Understanding and Investing in Your Consistency Talent -- Season 4

To learn more about Gallup's additional strengths resources, visit
the Gallup Strengths Center: http://on.gallup.com/1l04XVZ.

Gallup's Theme Thursday is a live Webcast that targets strengths
coaches and enthusiasts to provide a deeper context behind the
language of strengths by talking in-depth about each of the 34
Clifton StrengthsFinder themes.

On this Theme Thursday Season Four webcast, Jim Collison, Gallup's
Director of Talent Sourcing, and Maika Leibbrandt, Senior Workplace
Consultant, talk about Consistency.

Consistency can be described as fairness, equity and equality. It
is the ability to see where things are not equal, and bring them
into balance. People with high Consistency are good at setting up
clear rules based on what works, and then following them. It is
about getting things done not just for efficiency’s sake, but also
in a fair way that understands that there are reasons we follow
rules.



If you have high Consistency the value you bring is establishing
stability through predictability. It is about following rules that
make sense, not just creating rules. You really understand what
promotes equality, and are able to translate that into something
you do all the time. Consistency at its best is going beyond that
awareness of when things are unfair and unbalanced, but following
through with an internal nudge to take this outside of yourself.
You are able to steer your organization and your family towards a
more justified approach. Consistency does what works because it
works over and over again. Consistency is about giving everyone the
same starting point.


Raise your hand for really understanding the rules of the road.
What is expected? What do you always do? Be the first person to
raise your hand and get some of those assumptions out loud. Improve
balance and equality by merging some of those existing norms with
some that can be improved. You have the ability to see there could
be better rules. Look for opportunities to do an audit of the
current rules, and see what could be changed for the better. Stand
up for the underdog. Help others see where there is an
imbalance.



You could hear Consistency and think about it as values, but the
input of Consistency is the patterns of how you think, feel and
behave. Fairness is something that nobody ever has to be taught,
but what this theme does is notice the fairness in others.
Consistency is an adherence to the rules. The behavior with
Consistency is that outward understanding of how everyone is going
to work together.



Curate the best environment for someone with Consistency by making
sure there’s clarity on what your common mission is. You are going
to be better executing towards that common mission on a scalable
fashion if you have an understanding of how success will be
measured.



Let go of being trendy. Let go of the necessity to couple
creativity and newness with success. Novelty for the sake of
novelty is never going to be something you’re drawn to. You will be
more refreshed and more able to get things done when you’re able to
settle into a routine.



Look for an awareness of what is fair in a social setting when
you’re partnering with someone with high Consistency. Partner with
them when you’re deciding if what you’re planning to do can be
repeated over and over again. Is it going to be something that
everyone can benefit from? Is it a rule or a product that can
appeal to everyone? Look for that awareness, and look for it early.
Look for excellence in creating and adhering to a plan. Look for a
love affair with rules. Talk about them on purpose.



Recognize the safety that individuals with Consistency create.
Others can try new ideas, they can go to places they never thought
they could do, because of the safety that Consistency creates.
Don’t make recognition a surprise. They should know how they’re
doing and whether or not they are hitting their benchmarks.



Help them take Consistency beyond just how they approach things,
and help them connect to their values. How can they use their sense
of balance to bring about a change in others? Help them spend time
not just exploring what already is there. Expand their brains by
asking what future routines they could establish today to help
improve performance?


If Consistency is one of your Dominant Themes, invest in it this
week through the following challenge items:

List all the rules you have set for yourself in the course of a
normal day.
Ask somebody who knows you very well:
What do I always do well?
When am I always frustrated?
How do I always provide value to the group?

If Consistency is not one of your Dominant Themes, invest in it
this week through the following challenge items:

How do you create safety and predictability for others?
What are the most important rules to you in a social contract?