The Strengths Companion

The strengths approach encourages people to do satisfying work. It also focuses on how they can use their talents to help other people.

People often want three things from work: money, meaning and magic. Money feeds the stomach. But meaning and magic feed the spirit and the soul.

Imagine you want to get the right balance in your work. Let’s consider some ideas for making it happen.

1) Money.

“I’m not sure I will ever have enough money,” said one person. “I seem to spend whatever I get.”

Different people have different relationships with money. Researchers tell us that, once people go beyond a certain financial threshold, then increased money does not mean increased happiness. How a person spends their money – and whether they can do so more wisely – is a separate issue.

Many excellent books have been written on this subject. The Seven Laws of Money, by Michael Phillips, remains one of the best. Published over 20 years ago, it shows how people can enjoy a better relationship with money.  You can find these Seven Laws at the link below.

http://bit.ly/bGnh4T

Providing you have enough money to live, the issue then becomes one of lifestyle. As Gandhi said: “The world has enough resources for everybody’s need, but not for everybody’s greed.”

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. On a scale 0—10, to what extent do get enough money in your work? How can you maintain or improve the rating?

2) Meaning.

“I love my job,” said one person. “I provide solutions that help people to take more charge of their lives. Like many people in the service business, I aim to help customers to succeed. And that gives me an enormous buzz.”

“I like to see positive results in my work," said another person. "That gives me a sense of meaning.

“It's important for me to get the right balance between innovation, implementation and impact. My last job was frustrating, because I spent all my time implementing other people’s tactics. There was little scope for innovation or impact.

“So I found a new role where I can innovate, implement and see the results. This is what I find fulfilling.”

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. On a scale 0—10, to what extent do you enjoy a sense of meaning in your work? How can you maintain or improve the rating? Try completing the following sentences.

3) Magic.

What are the magical times in your work? How often do they occur? How can you create more of these times?

“I started by focusing on what gave me positive energy," said one Sales Director. "So I began visiting more of my favourite customers. This was far more rewarding than sitting in boring internal meetings."

"Slowly I pieced together these visits like a string of pearls. Eventually 80% of my week was spent with customers. The orders rolled-in and, because our team beat our targets, I was given extra heads. So I took steps to do three things.

* To hire a co-ordinator to manage the team.

* To get everybody to write down their strengths and how they could use these to achieve the team’s goals.

* To give the co-ordinator power to harness these strengths and fill the gaps.

"This released everybody to do what they do best and we beat our increased targets. Now I love my work and also have a superb team.”

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. On a scale 0—10, to what extent do you enjoy a sense of magic in your work? How can you maintain or improve the rating? Try completing the following sentences.

Richard Florida’s book, The Rise of The Creative Class, describes how millions of people are being more creative in their work. If they cannot satisfy this drive inside an organisation, they go outside. Companies that harness this spirit will create ‘win-wins’ – both for the organisation and the individual.

People need bread stay alive but, we are told, people do not live by bread alone. They also need to feed the spirit and soul. Many are aiming to get the right balance of money, meaning and magic in their lives.

Imagine that you are facilitating a coaching session for an individual, team or organisation. Sometimes people may talk a lot around an issue.

One way to get to the heart of the matter is to invite them to rate their feelings or perception around a topic. You can then encourage people to focus on how they can maintain or improve things in their lives or work.

Using ‘numbers’ may sound an ‘unfeeling’ approach. But it can actually help people to focus on their feelings and specific behaviour. They can then move onto the actions they and, if appropriate, other people can take to achieve their picture of success.

Employing This Approach

You can use this approach to help a person to look at situations in their daily lives and work. It can also be employed to consider the performance of individuals, teams or organisations.

The following pages provide questions that you can use with individuals who want to explore things in their personal life. It then moves on to their perception of how to improve things in their professional life.

The topics invite people to go through at least three steps.

* To give a rating on a scale 0 – 10.

* To give their reasons for the rating.

* To focus on what they can do to maintain or improve the rating.

The approach is to encourage people to take responsibility. Bearing in mind what they can control, it is then to focus on how they can shape the future.

The following pages provide a range of topics that it is possible to explore.

On the personal front, these explore themes such as happiness, pursuing life goals and having a sense of control.

On the professional front, they cover themes such as personal satisfaction, performance and the team’s chances of success.

