Includer

People strong in the Inclusiveness theme are accepting of others. They show awareness of those who feel left out, and make an effort to include them.

 

You can tell a person strong in Includer by these attributes (source: Dr. Hulme, APU):

  • Reach out to the “outsider”
  • Accepting of others
  • Want others to feel a part of things
  • Nonjudgmental
  • Believe everyone is equally important and valued

More about Includer:

  • Needs on a team: To get everyone involved
  • As a Leader: Accept others
  • In Conflict: Include others
  • Partner with:  Activator, Command (Deliver tough news)
  • In academics: 

    – loves to involve everyone – likes courses where there is diversity and lots of class participation – involvement in class is important to them – sociology, anthropology, psychology, social work and other social sciences probably will interest them – service learning will also appeal

Where does Includer Theme rank in the population?

  • Overall, Includer ranks 21st, occurring in around 12% of the population’s Top Five (13% of Females and 11% of Males)

18

21

13

23

Out of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, it’s statistically:

  • most likely to appear with Positivity and
  • least likely to be found with Intellection, Significance and Self-Assurance

The genius of your Includer talent involves your ability to see outsiders and those who have been marginalized. You can see people who are physically on the outside, but most remarkably, you can discern who feels left out even though they may be physically in the middle of a group. But your genius talent of Includer does not stop with just seeing those who are physically outside and emotionally marginalized.You take action to bring people into the group. In fact this talent seems to give you an enormous amount of courage to reach out and actively bring the outsider in. The beauty of your Includer talent is that you can build relationships with literally anyone.But your specialty in relationship building is with the“invisible people” and people who others ignore. You instinctively know what to say and how to include those who others ignore and leave out.

At your best (Balcony):

  • invites others in, caring, engages others, sensitive, takes up for others

At your worst (Basement):

  • indiscriminate, unable to decide, generous to a fault

Includer may be one of your signature themes if…

  • You like to “stretch the circle wider” and you feel “the more the merrier.”
    • You naturally try to include people and make them feel like part of a group.
    • You avoid groups and situations that exclude others or put people down.
    • You hate seeing someone feeling forlorn, outcast, or left out from a group.
    • You are accepting of all faiths, sexes, religions, and nationalities.
    • You cast very few judgments and presume that all men are truly created equal.
    At your best, you are engaging, sensitive, caring, kind, inclusive and you stick up for others. On the other end of the spectrum, you can be indiscriminate, indecisive, and generous to a fault.

A more detailed explanation from Gallup:

“Stretch the circle wider.” This is the philosophy around which you orient your life. You want to include people and make them feel part of the group. In direct contrast to those who are drawn only to exclusive groups, you actively avoid those groups that exclude others. You want to expand the group so that as many people as possible can benefit from its support. You hate the sight of someone on the outside looking in. You want to draw them in so that they can feel the warmth of the group. You are an instinctively accepting person. Regardless of race or sex or nationality or personality or faith, you cast few judgments. Judgments can hurt a person’s feelings. Why do that if you don’t have to? Your accepting nature does not necessarily rest on a belief that each of us is different and that one should respect these differences. Rather, it rests on your conviction that fundamentally we are all the same. We are all equally important. Thus, no one should be ignored. Each of us should be included. It is the least we all deserve.

Action Items for This Theme

  • Choose roles in which you are continuously working and interacting with people. You will enjoy the challenge of making everyone feel important.
  • Consider roles in which you are responsible for representing voices that are not normally heard. You will derive a great deal of satisfaction from being their representative.
  • Look for opportunities to bring together people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. You can be a leader in this area.
  • Help those who are new to an organization get to know other people. You will always be adept at quickly making people feel accepted and involved.
  • You naturally look for the best in people. Help your colleagues see what you see.

Be ready to:

  • Partner with someone with a strong Activator or Command theme. This person can help you deliver news that might hurt someone’s feelings.
  • Explain what we all have in common. Help others understand that to respect the differences among us (our diversity) you must begin by appreciating what we all share (our similarity).
    • The Clifton StrengthsFinder and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are protected by copyright of Gallup Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.

For the more visually inclined:

 A fantastic website with insightful discussion of Includer, including

  • Building your brand through this strengths
  • Strengthening your performance at work
  • Tips for managing someone with this strengths
  • Partnering with someone with this strength

 

Includer Power and Edge takes an interesting approach highlight not just what the strength is and how it shows up if you have it in your top five, but also how to navigate the world when this strengths is one of your lesser ones.

More ideas on going deeper:

From Lead Through Strengths listen/read:

Career Branding When Includer Is Your Strength includes an audio file exploring:

1. Career Branding
2. Red Flag Situations At Work
3. Fresh Application Ideas

 

 

THEME INSIGHTS:

  • I am (Belong) ———-> aware of exclusion and understand its repercussions
  • I will (Doing) ———-> shrink the gap between the haves and have-nots
  • I Bring (Contribution) ———-> a high level of tolerance with and acceptance of diversity
  • I Need (Requirement) ———-> room for everyone
  • I Love (Value) ———-> assimilation and integration
  • I Hate (Value) ———-> cliques
  • Metaphor/Image ———-> cliques are breeding grounds for clichéd thinking
  • Barrier Label ———-> indiscriminate

THEME CONTRAST:

  • Includer: I work for the acceptance of those on the outside.
  • Harmony: I work for the agreement of those on the inside.————————————————————————————————–
  • Includer: Be indiscriminately accepting of all who are on the bus.
  • Maximizer: Be discriminatingly selective about who gets on the bus.
More from Gallup:

 

 

 

Podcast episodes to help you understand and leverage your Includer Strength

  • Episode 1: Celebrating Diversity and Inclusion – “Code Switch”
  • Episode 2: Creating Spaces for Everyone – “The Inclusive Class Podcast”
  • Episode 3: Embracing Differences and Belonging – “The Brené Brown Podcast”
  • Episode 4: Building Inclusive Communities – “The Inclusion Works Podcast”
  • Episode 5: Fostering Belonging in Organizations – “The Culture Factor”
  • Episode 6: Women Leaders Embracing Inclusivity in the Workplace – “The Confident Woman Podcast” (Host: Sherry Parks)
  • Episode 7: The Inclusive Woman: Fostering Diversity in Leadership – “Women Who Lead” (Host: Andrena Sawyer)
  • Episode 8: Embracing Inclusion: Perspectives from Women in Leadership – “The Female CEO” (Host: Stacey Sargison)

Listen to great Strengths Podcasts

  • Theme addicts is a series created by UnleashStrengths to highlight the massive impact the StrengthsFinder assessment through interviews and discussions.
  • Lead through your strengths features many interesting guests and Career Q and A about leverage your strengths at work.
  • Maximize Your Strengths features interviews and discussion on developing your strengths. She really drills into each of the themes by interviewing real people on how a specific theme shows up in their lives.
  • Called to Coach is a webcast resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world.
  • ISOGO TV promises a lot: So dramatically increase your energy and decrease your frustration at work, that you cannot help but take the Strengths paradigm home to your family. Fueling life-changing stories.
  • The True Strength Podcast by Ian Pettigrew (Kingfisher Coaching) features inspiring true stories of how people succeed through applying their strengths and being resilient. It often includes a Gallup StrengthsFinder profile.
  • If you are looking to identify and develop your strengths and talents, take calculated risks and make decisions, The Strengths Revolution with Steve Morgan will help your personal development, as well as helping you support your clients, employees, teams and wider organisations. Knowing your strengths will also support positive risk-taking and decision making as part of good risk management.

 

Sources:

Applying Talents in Career Discovery

 

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