💡 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝘀?

This is one of the questions I love to ask.

Asking this question is different from asking a typical interview question most of us are familiar with, "what are your strengths?"

There are two parts to this question. It seems obvious. But if you ponder upon it deeply, it does require a bit more thought than we usually spend time on.

I am particularly keen to observe the pauses and silence after I post this question.

Based on the many conversations I had, I realised 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀.

Many people I spoke to would respond almost instantly on this with a resounding, "Yes". The interesting thing is that when I probe further, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 "𝗬𝗲𝘀" 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗴𝗼 𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆, it could become less clear or less specific, or it could become clearer and more specific.

An example:

𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒔?

𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘴.

𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎?

𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦.

𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴.

𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴.

𝘦𝘵𝘤.

𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 "𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆", 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔?

........

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘨𝘰.

Asking "do you know", followed by other questions can help people to 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆.

"Strengths", on the other hand, is widely used but often lacks more consideration.

When I work with someone, I love to ask if they know their strengths. I would sometimes ask them to explain or define what strengths mean to them. There are many acceptable definitions and interpretations, there are also various profiling tools that help one identify their strengths. If you do not have access to those tools, here are a few pointers:

In general, strengths are those that

- you do well, often quite effortlessly.

- you have experienced a state of "flow" while employing the strengths.

- you do not feel that you are "trying to do what you are not".

- when you use them in the course of your work/life, they bring joy, enjoyment and a sense of fulfilment.

- you tend to get positive feedback about.

When you ponder upon, "do you know your strengths?", reflect on it until you get more clarity around your strengths and what they mean to you, and how you tend to demonstrate them.

I hope this gives you something useful to consider. Each of us is unique in our own way, and we each possess our strengths. Knowing our strengths in a more in-depth manner, and being ready to talk about them will give you a lift in many ways!

#liftingsotherswithinsights