pick different people first, just to see what type of reaction they might have by feeling included. And that's been a running theme for me in my entire life. Regardless of where I'm working, or what I'm doing, I'm always kind of gauging how folks are feeling within groups. And if, if I sense that folks don't feel welcome, or don't feel included, that Includer® strength starts to come out. And I find ways just to make sure that they feel heard, that they feel valued, and that they feel recognised. And that's important. And that kind of layers in all my other strengths. So, Positivity®, it's pretty tough to ruin my day. And some folks will joke sometimes that I don't have bad days. Like anybody, I have some bad days, I have some really rough days on occasion. But I don't always show it particularly in the workplace. And when, when I'm on, when I'm feeling good, which is most days, I can share that energy, and I can just inject it into others. And that that might be one of my favourite strengths, and just the way that that can be contagious. I know contagious isn't a good word in the world right now. But that form of contagion is what you want, that, that, just feel good sensation, that, that shared energy and connection between folks. I like that that sense. You want me to go through all five of them? I can keep going.

Jasmine Vincent  04:04

Yeah, well, keep going because you know, it's, even if somebody already understands what, you know, Includer®, Positivity®, Woo®, Communication®, and Strategic® talent themes mean, but it's always interesting to see from that person's perspective. So yeah, go on.

Jon Sexton  04:18

Sure. So when I talk about Woo®, particularly when I do strengths trainings at our organisation, I tend to ask folks, I have everybody talk about the strength that resonates the most with them. And when I'm facilitating, I usually say, "which one of my strengths would you want me to talk about?" And almost every time people pick Woo®, they're curious about what that is. Woo® is an abbreviation for Winning Others Over. And for me, it's, if I walk into a room or there's a whole bunch of people, I see a whole bunch of potential new best friends. And I can sit down with somebody and just talk for a little bit. Maybe we're having tea, and within a few minutes, I feel like we could maybe be best friends and other folks maybe need a little bit more time to build that sense of connection. But for me, it's just fast socially. Communication®. I'm a storyteller. I come from a family of storytellers. I used to just love listening to my dad tell these rich, funny stories. And I just would watch as he kind of knew how to stop for effect, or he would change his voice inflection a certain way, and he could get a room just to crack up. And I absolutely love that. And I tried to mimic the things that he would do. And then as I watched, other people do things, the way that they would speak, I would try to pick that up. And so I really like using communication to tell a rich, illustrative story, to really paint a picture for folks with words, whenever I'm in front of an audience, or whether that's a small group, a large group doesn't matter. Like, it's like storytelling. And then finally, Strategic®. That's my one Strategic Thinking strength in my top five anyway. And for me, that all comes through relationships. So I'm constantly building relationships, I network a lot. And I'm always thinking about how do I leverage the relationships that I have to help, help folks see what I see or to get them excited about the things that I'm excited about and create change via people? And just kind of getting folks on board with the things that that I'm excited about.

Jasmine Vincent  06:24

Yeah, awesome. I feel like, wow, I feel like can I have Jon in my pocket? Bring you to all the networking events, and, you know, you know, my Relator, you know, which is about deepening relationships with others, right, with very few others, you know, it's all about who are the people I know, but you know, I want to bring Jon in my pocket to help me to say, okay, let me meet a lot more people than what I ordinarily would meet. So wow, I just love this talent themes that you have, and it really shines through as we speak as well. So yeah, yeah. So I wanted to sort of do a bit of a backstory on how you started with CliftonStrengths, how you got certified. Could you tell us more about that?