You may, of course, want to create your own questions. So here are the themes you can explore with a person. Or, if you wish, look at your own personal or professional life.

There are many ways to encourage a person to explore how they feel about a situation. One approach is to invite them to rate their perception of it on a scale 0 – 10. They can then focus on how to improve things in order to achieve their picture of success.

When you look at people – and at life – what do you see?

Some people see the positive things and possibilities. Some people see negative things and problems. Some people see a mixture of both.

Let’s consider this positive approach to life.

Positive Eyes

During the past 20 years there have been many studies of happy people. These have found that such people appreciate life. They are generous and kind.

They are grateful and count their blessings, rather than count their burdens.

They are encouraging and help other people to succeed.

They apply their strengths to plant seeds of hope and try to build a better world.

Martin Seligman, Tal Ben-Shahar and Sonja Lyubomirsky are among the many researchers who have focused on happiness. You can read more about their findings at the following link.

http://www.thestrengthsfoundation.org/the-strengths-companion-h-is-for-happiness

Great educators also have positive eyes. George Lyward, who ran Finchden Manor, a pioneering therapeutic community had staff that focused on the young people’s possibilities.

Bus loads of social workers travelled to its location, near Tenterden in Kent, to seek the secret of his success. Walking around the ramshackle huts, they saw boys playing guitars, kicking footballs, tending gardens and, in some cases, engaged in study.

Finally the visitors crammed into the large hall and bombarded George with questions.

“What therapy do you believe in,” they asked. “What is the staff’s role? They seem to do little except watch the boys.”

“You are right, they watch the boys,” said George. “Watching is one of the hardest things to do in life.

“Our staff watch the boys painting, mending cars, playing music, helping each other or whatever. They look for when the boy ‘comes alive’. They then nurture the boy’s talent and help them to shape their future life.”

Great educators often have this approach. They focus on:

The specific times when the person ‘comes alive’ and performs fine work.

The specific things the person is doing right then.

The specific things the person can do to follow these principles – and add other skills – to perform good work in the future.

Al Siebert’s work on survivors shows that peak performers are often ‘positive realists’. They have a positive attitude, but also see reality.

Going into the situation in which they excel, they quickly gather information to see what is happening. They then focus on:

The potential picture of success.

The patterns that are happening – both the successful and unsuccessful patterns.

The strategies they can follow to achieve success.

You can read more about Al’s work at the following link.

http://www.thestrengthsfoundation.org/3-tips-for-understanding-al-sieberts-work-on-strengths

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do two things.

Describe the things you can do to continue to have positive eyes.

Describe the things you can do to translate what you see into positive actions.

Positive realists are always looking for possibilities and solutions. They then work hard to achieve the picture of success.

There are many models for doing fine work. One approach is to be positive, professional and a peak performer. Let’s explore how you can follow these steps in your own way

Positivity

It may be a cliché to urge people ‘to be positive’, but the evidence shows it can be good for the spirit. It can also encourage other people when you work in a team.

Peak performers are positive realists, said Al Siebert, author of The Survivor Personality and The Resiliency Advantage. Whilst having a positive attitude, such people quickly read reality. They see patterns, get to the heart of the matter and find solutions to challenges.

Barbara Fredrickson’s work shows how developing positive emotions can improve our lives. Twenty years of research into emotions culminated in her best selling book Positivity.

The book was based on solid research, but it also captured the imagination. Why? Interviewers and readers focused on a key theme. This was:

People who have positive emotions in a ratio of 3:1 in relation to negative emotions are more likely to flourish.

Barbara explains that positivity increases our ability to live flourishing – rather than languishing – lives. It is helpful to increase:

“The amount of positive emotions you have in relation to negative emotions.”

We need a ratio of 3 to 1 to lift us, increase our resilience and flourish. For many people the ratio is 2 to 1. For some it is 1 to 1 or less.”

This rule applies in many areas of life. She found that:

“For individuals, marriages and business teams, flourishing – doing remarkably well – comes with positivity ratios above 3 to 1.

“By contrast, those who don’t overcome their depression, couples who fail in their marriages, and business teams that are unpopular and unprofitable each have ratios in the gutter, below 1 to 1.”

You can take the Positivity Test at the following link.

http://www.positivityratio.com/

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. First, on a scale 0 – 10, rate the extent to which you believe that you are positive. Second, describe the specific things you can do to maintain or improve this rating.

