We all have things that we are good at and enjoy doing.
These are our natural capacities and strengths. They make us and make us feel energized
and engaged, ready and able to do our best. People often mistake learned behaviors
for strengths. Learned behaviors are often things that you are good at, can do
well, yet de-energize you.
These are things that someone can be taught fairly easily
through demonstration. Think of driving. I can show you how to turn the car on,
how to accelerate, brake, indicate, park, etc. If all other factors are normal,
then I could reasonably expect you to slowly acquire and perfect the skill of
driving as I demonstrated more and more how to do it.
Leveraging your personal strengths means using more of what
you are good at to get more of what you want. To leverage your strengths
is more than simply using your strengths. It means you intentionally seek out
ways to make the best use of your natural talents in order to develop them into
strengths.
It’s important to note that just because a task energizes
you, that doesn’t mean it’s automatically a strength. If you complete a project
that requires major revisions or extra work, it may not be an area where you
excel. Conversely, you might have great success in sales, but after a deal
closes, all you can envision is never having to make another. Use
self-reflection to pinpoint the activities that both energize you and where you
have been successful to find your true strengths.
Theodore Roosevelt once said: “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
So while it’s quite common to cast about for others’ strengths to figure out
what you are good at, it’s also a terrible way to go about it. To help you stop
comparing yourself to others, focus on creating self-awareness, which includes
recognition and acceptance of who you are.
If you want to motivate people to try something new, ask the
person which of their strengths would help them most in achieving the desired
change. Motivation will increase as goals are accomplished and setbacks
overcome. All this while doing what they enjoy most and feel is aligned to
their best self.
By equipping people with a positive focus on what they do
well and can do more of, and helping them create pathways to better access and
develop their strengths, they will feel far more motivated to learn and adopt
new behaviour. This is partly because using strengths is intrinsically
motivating and rewarding. When people are operating from their strengths they
feel more confident.
When you know your own strengths and the strengths of
others, you are better equipped to leverage strengths together. One of the most
powerful things you can do to increase collaboration is give people a language
to talk about each other’s’ strengths and how they can contribute them
specifically toward team goals.
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