Jon Sexton  07:13

Yeah, so I was first introduced to CliftonStrengths, golly, at the time, folks, were referring to it as StrengthsQuest, because my, my career started in higher education. I spent 10 years at the University of Iowa, and a year at Grinnell College, working in administration. So I oversaw orientation programmes oversaw on campus residents. Residence life in some parts of the world might think of that as dormitory life. I lived in, in the residence halls with the students and oversaw the RAs and worked really closely with him. And gosh, I want to talk about a cool environment with a lot of stuff going on, that was a really rich place to work in terms of the relationships that I had an opportunity to build. And as part of that work, we were doing a lot of personality assessments, it's just popular in higher education. As you think about working with a younger population that is exploring their career interests, thinking about what they want to do with their lives. Assessments are a great way to start to paint some of that picture. And I think it was 2009 or 2010, I had an assistant director who's a close friend to this day, her name's Tina Arthur. She said, "Jon, have you ever heard of StrengthsQuest?" and I said, "No." and she goes, "we got to do it". And I said, "Tina, gosh, we're already doing the MBTI and the strong, and all these other assessments. Yeah, they're fun. But is it really gonna be that much different than anything else?" I was a little sceptical. And by golly, could I not have been more wrong? There were more colleagues that I had in Iowa, that were really excited about it. And we did it. The first year, we did it with our orientation team. We had about 30 students that took the assessment. I'd watched, as they just talked about their strengths all summer long, and would start to rein them in at times and say, like, "Oh, my gosh, I think with Communication® I'm talking too much. Tell me more about you", and the way that they would lean into and then lean back out of their strengths. And think openly about them was just fascinating for me to watch. And so I worked with it, I knew it well. And I also worked with it through our Career Centre, teaching as an adjunct faculty member and incorporating that into our curriculum for several several classes. I continued to see how students really resonated with it. For those that are familiar with higher education, in again, I assume this is gonna go out to a pretty wide audience in terms of your network but higher education the U.S, we're looking at the big 10. And you think at Gallup, they're pretty closely connected to another big 10 institution, the University of Nebraska. And I get a little jealous that they have a dedicated just strength centre. Now I'm blanking on the official name of that, but, but the way that more and more schools are incorporating that into this period of vocational search and vocational identity development is really cool to me. So that's what lit the fire. Again, with that Communication®, sometimes they get carried away. So Jasmine, don't hesitate to rein me in. But, but going back that, that's kind of where that, the fire was sparked was all that work that I got to do with it in higher education. I reached a point in my career where I was working at Grinnell. And internally, I thought, I don't I don't know, if, if I'm going to be here long term. And I was looking at a few other institutions of higher education. I had a connection at Vibrant Credit Union, which is on the eastern end of the state of Iowa, who reached out and said, "Hey, would you ever come and work for us? And do leadership development, do some of the higher education type things that you're doing in that space in a business environment?" And my first reaction was, no, I don't have any desire to work at a financial organisation. I had some assumptions about what that, what that would mean. And he said, "Just come and meet us. Come connect with some of our leaders and meet some folks in the environment." And I did and I was fascinated by the organisation. Fairly small at the time, was about 175 employees. Today, we sit a little closer to 225. And I started with the organisation in 2015. One of the ways that I, I had some buy in for that was, they had asked me, what would I want to do? What's the first thing that I would do if we wanted to create some new layers to the culture and I said, "You know, it's tough for me to imagine a better and quicker way to have an impact than to introduce, introduce strengths to the entire organisation." And they gave me the green light to do that. And then shortly thereafter, I got the green light to get certified. And ever since then, we've just been constantly layering on to the strengths-based culture and thinking about ways that that we could just create a unique dream work environment in every sense of the word.

Jasmine Vincent  11:56

Wow. I mean, like, look, I think everyone wants to work for a place that is strengths-based. I mean, and I know it has made such an impact to people. And this is where I'm going to ask, how was it before you introduce strengths? And how, what difference has it made so far?

