Individualization, Human Jigsaw Puzzle Building

This potential strength belongs to those who have the ability to instinctively build great teams. It is a relationship building trait that team leaders, managers, and senior executives should take very seriously if they are fortunate to be gifted with it. For many years, I have studied this trait and have determined that it should be part of every recruiter’s gifts as well as those who are in talent acquisition. Sadly though, I do not think this trait is often possessed by recruiters or those who work in talent acquisition.

While I am of this topic, the people I have already mentioned would be best suited to their roles if they had Relator and/or Strategic in their higher strengths. This mix of strengths would deliver a big picture thinker, connected to a deep relationship builder, connected to somebody who could intuitively understand where candidates fit into their company’s hiring needs.

Relator is All About Relationships

The person who is gifted with this potential strength must develop it into a deep, meaningful, authentic relationship building strength. From my own personal experience, I can tell you that when you need this level of relationship, you need to have been making deposits into this level of relationship for many years. Only then can you expect for this relationship to stand by your side when you are struggling.

Relators build relationships that have no limit to their deepness. There is no distance that can keep two relators, who share relationship at the same value level, apart.

Decisiveness, Action, Opportunity, Relationship

In 2010, I received a phone call from Los Angeles. The caller asked me if I would be willing to come speak to his group. The answer was, yes! Another call came in on the caller's side of the discussion. He said he would have to call me back.

I called my wife and told her I was going to Los Angeles to speak. What will you talk about she asked? I told her we hadn't gotten that far but I was going to Los Angeles to speak. That is how an Activator operates.

Not long after my trip to Los Angeles, I was invited to Dallas, Texas to speak on my own stage for the first time. As I spoke at a fancy country club somewhere in the Dallas area, I remember an older gentleman with a long white beard who was sitting at a table near the stage. Promptly, right after lunch and at the beginning of my talk, he stretched out, crossed his arms, and began to snore.

On the left side of the room, as I surveyed the room from the stage, I found a couple of people who seemed to be engaged in every word I had to share. I focused on these people for the rest of my talk.

At the end of my talk, a woman rushed to the stage to be first in line to meet me. She was a professor at North Texas University. She wanted me to come up to Denton that evening to speak to her MBA class. I told her how much I appreciated the invitation, but let her know that I had dinner plans somewhere in Dallas and I didn't have a car. That afternoon, she called on three different occasions, doing her best to get my attention. I did not yet understand how big this feedback was to my first-ever stage appearance.

Also from this crowd at the fancy country club in Dallas, I got to meet an amazing woman named Cindy. One decade later, Cindy has advanced her career and has consumed every coaching offering I have ever created.

Cindy is now a member of my Strategically Maximized Mastermind and my Ideation Mastermind. Cindy and her mother drove from Dallas last weekend to stay at a vacation rental just a few miles from my house. We enjoyed many dinners together and shared many laughs and smiles. Words alone cannot express my appreciation for Cindy and Linda.

Is the Relator Strength in Your Top Strengths?

In the Clifton StrengthsFinder world, Relator is a relationship building trait or theme.  When someone has this trait or theme near the top of their list and they know how to leverage it, the trait or theme becomes a strength.

Relators are people who enjoy close and meaningful relationships.  In a group of 50 people, a Relator will instinctively know how to find the 3 or 4 or 5 people they really need to meet.  These will be people the Relator knows they can build a meaningful relationship with after the right amount of time and energy is invested.

Relators are generally genuine and authentic people.  Relators place value on time for close and meaningful 1 on 1 relationships that are built around authenticity and substance.

You can find out how you’re uniquely wired and you can learn how to turn your unique set of strengths into leverage that comes out in your personal power!

Jeff Snyder Coaching