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The Fitness Disruption Podcast with Dr. Ted Vickey
The Disruptive Fitness Podcast is a podcast for personal trainers who want to grow their business and work smarter, not harder, by using technology.
The guests will be my industry friends from my White House days, the people you need to know.
The Fitness Disruption Podcast with Dr. Ted Vickey
Podcast 106: Unlock Personalized Training with Gallup Strength Finders Featuring Ty Osborne
Unlock the secrets of personalized training with Gallup Strength Finders as we sit down with Ty Osborne, a renowned expert in this transformative tool. Discover the robust scientific foundation behind Strength Finders and its invaluable applications for personal trainers seeking to tailor programs to their clients' unique strengths. Ty breaks down how understanding individual motivations can revolutionize fitness plans, using real-life examples, including my own results, to illustrate the power of personalized coaching.
Transitioning to leadership themes, we delve into the vital roles of self-assurance, consistency, and futuristic thinking. Learn how self-assurance fosters confident decision-making and inspires others, while consistency minimizes decision fatigue and enhances efficiency—principles exemplified by leaders like Barack Obama and Steve Jobs. Celebrate the power of futuristic thinking to envision and rally support for long-term goals, transforming aspirations into reality.
Finally, we discuss the importance of self-awareness in personal training and health coaching. By recognizing and leveraging both their own and their clients' strengths, trainers can create a more effective and supportive training environment. Ty offers insights into the dynamic nature of Gallup’s talent themes and how life changes can influence their expression. Don’t miss our special offer to engage further with the Gallup assessment and enhance your trainer-client relationships through this powerful tool.
Hi everyone, welcome to today's edition of the Summit. I have with us today somebody I have known for years. In fact, we talked about the importance of your network. Ty and I connected, oh, I want to say, 10 years ago. It's one of those connections where we have been a virtual connection, haven't yet met in person, but Ty Osborne is one of the smartest people when it comes to Gallup Strength Finders. Now, some of you may have heard about Gallup, some of you may have heard about Strength Finders. Put the two together and you get Gallup strength finders. It is a system. Well, I'm not even gonna try to explain it, ty, I'm gonna let you go through how it works sounds good so what is it that strength finders and how can a person use it?
Speaker 2:Okay, ted. Well, like I said, it's awesome to see you in person again after all these years. So I really love playing in this body of work that Gallup has developed. And I'll tell you, ted, it's over 80 years of research that have gone into this particular body of research, so I love that. It's, you know, scientifically valid. It's reliable over time. There's longitudinal studies, and so I like to say the science is legit and really what it is is looking at what motivates you, and so, unlike some other assessments out there, it's not colors, it's not which dog are you, which Star Wars character are you we've all done those BuzzFeed polls but it really is looking at individual motivation. And so what I love about it is, you know, ted, I'm really big on there's no one size fits all, and when, especially thinking about the personal trainer relationship between trainers and their clients, you cannot.
Speaker 2:You cannot treat all of your clients the same, because that will be a very narrow scope for you. You will be losing out a lot of business if you do, and I think your results will be less effective. If you just have one program, I mean, if only one thing works, there would be one fitness book and one diet book in the whole world. Right, but clearly what works for one person doesn't work for someone else, and so StrengthsFinder is a great way to get at individual motivation, so that then a trainer can craft a personal plan which is more likely to work for you.
Speaker 1:Now, I took the StrengthFinders a number of years ago before I knew that you were the guru when it comes to StrengthFinders. It's an easy system. So you are in front of a computer screen, you're asked how many questions there are, but at the end 177 questions 177.
Speaker 1:So you're right, there's science behind it, validity behind it. After you answer those questions, then you are given your themes and I liked it because it helped me understand the type of person that I was, but we can also use it now, as you mentioned, with clients. So pull up my strength finders and we're going to talk about what it is about me.
Speaker 2:I love it Real time.
Speaker 1:Do you see my strength?
Speaker 2:I can. I can see them and you have magnificent strength, ted. You should be feeling very strong. There we go, okay, you know what? I saw it on screen and then it disappeared. Oh, there, it is Okay, perfect.
Speaker 1:So what do?
Speaker 2:you see. So what I'm looking at are your top five themes, and there's two versions of what Gallup offers. You take the assessment once but you can get your top five themes, or you can pay a little bit more and get your full 34 themes. But I would say top five is a great place to start and that's a pretty manageable amount of information for a client. So a couple of things that strike me, ted, when we look at yours you've got competition, significant self-ass, consistency and futuristic in your top five themes.