Jon Sexton  12:15

You know, when I when I came in, what I would describe Vibrant's culture, the way I would describe that culture, it was just fun. And the organisation was talking a lot about this, this idea of fun. The, there was a an intent to draw people in, based on this quirky culture, where things were really, really different, outlandishly different in some cases. And when I first came in, there were certain days that we dressed up like pirates for an unofficial Celebration Day, which is a little interesting when members come in, and they're and they're thinking, what is happening? Why are folks dressed up like Caribbean pirates? Or we might do other theme days. And there was some fun to that. But it was kind of a, an internal fun. And so as we as we started to think about, how do we mature that? We want that energy, but we want it to shift from fun, kind of, kind of playfulness to fun that we can share with others that our members can buy into that they could get excited about as well. And so we started to evolve the culture with strengths in it. And it shifted from this idea of how do we have the right theme, like dress up theme or quirkiness around that, to how do we start to embrace people for who they authentically are? How do we start to give voice to what that looks like? And how do we use that to celebrate real genuine people in a different way and spread that energy. The other thing that started to happen with strengths pretty quickly, is we layered the Q12 onto our initiatives. I want to say within the second year that I was at the organisation and the Q12 being Vibrant's, Gallup's measure for employee engagement. Q12, meaning the 12 questions that they use to assess that. And that's where things really started to click because we were talking about not just strengths, but what is the impact of each manager in our organisation, on the business, on their business line, of the buy-in of their people? How do we better understand what problematic managers were doing in regard to talent attraction or turnover? How are they reinforcing our strengths-based culture? And and that's where things really started to get powerful.

Jasmine Vincent  14:31

Yeah, the Q12 indeed, is 12 simple questions, but it reveals so much, right, about an organisation or even culture within a, you know, a sub-team. So, you talked about authentic, authenticity earlier on. Could you talk about how strengths has helped leaders and people managers, you know, find their authenticity and how they've used that in leading the people.

Jon Sexton  15:01

Yeah, there was a, I was actually facilitating a leadership development for some of our high potentials at Vibrant this morning. And we spent several hours talking about it and I, I shared an article from the Harvard Business Review with them, and I'm blanking on the title of it off the top of my head. But it's around this idea of why positive work environments thrive. Their language for positive work environments really, closely aligns with, with Gallup's language, of creating environments that foster strengths, which reinforces a sense of wellness. When we think about the sheer amount of time that we spend at work, a lot of our waking hours are spent at work. And so think about how we feel there, and how that carries over into other aspects of our lives. Gallup's research, which I love referencing, because it's so much of it is pushed out and available to the public. That it's, it's just neat how they share that and how they're, they're constantly working to impact so many organisations, so many workplaces, and then ultimately the wellness of the world. That's, that's neat stuff. But, getting off, off course, which I do, sometimes, Jasmine rein me in. You think of what that looks like from the perspective of managers, who Gallup would suggest is the number one variable and employee engagement. And so thinking about that in terms of how that impacts every aspect, not only of my vocational or career wellbeing, but how that carries over into other aspects of my life as well, and how they foster or fail to foster a culture that validates people. So that sense of authenticity, that term gets thrown around a lot. Brene Brown, I think does a really great job of, the author and speaker Brene Brown, does a great job of giving voice to that sense of authenticity, and reframing it, just really valuing people, making folks feel respected for who they are not, what they're not, for zeroing in on what gives them energy and what takes that away from them. Not assuming that there's some cookie-cutter way that we have to approach our day-to-day that fits this mould that we all have to be but instead appreciating, what is it that you bring to the team, Jasmine? And then what is it that Jon brings to the team? And then what is it that person C, and D and E bring to the group? And how do we think of that from a team perspective so that we can all shine together? Gosh, then you're talking about things in a really different way and that's when it starts to, there's a, an electricity that comes with that. That's pretty cool.

Jasmine Vincent  17:41

Yeah, I think, I think you're spot on there in terms of just, you know, valuing people. You know, like, the number one reason that people leave a company is just because they're not fulfilled, right? You know, you know, you hear about now, The Great Resignation movement, you know, that Gallup calls, The Great Discontent, right? People don't quit companies, they quit managers, you know, and like you say, you know, we like to quote, Gallup statistics, because it's very science-based. You know, the manager, right? The people manager, accounts for 70% of the variance in employee engagement. And that's, that's huge. And think about the amount of productivity, loss in sales, loss in profit, profitability, and so, and customer engagement and employee engagement. That translate to trillions of dollars,. right? You know, in fact, I was just looking at a report by Gallup that says that, you know, it can account for up to nine to 10% of the world's GDP, right, when people are not engaged, then, then that's a lot. So, you know, how does, Vibrant, you know, you know, in your leadership programme and people development programme, you know, how do you showcase how you develop people, how you value people?