Professionalism

Let’s assume that you have such an attitude. This will create a positive atmosphere with both colleagues and clients, but there is still a job to do. After all, clients hire you:

* To understand their goals.

* To solve their challenges.

* To help them to achieve success.

David Maister outlines many ways you can take this step in his book True Professionalism.

“There are relatively few new ideas in business, if any at all,” writes David.

“How often can one repeat the basic advice of ‘Listen to your clients, provide outstanding service, train your people, look for and eliminate inefficiencies, and act like team players?’

“The problem, clearly, is not in figuring out what to do. Rather, the problem is to find the strength and courage to do what we know to be right.

“The lesson is clear: Believe passionately in what you do, and never knowingly compromise your standards and values. Act like a true professional, aiming for true excellence, and the money will follow.

“Act like a prostitute, with an attitude of ‘I’ll do it for the money, but don’t expect me to care,’ and you’ll lose the premium that excellence earns. True professionalism wins!”

You can discover more about this approach at:

http://davidmaister.com/books.tp/

Great service givers build on their strengths, find sponsors – people who will pay them for what they do best – and help those sponsors to achieve success.

They create a ‘Win-Win-Win’. This is a win for the customers – the sponsors – a win for their own company and, if possible, a win for themselves. Taking these steps and performing superb work will ensure they reach at least 8/10

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. First, on a scale 0 – 10, rate the extent to which you believe you are professional. Second, describe the specific things you can do to maintain or improve this rating.

Peak Performance

Let’s assume that you have chosen to be positive and professional. This will consistently take you to around 8/10. You can then do your best to deliver 10/10.

How to make this happen? Peak performers lay the ground by preparing properly. One approach they take is to mentally rehearse everything in great detail. Looking ahead to a particular situation, they may go through the following steps.

Peak performers prepare properly. They then relax. ‘Going into the arena’, however, they switch on and are fully present. They then take the following steps.

They clarify the picture of success. They see the destination quickly. They go ‘A, B ____ and then leap to _____ Z’.

They use their ‘personal radar’ to see patterns quickly.

They clarify the key strategies for achieving success.

They employ their repertoire of strategies and skills to perform superb work and find solutions to challenges.

They do whatever is required to achieve the picture of success. They sometimes do this by demonstrating a touch of class.

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. First, on a scale 0 – 10, rate the extent to which you believe that, when appropriate, you deliver peak performance. Second, describe the specific things you can do to maintain or improve this rating.

There are many models for doing great work. One approach is to be positive, professional and a peak performer, especially when working in a team. You can then work together with other people to deliver 10/10.

People sometimes go through three stages during their professional career. First, they begin by being real. Second, they become wrapped in playing a professional role. Third, they are real in their professional role.

Let’s explore these three steps.

Being Real

People often show passion when starting out on their chosen career. They are real, raw and may be classified as a rough diamond.

Throwing themselves into their work, they sometimes make mistakes, but this is part of the adventure. Their spark transmits energy and fire.

Singer-songwriters, for example, sometimes produce great work early in their careers. Belying their youth, they write songs that convey wisdom beyond their years.

The same happens in many fields. Stoked by idealism, people look forward to going to work each day, then comes the next stage.

Being In Role

People may climb the career ladder and, at a certain point, feel they must get into role. Certainly they must be professional, but sometimes they bury their personality and become wrapped in the role.

This may manifest itself by, for example, losing touch with customers, collecting ‘badges’, talking in long sentences, making things complicated or whatever.

“I stopped doing what I do best,” said one person, “and spent my life acting as a middle management supervisor. Two years into the job I felt confident enough to begin showing my real personality.”

This brings us to the next stage.

Being Real In Role

Confident in their professional ability, they are real yet also able to fulfil their role.

Great leaders, for example, show the human touch. They feel more able to be themselves and, far from diminishing their authority, this increases their credibility.

How can you continue to be real in your role? Three principles are worth bearing in mind.

First, be passionate. Do things you feel passionately about and let your passion shine through. Second, be professional. Fulfil your professional obligations and do these superbly. Third, be a peak performer. Do something special that adds that touch of magic.

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Describe the specific things you can do to continue to be real in your role. Try completing the following sentence.