The Five Powers of Your Strengths
During a recent keynote I asked participants to write a colleague’s strength on a sticky note. They stood behind the person and wrote a strength, or something they admired about them.
They pressed the strength-note to the person’s back.
It wasn’t long before the entire audience was cackling and laughing. Some people ran across the room to stick a strength-note on a co-worker.
After five minutes, they removed the notes and handed them to each other. One participant came up after my keynote and said, “I’m keeping these notes in my desk for a day when I could use a little encouragement.”
What would happen if I asked them to write weaknesses? I don’t think I would have heard much laughter.
The 5 Powers of Your Strengths:
- Strengths point to your area of highest impact.
- Strengths give a sense of control.
- Strengths fuel energy. Focused energy is the reason things get done.
- Strengths reveal where progress is most likely.
- Strengths point to opportunities we might seize. You can’t seize an opportunity with your weaknesses.
Fixer:
Your inner fixer is choking the life out of you and your team.
The world goes dark when you focus on fixing weaknesses.
Don’t ignore weaknesses. Just don’t focus on them. Maybe your heart is compassionate but your appearance is gruff. Don’t keep shooting yourself in the foot. Find ways to give voice to your compassion.
Maybe you need to develop new skills that give expression to your strengths. Perhaps you’re great with compassion but lousy with tough conversations. How might you strengthen compassion to include being good with tough conversations?
Which power of strengths do you find most important? What would you add to the list?
What might you do for yourself or colleagues to more highly focus on developing strengths?
Hmmmm, I wonder where you were when you had participants complete the strength-note activity? Northwest Area Education Agency, of course.
Thank you so much for your motivating work. The strength notes I received will be kept as reminders to focus on my strengths!
Thanks Katherine. Could be! It was a great experience to spend time in Sioux City. You guys rock!
Dan,
“Focus” comes to mind in each case for strength building or weakness improvement.
The mind is a powerful tool, we just have to find ways to transform ourselves to become better at what we do.
Be fair to yourself sometimes I’ve heard we are to hard on ourselves, just let it go!
Go for the stars, we have nothing to lose!
Thanks Tim. Focus is our ability to create a point of attention and pouring energy into it. Without focus, it seems energy is wasted.
I hear people struggle with letting go of being hard on themselves because they fear it results in mediocrity. It’s one thing to aggressively press for excellence and beating yourself up when you fall short. Falling short is an essential part of pursuing excellence. In one way, you could say we always fall short. Realistically, it’s a matter of degree and frequency.
This is Amazing!!! You are inspiring us Dan!! I really love your work with us young leaders.
Thank You!!! Kel
Thanks for the encouragement, Kel!
Thanks for spending the day with us in Sioux City Dan. Northwest AEA was energized by your words…and “words are rudders…life goes where you talk”. I have read and re-read my strength notes three times since the end of the day. A small but powerful exercise! Thanks again!
Thanks Jim. It was great meeting you. You lead a great group of people.
It was the first time I used the strength not exercise. Your feedback is useful. So far, no negatives. 🙂
Best for the journey
Curious. What were some of the “strengths” that were listed that caused both laughter and the note retention? Great idea. Thanks!
Hi SGT. I didn’t ask to see any of the strength-notes. The laughter was more about the joy of focusing on strengths, not any particular strength. In other similar activities, laughter often breaks out. It just feels good. 🙂 Cheers