Jon Sexton  19:04

So, it's twofold. So we incorporate it into everything that we do, from, from the get go day one and orientation. Starting with our organisation, all of our new hires take their their CliftonStrengths assessment, and we we fold in a workshop. And part of the design of that first day is we want them to know about the organisation, we want them to know about our core values. But we also want them to think about how they fit with, within that right? If we're, if you think of an organisation as a puzzle, or a tapestry. Each person brings something unique to that that grander scheme. And you go back to this idea of a puzzle piece, if you like puzzles and you've ever done 1,000 piece puzzle, number one, I respect you.

Jasmine Vincent  19:53

That is that is pretty high up there.

Jon Sexton  19:56

Yeah, but when you're getting into those 1,000 piece puzzles, a lot of them, those pieces look similar. And I have done them. And there's times where, gosh, you want that piece to fit so bad, and you're trying to cram it in there, and you feel like it fits, it's close enough. And then you realise, yeah, a piece doesn't fit. And I tried to force it in there for so long, that at some point, it got a little beat up. And because of that, that's what happens to us. When we're pushed into places that we don't really fit, or that don't really align with us, some things start to happen there. And it's important to consider where people really fit and get them in a position to be there. So we talked a lot about that within the context of of golly, just how managers think about their people, and how we can help them understand not only their own strengths, but the strengths of their teams as well.

Jasmine Vincent  20:49

Yeah, I love, you see, that's your Communication® talent just shining through there, right, that, that storytelling about the puzzle, I love that. I was having a dinner catch up with a client. And I was just saying, you know, it's time to stop putting square pegs in round holes, right? We know that CliftonStrengths is not a hiring tool. But it's such a fantastic development tool, right? And we develop people where they have the maximum potential for success and for high performance, and, and when that happens, they are just six times more engaged at work, right? So, so I think I love the story, the puzzle.

Jon Sexton  21:28

Yeah, so there's, Jasmine, there's something that and this is probably easy for you to think of. One of the questions I often pose to folks just getting into our leadership development curriculum, is this, this question around the idea of: think about the best supervisor or mentor or coach or teacher that you ever had? And when you prompt people to talk about what was it about them that you respected, people can rattle off qualities pretty fast. And one of the qualities that great supervisors or mentors, etc. often exhibit is this ability to recognise the capacity that we have, that we don't always recognise ourselves. And so if we turn that into a tangible story, this is before I was using the language of strengths. This isn't that really early 2000s. I was a first year student at the college that I went to, and I was in a student organisation. And I remember the leader of that organisation, we were in this big auditorium, and there were 200, 250 people. And I loved this. It was this event that we had, one weeknight a week, and everybody got together. And there was just a bunch of networking, what do you call it, networking, just opportunities to meet other students and to connect. And obviously, the Woo® was right up in there, was all about that. But I remember this, this lead came over, who I had known and who everyone had a good level of respect for. And I remember towards the end of my first year at college, he pulled me aside and he said, "Hey, I have a challenge for you." And I said, "Yeah, what's that?" He goes, "I feel like you could know everybody in this room, if you made it a point to." And I was like, "Yeah, but why would I do that?" And he said, "I don't I don't mean it in a weird way." He said, "I mean it from - think about how you felt this whole first year, when you came from your hometown, you came to a new school and a new place, and you felt a little lonely." He goes, "Clearly you're connected now. But what impact could you have on new students next year as they just get started, and they don't know where they're at yet. They don't know their place. They feel uncomfortable. They're homesick for friends back home, you have a gift to be able to make them feel comfortable. I challenge you to use that." I remember when I thought about that the rest of the summer, until I got back to college that next fall. And I remember thinking: I need to meet a whole bunch of these new students to help them feel connected. And wouldn't you know that, that turned in my career for the next year in orientation at colleges and universities? Just thinking about ways to make people feel welcome with that, that ability to be socially pretty quick with folks. 

Jasmine Vincent  24:04

Yeah. And and how are you aiming those talents at your workplace?