Speaker 2:Gallup breaks these up into four domains or four buckets, including strategic thinking, influencing themes, relationship building themes and executing themes, and in your top five, three of those are influencing themes. So influencing themes are all about moving others to action, which, when I look at what you do for a living like, of course that fits perfectly. So if I were your trainer and you came to me and I knew this, then I could know certain things. It's not a psychic prediction or anything like that, but it gives me a place to start and some questions to ask that then I can use, as we're working together, to kind of understand your motivation and craft a program that's going to work for you and be able to support you in the best way. So I love your first theme of competition and I find it a lot in the fitness industry. So love it because competition is driven by winning. So is this a surprise to you, or is that pretty accurate?
Speaker 1:You've known me long enough, you know I can put myself on everything, even how fast I can drive to work. It is, I think, those that have been athletes. It kind of is ingrained in what we do. So I think that's the reason why you see competition score so high with the fitness industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so it makes total sense. I also see it tend to show up really high in sales or anything where there's a quantifiable metric for how you're doing, because really the root of competition is wanting to win. Now, sometimes our themes are not always mature or they don't show up in the best possible way, so I call it raw competition or maybe immature competition that might show up like I need to win at your expense, but really mature competition is especially if you're working with a team or a client. Maybe immature competition that might show up like I need to win at your expense, but really mature competition is especially if you're working with a team or a client.
Speaker 1:It's we're going to win together, and so I love using that you know, I'm glad that you you explained it that way, because when I first saw this I was kind of embarrassed that my my most, the highest trait that I have was competition, and that's really the last thing I wanted to think of. So I like the way you said mature competition and it's a we, not a we.
Speaker 2:Right, it's very much, very much a we. And yeah, it's not I have to crush everyone, but it is. I want us to win, and so if I work with a client and set specific goals, then as the trainer, I feel like we're winning too, and so there's a mutual thing there. So one thing that's interesting with competition again, it needs a measurement, a yardstick. It really needs to know if I'm motivated by winning, what does winning look like? And so what I would do if I were your trainer working with you.
Speaker 2:I would ask you that what does winning look like for you? And so what I would do if I were your trainer working with you. I would ask you that what does winning look like for you? And we would get really specific. And oftentimes, with competition, that can look like I might want to run a 5k, I might want to set a new personal best in you know, bench press or something. It can be anything, but typically there's a very concrete goal, and so then we can work toward that, and it's not just like I want to participate in a 5k. It would be I want to be in it and I really want to, I want to win, or I want to come in with a certain time and so something very specific and granular, not just okay, I want to work out once a week with you and hope I feel better.
Speaker 1:that wouldn't work for competition so is the competition self-competition, team competition or a little of both it can be a lot of those things, depending on some of your other themes.
Speaker 2:So when I'm looking at someone's strengths, what I'm not seeing for you, ted, is a bunch of relationship themes. But if I were, that might be let's win as a group. So with your themes, they might be more individually focused. This might be sort of personal best instead of as a team. But I think that's an interesting kind of contrast, because I did see a lot of relationship themes. Those people might do better in a group, cohort or a class of some sort or somewhere where they really had a community, even if it was like a specific Facebook group or weekly chats or something, so that they felt like they were part of a bigger group.
Speaker 1:The next one of mine is significance. Is that me feeling significant or is it me?
Speaker 2:The answer is yes.
Speaker 2:And I will say, Ted, you know I love significance because it is my number two as well, and it is one of the most misunderstood themes. I think Sometimes people see significance as sort of a raw version, might be a big ego, but really the best possible thing for significance. It wants to work on things that are important. It really wants to help others see that they're important too. And significance is all about like the bigger why. Why is this important? What kind of legacy are we leaving? Why should we be focusing our time on this versus something else?
