What are your strengths?
It turns out that starting this email and website fits with my natural strengths - and possibly why a whole four years later I'm still at it. A philosophy I've shared with you is that building on people strengths and magnifying them, leads to greater and greater outcomes - for them, for you and for patients. Turns out I'm not alone in this philosophy.
I came across this neat little book and though it sat on my shelf for a while it was a delight when I finally delved in. The book links to the website which means you can skip the book if you like and head straight there to undercover you own strengths using the questionnaire and process that thousands of people have taken. This short video explains the Strengths Finder concepts in just a couple of minutes and here is a more detailed description and background to the work.
The research behind the Strengths Finder found that when you focus on the strengths of your staff they are more likely to be engaged with their work but if you focus on their weaknesses they will actively disengage.
"When you aren't able to use your strengths at work the chances are you'll dread going to work, treat your customers poorly, achieve less on a daily basis and have more negative than positive interactions with your colleagues" [Strengths Finder 2.0, 2007].
The theory goes on to explain that we achieve more by focusing on our strengths rather than slogging away at our weaknesses/areas for development and questions the idea that you can be anything you want to be, if you just try hard enough. I don't think that means we ignore those aspects of work that we don't enjoy or aren't as good at. Rather we understand where our strengths are and plan to use those to the maximum to achieve the greatest outcome.
Knowing our strengths is the first step, and that's what this little book gives you - an enrollment key to an online survey that will produce a detailed report personalised for you, listing your 5 strengths from the selection of 34 themes. It also guides you to creating an action list and challenges you to take action over the coming month. The action lists suggests jobs and careers that potentially best fit with that strength.
Going back to the idea of weaknesses and limitations for a minute. Having an awareness of what you aren't so good at means you can plan for those areas when they are essential to your job or role. You know when to seek help and collaborate with others who do have that strength. In a way you are seeing where your blind spots are - so you don't railroad everyone around as you march on with your strengths.
For example one of my strengths is 'input' - craving to know more and collecting all sorts of information to share with others. My blind spot is that I can find so many things interesting that I get distracted and get off track from what I was intending to learn or curate.
The I am no Jedi email is my way of building on this strength - sharing information, stories and experiences with you. One of my other strengths is 'learner' - continuous improvement and a desire to learn new information. I find I learn best when I teach - or write. The act of explaining a book or a topic in a brief way is a challenge that supports me and you.
While I wasn't surprised by the 5 strengths when I opened my report it increased my understanding of why I do what I do and ways I can refine and develop them further - plus the insights into those blind spots. I preferred the process of completing the online questionnaire to simply picking what I thought my strengths are from a list. These 34 themes have a depth behind them and it gave me a deeper insight into the concepts of strengths for me and in general.
Since the original email I've dug much more into the Strengths Finder, taking a group coaching course that used this approach. Looking at the strengths of my team and how this helps them and us work at our best. I've invested in the full report that helped me see all the strengths laid out - fascinating and insightful. More on all the 34 strengths here.
Bringing those strengths out, knowing confidently what they are and how you can use them at work is where you will make the difference only you can make. In a team, you can see your alignments and the differences. Knowing and using each other's strengths allows you to have greater impact and influence and will give you all more joy in the work you do.
Have you taken the Strengths Finder? - I'd love to hear what you gained from it and how you use what you learned and the insights it gave you.