Jon Sexton  24:11

Yeah, so I try to, so, that's, that's an awesome bridge question there. I think of that, in the way that I thought of it then as that student receiving that guidance and that mentorship or even just that little glimpse of coaching from somebody who may or may not have been intending to coach in that moment. I think about that in my role today. I support about 25, vice presidents and executive level leaders, and our coaching programme is dedicated to providing them with just dedicated, unchecked support. So it's not supervisory in nature. They know they can come to me as a coach, and be open and genuine and vulnerable at times and again, know that I'm not their boss. So there's, there's ways that it kind of lowers some defences in terms of that sense of vulnerability. And we start to dive into their, their areas where they might feel flawed, where they might feel like they're not enough, where they have some strengths. And, if you will, if we're using that language, where they might compare themselves with another executive or another vice president and say, "Gosh, I'm not enough of that." And we shift that a little bit to say like, "Okay, yeah, you're not that, but how do you embrace all of who you are, fully leverage those abilities? And then find that person who's so different than you? And make up a best friend at work, and collaborate? And then what can you do together?" And we're constantly shifting that or, when working with managers, it's also helping them kind of understand what is your team bring? And how are you building your team? Are you building a series of people who are just like you? Or do you recognise those areas where you feel a little vulnerable? You feel a little gap in terms of your skill set? And how are you bringing in folks that compliment you, and trusting in their, in their ability or trusting and the expertise that they bring? Because again, when I start to do that with a direct report, that direct report feels completely different when they genuinely feel valued for the value, while said that twice, but for that, that contribution that they bring to the team, it creates a whole different sense of feeling valued.

Jasmine Vincent  26:31

Yeah, and yeah, you mentioned value at the beginning. And now again. Indeed, it's super important, right? Like, you know, you're saying that, very often, you know, a manager or a leader or even somebody on the team, we tend to. as human nature, gravitate towards people who are just like us. And sort of, you know, not so excited about hanging out people who are different, but that just, understanding and appreciating the talents that somebody else brings to the table, right? When you have that lens, it's almost like wearing a different pair of shades, right, it starts to open up your eyes to possibilities, right? Like you say, partnerships, I think, I think that's so brilliant. Like, you know, Activator® is my number three in my talent themes. And what I'm really good at is just having that confidence and just say, let's do it right, turning an idea into action, You know, but Intellection® is, well, I think, let me have a look, I think it's in the 30s for me. So what I know that is really useful to rein me in right, is always to have a partner, you know, that, that's very high in Intellection®, having that in their top five and say, "Hey, let's talk about this." And we really complement each other so well. So I really love what you said about really forming those partnerships within a team environment. And then just creating powerful synergies there.

Jon Sexton  27:52

Yeah, you know, something's interesting, I know you work with a lot of organisations around this framework. And I consult a little bit, when organisations reach out, I still consult in the higher education space, with corporate type organisations that are more formal in terms of that business structure, with nonprofits. And it's fascinating how strengths runs the gamut of environments, it doesn't matter where you work, I don't, I don't work with faith-based organisations today, I have in the past. And again, there's another facet of ways in which you can apply the work. There's so many different types of orgs that might reach out and get interested in this. And what I think is fascinating, is, it all just comes back to people and their natural patterns of behaviour. If we're talking about strengths in and of itself. Gallup has has branded certain labels that are used to define patterns of behaviour, or natural ways of thinking. And what does it do it validates who people are. It recognises what they naturally bring to the table. And it's interesting when you start to work with, initially when a team might reach out, there's this, this curiosity of what's the return going to be on this? Really, what's the value? Is it going to be a feel good? Is this going to give us the warm fuzzies? And that's really going to be about it? Or what's the tangible takeaway, and I love that conversation. Because again, when organisations do it, right, and they start to sustain that culture, it just creates the shared language, not only for teams to be able to communicate with one another, but again, for managers to almost have a cheat sheet, if you will, to say like, "Oh, man, I know Jasmine leads with Activator®. And we got to get this project off the ground. I wonder who I should reach out to to maybe get the wheels turning, I bet she could really get us going. And then light that engine, and then, you know, once we get running, who are the people on my team that are going to sustain that energy going forward when Jasmine might be intrigued by by the next new project?" And again, how do we complement one another and those, those conversations just start to take off pretty quickly as you realise all the connections that come together.