Speaker 2:And so one thing about significance, Ted, that I love. I call it. It has the power to have a virtuous circle in that the better I feel, the better I can help you feel, and then that makes me feel even better and I want you to feel even better. So it really has the power to lift each other up and and again. That's mature significance. Raw significance might mean a little tweaking so that it just doesn't become all about me you know, the about me stands out for me is the desire for wanting more.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, my White House days, and I think that really resonates because it was what do you do after that? And it's always that constant. What's next for me? And right, well, a little secret about you. So you work with Michael Dell.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:The founder of Dell Computers, and he is with his chair of the organization. So you're coming at this from a place of significance, aren't you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think, when you look back over my career, it's not that I had to have the biggest title or anything like that, but I very much wanted to work on things that were important, and I always had a real sensitivity to projects that I felt like were not aligned with the goals. They didn't really matter. They were a bunch of busy work with no apparent reason why, and so I was always the one asking what problem are we trying to solve? How is this going to be used? How will this improve life for the customer or employees? And if I couldn't get real clarity on that, then that wasn't something that I could get behind. But, like you said, I was able to work with Michael and Susan Dell over at their private family foundation, which has a $2 billion endowment and is dedicated to improving the lives of children across the globe, and I mean talk about things that are important. You know you really felt like you were making a difference on a global scale on a daily basis making a difference on a global scale on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:So if a personal trainer or health coach sees that their client has a high significance score, what does that mean? How do they interact?
Speaker 2:with them. Yeah, well, significance is what I like to ask a lot of questions and kind of see, because that can come out differently for different people. So for you, I would probably ask you know, tell me about a time when you felt like you were really making a difference. Or tell me about a time when you felt really strong in what you were doing, not necessarily physically strong, but you felt like really mentally engaged in what you're doing. And based on what you said, then I would have some clues. Like you just said, back in the White House you were working on things that are important. I'm like, okay, then I would change my language to say why is this important right now, what we're doing? And then really let's use that as a vision for if we don't achieve this, what things are we leaving on the table or we're unable to accomplish, and so really getting them tapped into that my.
Speaker 1:My third one is self-assurance.
Speaker 2:I will tell you, my friend, you have some fairly unique themes Significance and self-assurance. In the Gallup ranking of 34 themes, those roll in at number 32 and 33 in terms of frequency, so you don't often see these things. So I love it when I see some of the more unusual themes pop out. And significance and self-assurance are a little bit both sides of the same coin, and so significance tends to need some external validation about things that are important. You know, making sure things are on track.
Speaker 2:Self-assurance says like no, I got this. You know, making sure things are on track. Self-assurance says like no, I got this. And so both of them together are a very strong partnership. So self-assurance would just mean again, if I were your trainer and you came to me, I would think you really do know why you're here and feel confident in your ability and would trust me as your trainer to be your spirit guide on the journey. But self-assurance typically is not plagued by a lot of self-doubt or second-guessing or ruminating over decisions. Self-assurance, when they make a decision, it's pretty much like no, I'm making the right decision, now let's move on so self-assurance is like my being comfortable wearing a Hawaiian shirt it is you being comfortable wearing that awesome Hawaiian shirt just?
Speaker 1:rocking that thing when you talked about it and you said second-guessing and yeah, I find myself second-guessing. So these are just overall things. This doesn't mean that a hundred percent of the time I am self-assured. Our time with this. We'll have some second thoughts and some doubts, right?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, this isn't an always or never kind of thing. These are more, again, motivational themes and like, when you're feeling your best, what's really driving you, what's coming out. And so what I love about self-assurance is it can be very attractive to other people because you look like you know what you're doing and are comfortable doing it. You're not the kind of leader who would be up there saying, gosh, I don't know what we should do, and and really kind of waffling on things. Usually self-assurance, by the time they make a decision and project that outward, they feel really good about it and so can then spend that energy accomplishing the goal or moving forward rather than just kind of staying stuck. So it doesn't mean that you never have a moment where you you think or you kind of wonder, gosh, should I make the right decision? But just compared to other people, you probably process through that a lot faster.
Speaker 1:You know me too well. Bye, my fourth and now we're going from the orange to the purple is consistency. So what does that tell you?
Speaker 2:Right. So consistency is an executing theme, and executing themes are all about getting things done. So really executing themes like to have a goal in mind and they like it to be clear. So ambiguity would not do well with executing themes. These are going to be the people who want to know what is the goal, where are we going, what are the guidelines, are there any guardrails I need to watch out for, or parameters.
Speaker 2:Consistency tends to be sort of I call it like the process improvement theme. It very much is let me figure out a repeatable process, because that's more efficient than handling everything as an exception. So consistency is great. It's sort of, you know, divining wisdom and process from chaos sometimes, and it can be great, and so that might be. If that's high for you, ted, that might be like I want to know when I come in to work with my trainer what's the program going to be, and so that I know that in advance and can execute on that, as opposed to showing up and like every time is different. But then you will have clients who might maybe they're higher in adaptability, they might really enjoy not knowing when they come in what they're going to be doing that day. But I have a suspicion, ted, that you would want to know what are we doing, or at least a framework of what we're doing, and not have it just be a wild surprise every time you would go in.
