Character Strengths are positive, you already have them and they can be developed through intentional conversations. By focussing on them we can counter our natural negative bias. I found last week being immersed in our first few, rather bleak autumnal days, and a list of tasks that seemed a bit overwhelming, that I was being overly critical. So I began canvassing for strengths, what was good, right and strong around me. No surprise that I found heaps!
After canvassing and spotting strengths……what’s next? Enhancing them of course. Why not
· Use one of your top strengths in a new way each day. Expand what you already have, what is already working and magnify it. Think about this strength. How has it helped you?
· Another possibility that helps us appreciate the importance of our strengths, is mental subtraction – imagine if you couldn’t use your top strengths at all for a month. How would you feel? Why?
· With friends, partners or colleagues try this exercise introduced to me by Ryan Niemiec in a workshop at the World Positive Psychology Congress in Montreal.
a) Person A- exercises the Strength of Curiosity – by asking lots of questions
b) Person B- the Strength of Self-Regulation – by taking a very slow deep breath before answering each question
a) Person A- the Strength of Judgement -by engaging in some critical thinking about an aspect of their life
b) Person B- the Strength of Love- by giving a gratitude response each time your partner speaks
a) Person A –the Strength of Bravery – share something the other person doesn’t know about you
b) Person B - the Strength of Social Intelligence – by responding to your partner with a social or emotional response
a) Person A- the Strength of Kindness- think of all the kind things you wish to do for others
b) Person B- the Strength of Leadership- How could you enable all your partner wishes for?
a) Person A – the Strength of Zest- by demonstrating all that you hear in your body language
b) Person B- the Strength of Hope -What are your hopes for this day, week, year?
Debrief – Was it easy/hard – What was it like?
Some other suggestions include
· Building Awareness
a) Name a desirable strength
b) Explore it – How do you use it? – In the past or present
c) Apply it – note 1 area in which you could use this strength more in your life
· With a partner share top 3 strengths then share a recent admirable incident. What strengths did you call on at this time? Savour them by explaining and appreciating what worked, what was good, and what you could take from this experience to use again.
Positive reappraisal – strengths spotting in conversations
Speaker – share a current minor problem
Listener – label strengths you hear and give feedback about the thinking and problem solving so far
Now both – discuss the over/underuse /optimal use of strengths in this context.
Finally
· Make list of your top 5 strengths, then alongside it your top 5 work tasks and in the final column explore the alignment between the two.
For example, top 5 strengths love, love of learning, fairness, teamwork, hope,
Top 5 tasks- write a newsletter, a report, develop a PowerPoint presentation for others and research current practice in human resources
To write the newsletter about future education- tweak it slightly, and ensure it includes what I hope for in education- by thinking about how I can use my strengths already I feel more motivated
Research - no need to go further – love of learning- I’m in!
With a strengths lens – anything is possible.