Jasmine Vincent  30:05

Yeah, I think it's so true that you can sort of then, you know, use the right person, you know, to maximise the opportunity you're looking at, right? You know, like, in your analogy of using me to get the wheels turning, you know? That reminded me of a coaching session I had with a C-level executive, you know. He was sensing, you know, with the pandemic and work from home, morale is little bit low. And you know I said, "Look, who are some of your top guys with Empathy at a top five, right? Use these guys to go around and get the feelers, right, of what's happening on the ground, because people are high in Empathy, they have high level of sensitivity, right to other people's emotions, and they have this special midas touch of just approaching people." So, and he did that, and he got back so much good information that maybe even an employee engagement survey might not bring him. So just using the right person, you know, to do what's needed, right? So I'm going to ask you about communication, like, how have you seen the use of strengths as a common language help in the communication, within a team, across a team and between a manager and their staff?

Jon Sexton  31:25

That's a great question. I think part of it, particularly for organisations that want to incorporate strengths into their culture is: there's, this, you don't want it to come across as you must do this. But how do you think of ways to layer it into your standard operating procedures if we're getting real technical, so that it prompts managers to understand this is a valued part of our process. And there's simple ways to do that without over prescribing or saying you must ask all of these questions. We built it into our rubrics for performance reviews, so that managers know they have an expectation, to understand the strengths of their staff, understand the natural gifts and abilities that each brings, and that they should be intentionally approaching their management and their supervisor to cater towards what's going to resonate with that individual. We also lay out expectations for them to understand that within the team as a whole, so managers own this idea that they need to, they need to recognise it, they need to recognise it for their team. And then higher level, our vice presidents are responsible for understanding what does engagement look like layered on to that sense of strengths? And how is that creating buy-in for the organisation? How are they understanding strategically, how that might be influencing turnover? Or performance within the within the group? How do we identify if there's, over the long run, if there's ever a concern with a leader, which we don't see a lot, but sometimes that comes back to fit, right? Are they getting an opportunity to use their strengths, or they get slotted into a position that maybe they're not thriving in? So regardless of where this is coming from, leveraging strengths as an opportunity to frame discussions, just to prompt people to say, hey, what strengths are you using? What do you find you get to use a lot of, and what challenges are you navigating? And how might you leverage your strengths? That simple prompt? Initially might feel like, "Yeah, but if I ask that once every week, or once every two weeks, doesn't that get old?" I'd argue you can usually think of different ways you're using your strengths each week, and where you might be leaning away from them, or where you might be leaning in too much. And that might be tripping you up constantly thinking about how that how that ties into all aspects of that individual's role.

Jasmine Vincent  33:46

Yeah, well, thanks a lot for that in explaining how you can use strengths to help you in your work. You know, you know, what about weaknesses? When you talk about strengths at Vibrant? Do you guys talk about weaknesses? Or how do you guys look at that? 

Jon Sexton  34:00

Yeah, I think it comes back to this sense of within our organisation, one of our core values is around this idea of being open, honest and authentic. As we were kind of hammering away at those values, you might suspect that that I was pretty passionate about that sense of authenticity. But within being authentic, it's not just people should know who I am and value me for what that looks like. But we also have the sense of being open and honest. So if I'm doing things that are creating pain, or challenges for my teammates, or if I'm making decisions that are creating tension for other departments, we constantly are talking about this idea that Vibrant is Team One, your team is not team one, the organisation is who we're making decisions for. And so we really value this sense of, leaders need to come to one another and say like, "Hey, this is something that's going on. It's, it's creating some challenges for me." Sometimes that involves our strengths, being overplayed, if you will, right? There's times where some someone who leads with Communication®, I have to be mindful in a meeting, not to start talking about something that takes us down a tangent, or gets us way off track, I have to be mindful about not talking so much that other folks don't feel like they have an opportunity to give voice to their ideas. And as folks, remind me how vocal I'm being or how much maybe I need to rein that in, then that's just a healthy discussion about what creates the best work or team environment for that. And I tried to be really mindful of all my strengths. But as we're mindful of those collectively, it really helps us identify how can our strengths trip us up, but then when it comes from understanding a place of weakness, it goes back to the sense of how are you managing weakness? And then how are you partnering with the right people so that you can thrive collectively?

