Strengthened Geniuses: Our Secret Sauce
In the high-stakes world of energy and ag, an agency is only as effective as its collective talent. While assessments like DISC have been industry staples since the 1980s, true operational excellence requires a deeper dive into the intersection of natural talent and cognitive energy.
Way back in 1999, I found Clifton StrengthsFinder and used it to bring our Paulsen management team together. The core idea is simple: it identifies a team member’s top 10 strengths out of 34, revealing how their brain naturally works and what they are truly best at.We use this to match people with roles where they'll shine. And it’s a big help with internal communication and collaboration. I Clifton StrengthsFinder has become a huge deal—37 million people have taken it, and 90% of Fortune 500 companies use it!
The logic is solid: If you get to spend your day doing what you're naturally good at, you're going to crush it. You’ll be happier, more productive, more engaged, and the work will just be plain better.
Last year, we brought in the Working Genius assessment.
To maximize efficiency, we look at where each team member excels within the six stages of a project:
- Wonder: The ability to ponder the "why" and speculate on new possibilities.
- Invention: The gift of creating original and novel ideas and solutions.
- Discernment: The natural ability to evaluate the workability of an idea or plan.
- Galvanizing: The talent for rallying and inspiring others to take action.
- Enablement: The gift of providing the support and assistance to get things moving.
- Tenacity: The drive to push projects across the finish line and ensure results.
This tool helps us identify where team members get energized (their two 'Genius' areas) and what naturally drains them (their two 'Frustration' areas).
Both of these are amazing tools. They help our managers coach the team, support personal growth, and make sure we have the "right people in the right seats on the bus." Sometimes we find someone is a better fit for a totally different job, and that's a good thing!
Why This Matters to Our Clients
Our investment in these tools isn't just about internal harmony; it’s about the precision and speed we bring to your business. When we align a team member’s natural CliftonStrengths with their Working Genius, we eliminate the "friction" that often slows down agency work.
For our clients, this means:
- Better Strategic Outcomes: We match "Discernment" geniuses with your complex data sets to ensure strategies are viable before they launch.
- Creative Momentum: We pair "Invention" geniuses with "Galvanizers" to move your big ideas from the whiteboard to the market faster.
- Flawless Execution: By placing "Tenacity" experts at the finish line, we ensure that every detail of your campaign meets our high standards for quality and ROI.
The Big Plan for This Year
We're taking things up a notch by layering these two assessments on top of each other instead of looking at them separately. Why? It's all about shifting the focus from fixing an area in which a team member may not naturally excel” to maximizing their energy and being super efficient.
By combining natural talents (Strengths) with what energizes our team (Genius), we speed up our process, drive awesome results, and grow.
At Paulsen, talent is viewed as multi-dimensional. By layering natural Strengths with individual Genius, the agency moves beyond simple productivity to true efficiency by design. This approach allows the team to bypass burnout and deliver top-tier work on tighter timelines.
Ultimately, building a culture centered on developing every employee is a win for the staff, a win for the agency, and a significant win for clients—who receive the highest level of expertise and momentum for their investment.