Speaker 1:Well, I think this is where my OCD comes in, where I've used to drive to work the same route, the same lane. So you want to talk about consistency? That's pretty consistent.
Speaker 2:You know I love that and that's actually a good point. There's a whole body of work about this concept of decision fatigue. I don't know if you've heard that, but you see, like certain people, that's why they wear the same thing all the time. I mean Barack Obama, when he was in office, he only wore like Navy suits or something, because he said I don't want to spend my energy having to make decisions about small things when I have big things to make decisions on and we only have so much mental energy. And so this is the people who you know every morning they eat oatmeal at 7am for breakfast and then they don't have to make a decision about it. So that can really resonate with someone who's got that theme.
Speaker 1:You know, it reminds me of Steve Jobs. You always saw him in the black turtleneck, or Zuckerberg Facebook, with the t-shirt. You're right, I think the applause is just being the same thing. You pull it up, put it on.
Speaker 2:It's done for you, don't have to think, being the same thing that pulled out, put it on. It's, it's done for you. Yeah, it's, it works. And if you have a route to work that works for you, man, do it, as opposed to like every day, it's just I'll wing it it gives me heartache, gives me angina.
Speaker 1:Even my, my fifth one, and the one that I was actually most excited to see, is futuristic.
Speaker 2:Tell us a little bit. Yeah Well, I love futuristic as well. That's another one I share with you, ted. So that one is a strategic thinking theme, and futuristic has a unique gift in being able to see the future and be excited about the future in a very tangible way and not just in the oh yeah, yeah, things will be great, but like no, seriously, I can see it in a very real way and then you can help kind of use that excitement to explain to other people who maybe don't have that gift, their gifts or something else. You can help, you know, explain to them how things are going to be better in a way that they that really comes alive for them. And so I love futuristic.
Speaker 2:We tend to like goals and kind of visioning exercises. You know, for a futuristic client I might say you know, let's just put the weights down for a second and let's really envision what is your life going to be when we get to these certain goals or milestones. How are you going to feel, what are you going to look like, how are others going to respond to you?
Speaker 1:and futuristic would tend to really latch on to that and be excited about that so, as I hear you talk about these things, I'm wondering if, mind knowing what my traits are and we talked about your ideal client I might have be a better fit for that client as opposed to the total opposites, that maybe I should find another trainer for that person because we might not get along in terms of the themes well, I'll tell you, ted.
Speaker 2:I think or let me say what I know to be true is that we see the world through our own eyes, and so that's how we approach the world.
Speaker 2:And if I haven't really taken the time to understand my client and their motivators, I'm just going to approach them with what works for me. And what works for me may or may not work for them. And so if you're the trainer and you are really high in these influencing themes competition, significant self-assurance you know you might be coming at them with this. You know real excited, heavy approach about yeah, we're going to crush it at the next CrossFit competition and that might scare your client to death, and so that might be the person who signs up for one session and never comes back. And so what I think is, if I know my strengths that's always first self-awareness then I understand what makes me tick. And if I attract that same kind of client awesome man, we will just get into it that's great. But I need to understand all of the people who kind of come across my threshold and how I can best support them, not just well, here's what works for me and I hope it works for you too.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned there were what 37?
Speaker 2:34 themes in those four categories yep.
Speaker 1:These are all in alphabetical order. Are there any that really stand out to you that if a personal trainer or health coach has one, that you would be excited to see that they have?
Speaker 2:You know. So the good thing about strengths is they're all awesome. There's no strength on here that says you're going to be a terrible trainer or you know, this is just not the job for you. That's not it. They're all great. They're all just different ways of getting to an outcome and just really explaining that motivational driver. So I could really look at darn near any combination and say here's why you are going to be a great trainer. Now it's just what I need them to understand is okay, then what is my natural approach that feels good, and how do I really work with a client to see what their approach is too?
Speaker 1:So the good news is, no matter what your five themes are your top five themes you can be a good creator. This isn't saying well, you need to be an analytical person to understand it. No, any of these themes will work. It just means you're coming at it from a different approach, right?
Speaker 2:That's it Absolutely. This is not a job predictor kind of assessment, it's not that. This is just what makes you tick and what makes other people tick. And once I have a you know I'm just firmly a big believer in we're better together and once I have a better understanding of you, I can help meet you where you are and take you where you want to go.