Jasmine Vincent  35:58

Yeah. And and, you know, you're talking about, being, open, authentic, like you were saying, about our strengths and weaknesses. I think that makes, makes such a difference to a relationship, right? Like, you know, in our conversation, you have mentioned two or three times, "Jasmine, feel free to rein me in when I talk too much", right? Just, you know, just being aware of our talents, and being aware of how it can help and hinder us, you know, really, in a way, you're giving permission to the person you're talking to say, "Hey, rein me in if I talk too much. I know I'm a great storyteller, but I can't talk too much. And that might be where it hinders me. So I think that really builds a great relationship between two people, right?

Jon Sexton  36:42

Yeah, there something you said resonated. So, one of the other things that we talked about is understanding how to leverage your own strengths, to navigate weakness. And that's I know that's Gallup's specific language, but it works so well, in coaching. We've had vice presidents and managers who are well meaning, and they're outstanding at what they do, because they're task-oriented. They're structured, they know what needs to happen when super business-oriented. But sometimes, with that type personality, there's a little bit of this gap of, with relationship building, and thinking, "Okay, do one-on-ones really matter? What's the value of those? How do I navigate emotion, because that makes me really uncomfortable." And for someone like that, right? They're never going to be the person that you go to, to bare your deepest, darkest secrets, or, or to really dive into stuff that's making you uncomfortable, but like anybody, they can develop some basic skills to understand: how do I make check-ins, just as important as any other tasks. So when we start to turn one-on-ones, into a to do list item, that is important, and that you can demonstrate what is the outcome of that conversation, then I start to think of it a little bit different. And then if I start to understand this isn't just about me dictating what needs to happen to said employee, it's about asking about their challenges. And then if I frame that as no, I'm not just asking about how they feel, I'm uncovering some challenges that might be going on within the team as a whole. And all of a sudden, the mindset starts to shift on, okay, now I see the value of a one-on-one. And I start to develop a little bit of a better ability and capacity to have healthy conversations with my employees, a different way of approaching it, a different perspective, but effective nonetheless because they're approaching it in a way that works for them.

Jasmine Vincent  38:38

Yeah, and, you know, some, some employees go, "What? My boss wants to have a conversation with me?" And I find that, that feedback happens when a manager rarely has conversations with their staff. But once a manager, like you say, have regular check-in conversations, or what we call quick connect conversations, I think that makes a lot of difference to building relationship, right, and, and open communication, as you said. So I'm interested to talk about career development, right, for for the younger ones, even for, you know, senior executives, you know. How does strength come into play in terms of career development within Vibrant?

Jon Sexton  39:21

That's a great question. You know, often when I talk to somebody who's who's maybe reached a point in their career, where they're struggling a little bit, I, with what they want to do, what they want to be when, that language of what do I want to be when I grow up? I hear presenters say all the time, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. There might be folks that listen to this at some point, and thank you, I don't know that I'm doing what I love. And how do I get into doing that? You and I have both had some, some changes throughout the course of our careers that, there was an opportunity to do something different, might have been a little scary. But when you looked at the work that we were gonna have an opportunity to do, your startup, that's gonna fill my bucket. And if I'm doing what I love, I'm gonna shine in a different way. And I'm gonna be able to bring value to folks in a different way. And so, coming back to that question of when folks, regardless of who you're working with, or kind of thinking about what's next for me, it frequently comes back to strengths, because there's no one job, there's no one company or organisation that's going to be the perfect fit. It's the company organisation and role, that's going to give you the opportunity to be you to your fullest extent, and to perhaps to challenge you to home that to some extent. But um, that gives you an opportunity to do that. And it's not always the company or organisation. For some of us, it's the opportunity to establish that business that we've always dreamed of driving ourself, and doing that from from an entrepreneurial perspective. And so more of those career and vocational conversations come back to what what fills your cup? What makes you happy? What, what are the things that happen in your day that you get most excited about? And how do we give you an opportunity to do more of that?

