Interviewing for Strengths

This month's Gallup Management Journal (www.gmj.gallup.com) features an article by Brian Brim, Debunking Strengths Myth #3, in which he writes about "probing for strengths." Brim suggests many questions, including "How do you communicate?" "What drives you?" "How do you set direction and make decisions?" "How do you overcome obstacles?" and "How do you maintain and build relationships?"

While these questions may be useful, they are likely to incite skill-based answers, or simply confusion. There's nothing wrong with tackling the strengths questions head-on. In our book, Play to Your Strengths, Carol and I suggest questions such as these:

• You indicate that you have a skill in empathy (or creativity, or analysis, or whatever they've listed on their resume or development plan.) What talent or strength do you possess that underlies this skill?
• What does the word "empathy" mean to you and how do you know you possess it?
• Tell me about a situation at work in which you were challenged to use your strength of "empathy."
• What do you excel at?
• What is easy for you?
• What are you passionate about?
• Tell me about the last time you were in the "flow" and lost track of time. What were you doing?
• Review the last two weeks in your mind. When were you at your best -- engaged and productive? What strength or talent was manifesting at that time?

It's fun and powerful to discuss strengths with employees, candidates, and best friends! It is useful for managers who want to engage the best of their staff members, as well as for people who work together or live together. Enjoy your discovery!

The World to Come

In 2006, it was Gonzales and Daughter Trucking Company by Maria Amparo Escandon; in 2007, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This year, our local public library chose The World to Come by Dana Horn as the book of the year. All over Bend, Redmond and other locales in Central Oregon, book clubs read this book, and the library offers films, talks, book discussions and, best of all, visits by the author, so we can read this book as a community. It’s a great time and we all gain from the discussions!

The World to Come begins with the theft of a Chagall painting, and then follows the history of the painting back to those who owned it and to Chagall himself. It’s a good read!

On page 84 there is a comment that is haunting me. I.L. Peretz is speaking to Der Nister (these men are poets and authors who write in Yiddish -- a whole world I knew nothing about!) Peretz says, "Your purpose as a writer is to achieve one task, and one task only: To build a paper bridge to the world to come."

We all write. For some of us, writing is a strength born out of innate talents in creativity and clarity. For others of us, it is something we do simply to communicate in today’s world of electronic communication. I wonder what is possible if we each accept the responsibility that each time we write -- whether we’re writing a book, a holiday card, or an e-mail – we write from the perspective that this bit of writing is building a bridge to "the world to come." This bit of wisdom inspires me to think more carefully about what I write and to ensure my words open up possibilities and options and dreams and visions ... and not shut them down. This wisdom is doubly important for leaders, especially today as we often communicate to our followers in written form.

As you prepare your next e-mail or blog comment, please consider if your words build a vision; if they inspire and engage; if they enable others to see the next step in creating the future.

How are you building "a paper bridge to the world to come?"

Andrea

Searching for Patterns

A client of mine was telling me about one of her staff members, who was struggling to discover his strengths. This individual, let's call him Jake, took the time to review and recall his best days. Jake noticed something interesting -- one time he could be performing a task and have a great time -- really feeling like he was working from a place of strength. Another day, a similar task let him feeling cold, bored, and engaging a weakness. The tasks were similar -- and Jake became confused about his strengths!

As my client worked with him to look for the patterns of circumstances underlying the times he felt he was engaging his best strength, Jake had an ah-ha! He realized that his strength was not about the task or the skill at all -- it was all about the relationships he was engaged in when performing the task. When he performed this task alone, he was disengaged. When he performed it with colleagues and others at work, he had a great time. Soon Jake, and his boss, realized that Jake's strength is in relationship. He loves working with others. He enjoys the interplay and the creativity -- and he manages to build collaborative relationships into most all of his work.

Now Jake has a much clearer handle on his strengths, and looks for ways to invite others in whenever possible, so he can enjoy using his relationship strengths. Jake is playing his strong hand!

Andrea