Speaker 1:So, ty we, we talked a little bit about the importance of knowing this. So if there's a trainer out there, how do they get to finding out what their themes are? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Great question, ted. There's a couple of ways. So Gallup has an assessment that we have been referencing that you can take. It's pretty easy. That'll get you some results.
Speaker 2:But I'm also a big believer in not everybody in the world needs to take an assessment. I mean, you and I like that kind of stuff. But I am not trying to make money by selling assessments. So there are some clues you can use to discover talents. Or if I'm the trainer, I don't have to assess my client.
Speaker 2:I can just ask them questions about you know how? Do you like to learn? Do you like to read things? Do you need to see me demonstrate? Do you want some additional research? Do you like one-on-one, a small group, a large group, traditional research? Do you like one-on-one, a small group, a large group? How can I best support you? Do you want text? Do you need to see me once a week, twice a week? And so I'm just really asking questions. I can also ask things like tell me about you know something you love to do and I'm not. I don't really care what the topic is. I want to see how they respond. Oh, ted, I lost you there. You go sorry. Well, I had a sunspot. So when I'm asking them questions. I want to see how they respond. I'm really looking to see where did their eyes light up?
Speaker 2:and this could be kind of interesting in a trainer-client situation because you might get clients coming to you at a low point for themselves. You know they might, they could be coming to you because they're dissatisfied or they feel unhealthy or maybe they've gotten some bad news from a doctor or something like that. So you might really have to work to uncover some of that goodness that might be hidden a little bit by some of the current situation. But that's just really good questions. I've got a questionnaire that I'm happy to share about. People can go through and kind of see you know, when's the last time you felt strong? What kind of hobbies do you have? What's the last time you felt strong? What kind of hobbies do you have? What did you like to do as a kid? If you like to read as a kid, well, that's a different set of themes than I was killing it on the kickball field.
Speaker 1:You know that brings up a good question. So if I were to take this today and I take it again a year from now, are my themes going to always be the same?
Speaker 2:Well, gallup has done a lot of research in that area, and so the most part they would say, ted is no, your themes will tend to stay fairly consistent over time. Now, your number one could swizzle, the number four, maybe whatever was sort of number seven might pop up a little bit. So there could be some rearranging within sort of your top 10 dominant talent bucket, they call it. But that it would be highly unusual that something that was ever at the very bottom of your stack of themes would ever pop to the top, and so we tend to see these things show up early. Now I'll tell you what I've seen is we all go through different seasons of life too, right, and if I'm an individual contributor at work, maybe I'm really calling upon some one set of themes. But then if I'm the vice president of the group and I really have to, you know, achieve work through others, you know, maybe then a few of those themes would flip up or down a little bit. But Gallup would say you're pretty much who you are.
Speaker 1:Even when you're explaining this, the competition comes out of me where I got to do it again and I got to get the exact same role.
Speaker 2:I gotta do it again and I gotta get the exact same role. No, that actually happens. And one thing to note it is a psychometric test and it's trying to get your top of mind answers before you really have time to sort of psychoanalyze what it's getting at. And so once you've had some training on this and you kind of know, then people sometimes go back to the assessment and they're like darn it, I'm gonna take it until I get woo. My god, that's not really helpful. So take it the first time and kind of go with that.
Speaker 1:So we talked about the individual trainer or coach getting this and, uh, we're going to have the, the link to you which you can. You can actually provide this for them. They can get their top five or, like you said there, there's another service that'll give you the top uh 34. And they also talked about, and some trainers might be interested in giving an assessment like this to their clients so they have a better understanding for that and they come to you and do that as well, right?
Speaker 2:absolutely and I mean obviously, I'm a big fan of it and I think there's value to that. So a trainer could, you know, craft a package program for a client that you know bakes that cost in. It's not expensive at all and just takes, you know, a little bit of time to do. So I think it's a real value add. And to me, setting that relationship up, being clear on the goals and knowing what's going to really help that person, I mean that's just gold in terms of that relationship, that the stickiness of that relationship over time, and then your ability to attract other clients, because you really listen to me as a trainer, not just make me fit into your program.
Speaker 1:You've been gracious enough. We're going to give away one of the assessments. It'll be on the website for how to get in contact with you, ty, thank you so much. I appreciate what you've taught us. I appreciate you going through and showing my future trainer how to best work with me, but also for me how to understand myself a little bit better. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thank you, ted. This has been great and I welcome any questions. People reach out to me anytime, because I love this stuff and I love helping other people feel better, because together we're better. Thanks Ty, thanks Ted.