Discover what each theme uniquely brings and needs in order to thrive.
The Brings & Needs report provides enhanced statements for the CliftonStengths® themes. Tailored for each person, the report explores several aspects of their themes.
The report in Cascade is a good introduction to help someone discover more about their top themes. The concise phrases are quick to read and excellent for coaching sessions.
The Bring Need report is unique to Cascade and is the favourite report for many coaches.
Theme Brings
The I Bring column on the left lists ways how the theme can enhance a situation. It gives permission or helps each person feel empowered to own that aspect of their theme.
It also helps people appreciate how they can give of their best when contributing to a team. The added confidence helps to strengthen the team and increase productivity.
Knowing how each theme can contribute to a situation increases the opportunities to use the theme in a variety of ways.
Theme Needs
With each contribution, there is a need. What do we need in order to give our best? Identifying the needs helps to create the best environment to improve performance.
Focusing on yourself, how do you recharge your batteries? Review the Needs of each theme and describe them in practical terms – what they mean to you.
Knowing the themes of our colleagues and meeting their needs, will help them thrive and increase their contributions.
How to use the Bring Need report
Recognising the contributions and needs for each theme adds another level of understanding. There are many ways to include this report in a coaching session.
- Use the ‘I Bring’ and ‘I Need’ statements that resonate to complete Gallup’s ‘The Best of Us’ worksheet.
- Think of a specific goal and hight light the theme contributions that will help. Draw out the best parts of each theme to provide direction, motivation, collaboration and delivery for the challenge.
- Interpret the ‘I Need’ statements into everyday practical activities. Note roughly how often to perform each activity to maintain energy levels. For example, someone with the Relator® theme needs time for one on one conversations. How many of these conversations should they schedule each week?
- When someone is very demotivated, review the ‘I Need’ column to see what they can do to feed their themes and boost their energy levels.
- Encourage a manager to feed the individual needs for each of their staff. This will lead to the staff delivering their best contributions.
- Use the ‘I Bring’ statements to share what you can deliver, and balance the conversation with the Needs to deliver your best. For example, someone with the theme of Analytical® can get to the root of the problem. However, they need the exact and well-researched numbers.
- When writing your CV, use the I Bring statements to share what you can do when you play to your strengths.
Coaching Questions
- Which contributions do you see in yourself and what contributions could you engage more often?
- Which of the needs are most important to you and how can you meet these needs on a regular basis?
- Knowing the themes of others, how can you encourage them to use their themes more?
- Working with others, how can you help meet their needs so they can make a more effective contribution?
The Cascade report includes the top 5 themes for each person. The Bonus Pack adds extra pages to cover themes 6 – 10 and 11 – 15.
What do Strengths Coaches say?
Share with the Whole Team
The powerful information in the report is not just for the individual. Encourage each person to share their Brings and Needs reports with their whole team to increase understanding and collaboration. Gallup Certified Strengths Coach Alicia Santamaria in California, writes;
Cascade’s Brings & Needs Report is one of my clients’ favorites! In addition to using them in my 1-1 coaching, they are a very powerful tool to use with teams.
Previously, I only provide people with their own Brings & Needs report. Now I make Bring/Need packets for each team member, complete with a cover page and a copy of everyone’s Brings & Needs Reports.
One activity is to have participants identify (and share) a contribution they want to make sure their colleagues know about and a key need they have that might currently be unfulfilled. There are several other ways to use the report in the session and afterwards, which are outlined on the cover page.
My clients tell me over and over again how valuable this information is to help them understand themselves and each other better. Thank you Cascade!
Alicia Santamaria CEO, adelante coaching + consulting
Giving Clients Confidence to Expand their Network
There are lots of ways to use the Brings Needs report in a workshop or coaching session. We spoke to Gallup Certified Strengths Coach Meryl Naisby in Johannesburg, South Africa. She describes one way she uses the report with her clients and the difference it makes to the greater organisation.
Conversation with Meryl Naisby
How would you describe the Bring Need report in Cascade?
The Bring Need report in Cascade is unquestionably my favourite report to use with clients. It is concise and digs deep into the core of their dominant Themes. The report helps me guide clients in reminding them of their unique magic that they bring to any situation, the value they Bring and the Needs that they may have. The report is my aide in helping clients to articulate this in a way that allows them to be heard and valued.
How do you use the report with your clients?
I use the Bring Need report in my Strengths debrief with all my clients. Importantly, I ask them to share it with a minimum of 6 people that know them well, with colleagues, family or with friends. The process allows for their counterparts to read through the Bring Need report and unpack situations where they have seen the client’s Themes manifest in the real world from their personal experience, and how these themes have added value.
In the initial session, I encourage my clients to only listen with no discussion. Just absorb the feedback and have a follow-up conversation with their counterparts later to unpack it further. I then close the loop by taking my client through their feedback.
The exercise is even more powerful when both parties have completed the CliftonStrengths® assessment and have an understanding of their dominant Themes. They can discuss and unpack each other’s Bring Need report, creating a two-way conversation.
What difference does this exercise make for your clients and their organisation?
Generally, I find that this gives my clients the confidence to use the report to further network within their organisation and share it with people from different areas within the business. The big win here for businesses is that it encourages cross-functional collaboration within the organisation, as well as externally.
Is there anything you would like to add?
I cannot recommend the Bring Need report highly enough to articulate better the value that clients bring and the needs they may have. It is a ‘must-have’ for any business that wants to discover and celebrate the uniqueness of their team members and foster more meaningful conversations to unlock greater efficiency and collaboration from their team.
Thank you Richard, for giving me and the wider Strengths coaching community this priceless tool.
Meryl Naisby is a dedicated and passionate Strengths Coach. She works with individuals and teams from around the world, helping others to recognise and appreciate their talents and to apply them confidently in meaningful ways, to achieve performance excellence, to add to their wellbeing, and ultimately to make the world a better place.
Sign up for the Cascade Connection. In the June edition we will be sharing how coaches use the Brings & Needs report in their workshops.
Language Options
This report is available as standard in English US and English UK. Additional Language Packs are available for French, Spanish and German.
