Strengths
So today was a perfect example of why our users need the solution we are trying to deliver through our open working project with Power to Change.
I was working with one of our Users trying to write an introductory email/ request to do an hour or two work shadowing. I helped to get the email started (and finished) and wrote some questions to help create a framework for the middle. One of theses was about Strengths. I had suggested they include a couple of examples of their key strengths, explain how these were relevant to the work we were asking to shadow and how they had demonstrated them.
Strengths? What are they?
What are my strengths? — always a toughie- Can we pick a friend/colleague and list some of their strengths to start with and to get into the rhythm prior to tackling ourselves?
Is that what other people think I am good at? Yes, but it is also what you believe you are good at.
Do different people think I have different strengths? Yes, if I was to ask my mum and my work colleague about my strengths they would give totally different responses as they see me in different situations, doing different roles, and dealing with different challenges.
Strengths, are they what people wrote about me when I put on facebook “Can you describe something I am good at”?- eeek, is Facebook or any social media platform a good place to be asking this type of question? You may get some positive responses back but it is opening yourself up to receiving some less than helpful responses.
We are currently prototyping a group of interconnected but also separate sections of a potential digital solution to supporting our Users. One of these sections is all about Strengths. It will provide an area for Users to collate their and other’s (whom they select) views of their strengths, so they can refer to them in circumstances such as this one or, if they need a little boost of confidence.
Linking in with the Strengths, are other areas that we are prototyping; the recording of hard and soft skills development; somewhere to record examples of when these have been demonstrated for later reference, and a way of helping Users record and visualise how their confidence is growing even if they are having a bad day.
It is an exciting time.
