Are you the first person to talk at a gathering and one of the last to leave? There is a good chance that Woo® (Winning Others Over) is one of your top 5 ranked CliftonStrengths® themes. People with Woo are highly ranked tend to be very friendly and gregarious. The type of person to whom there are no strangers, only friends not yet met. Read more about this welcoming and charming superpower…
I have seen people with top-ranked Woo in action and it is amazing. Fun-loving and disarming, they really do love to meet new people as it is deeply satisfying and energizing to meet them and “win them over.” People with Woo create safety and dissipate social anxiety. This ability to talk with put at ease pretty much anyone is mind-boggling to those of us with lower-ranked Woo.
People with Woo readily share personal details about themselves in order to find common ground with those they meet. They also solicit that information from those they meet. The goal is not so much to make a new “bestie” as much as it is to move this new acquaintance to a “better” space and place. This is accomplished by connecting personal data from the person with Woo to the new acquaintance, and then connecting that new acquaintance to someone else in the Woos vast collection of people. At its heart, the Woo talent theme is about helping people more than it is about making new friends.
Looking for new tires? A roofer? You just had a baby? Lost your job? Grew up in New York?
“You need to meet…” “Let me introduce you to…”
This is the person you want to greet new members of your organization. Don’t put a Woo at the door, there’s a good chance others will have a hard time getting through as the Woo-er is gathering intel. Put your Includer® at the door and let your Woo-er roam free to mix and mingle and connect new members to others with similar interests and experiences in the group.
Here are some other words that may describe a person with strong Woo:
- Charming
- Social Butterfly
- Initiator
- Networker
- Gregarious
- Conversationalist
For some, an encounter with a Woo-er may be a bit disorienting, or frustrating. When Woo is more on the talent side of the talent-strength spectrum a person with Woo may have a tendency to dominate a conversation as Woos are rarely at a loss for words. What’s more, true friendship, an emotional connection is not necessarily on the Woo’s agenda. Remember, they want to help, not necessarily be your friend, even though they are friendly. Ironically, it is the Relator® who wants to be your friend, though the Relator is not necessarily friendly! Weird, I know.
Be mindful that the Woos of the world really identify as: “people person.” A Woo will probably struggle if working alone or without a few social connections/tribes.
If Woo is in your top 5 CliftonStrengths how do you experience it? What are you doing to grow this talent? I often coach people with Woo to adopt the “3 question rule.” When they meet someone they get to ask 3 questions. Then they turn the conversation over to the person they met. This will help prevent a Woo from dominating a conversation and also share the conversational power with the person they just met.
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