Jasmine Vincent  41:10

Yeah. And I think that's becoming, those conversations about career development actually, is becoming so much more important now and since in the past two years, we have experienced pandemic, isn't it? Like, you know, people are seeking purpose and meaning, right, not just just a job, you know. They're looking at, you know, does this makes sense to my life, you know. So I think those are super important questions to get in conversations to have. Yeah, so I'm going to touch a bit on, perhaps something that's super important right now, wellbeing. You mentioned that a bit at the beginning. But I'd love to hear how Vibrant is helping their employees in this area of wellbeing and how you tie that back to strengths.

Jon Sexton  41:57

Yeah, I think so much of it starts with strengths. And I know, I feel like I'm hammered away at this concept a lot. But when you have a shared language that appreciates people for who they really are, regardless of, if I'm, and I'll use different language, right? If I'm, if I'm super introverted, but a really great thinker, and people appreciate me for being that, and give me an opportunity to do what I do well, in just the thoughts that I bring to the table, or the dedicated work that I do on my own quietly at my desk. How do I appreciate that employee for the value that they bring from, from not making assumptions about what that person does? Or doesn't do? Or for people who are super extroverted, not not perceiving them as just folks who are too winded? Or who talked too much, or can't rein it in? How do we rein it in until you know, you got to rein it in a little bit, but how do you get them in a position where they can leverage that ability to speak, to help the organisation shine, or to build connections and relationships, etc. And when we feel validated, we feel like we're doing what we're supposed to do, if we're looking at developmental, different developmental skills, there's this sense of self-actualisation - when I am at the peak of feeling like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, feeling like I have purpose. It's because, if I'm not doing a job, I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, what I was put on this earth for, right, we could get a little spiritual there. However you think about that and frame it. Life has purpose, we feel we have an internal desire to have purpose. And to know that we're making a difference in some way, shape, or form. And that's defined differently for everybody strengths, give us, gives us a language to do just that. When we start to layer that on to managers, understanding how people are feeling at work. The term engagement gets thrown around so often, and, you know, you could think of defining that in a different way, when we're talking about engagement, we're really talking about wellness at work. Because if I'm engaged at work, that spills over into every other aspect of my life, whether that's financial or social, or how I feel about my community, so on and so forth. All of those things tie together with how I feel at work, and that that's just a huge dynamic. So it starts there. And then we're looking at layering those other aspects into how managers are talking about how people feel at work. Do they feel good about their physical and mental well being? What are ways that we can support them in their goals? It's not always about having the perfect programmes, or making sure that you know, we do a meditation exercise one week because that's going to change everything. Yeah, over a pattern of time. That might make some difference for some folks. But how do we think of benefits and programmes that layer on to the goals that our folks are giving voice to, feeling are important in designing our workplace around that. And I could mean, I could talk about specific benefits. You can talk about the the new headquarters building that we're building. That's incorporating a lot of those environmental factors, which I'm really geeked out about, and I'll be able to share with you on social media here in the near future. But the way in which we're thinking about all of those facets is pretty darn neat to me.

Jasmine Vincent  45:32

Yeah, well, well, you know, I, you know, like you say, you know, well, wellbeing, mental wellbeing right, you know, and wellness, you know, very often people think that wellbeing equals good wellness, but it's like you say, it's more than that, isn't it? It's like how our career actually has such a major impact in other areas of your life. Like you mentioned, social wellbeing, financial, physical, community wellbeing, isn't it. And we will definitely look forward to seeing you sharing some of these social media updates about the new building that Vibrant is going to have and some of these programmes on wellbeing that you'll be driving as well. So with that, I just want to thank you so much for your time, Jon. You have shared so much gems in this conversation that I know that people who are already having an understanding of strengths, you know, they will be reminded and go on and capitalise on those amazing potential they have, isn't it? And for those who, you know, are not familiar, they'll be getting in touch with Gallup Certified Strengths Coach like yourself and myself, and hopefully, you know, is going to drive them towards an area of excellence, which is just innately in them. So with that, I just want to thank you so much, Jon, for your time today. You have a great week ahead and we'll catch up real soon.

Jon Sexton  46:48

All right, that sounds great. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure chatting with you.

Jasmine Vincent  46:52

Thank you. Bye for now.