Morning ,

If you're new here, I'll just let you know that I also like to read these emails to you as an audio (some folks tell me they enjoy the "podcast" 🤭 me too!) ...so this one is here in the google drive 🎧.

The other week after my last email, one reader shared their Top 5 Strengths with me and then another a few days later.

I know both of these folks. One I’ve worked closely with before and the other, I’ve collaborated with in the past.

What I love about both of their strengths shares is the joy I have in instantly jumping to examples where I've experienced the impact of their strengths in action first hand. I can also hear their strengths in how they talk about the work they love to do and their approach.

What I've learned over time is that being able to notice other's strengths and being able to provide strengths focussed feedback contributes to building trust.

I think for others it shows you have the GAS factor. Which I believe is a great thing as a leader.

Now, I've spent a lot of time studying strengths and have become an accredited coach with Gallup and Learner is my Top Strength. Having that as my top strength means that I love to take in new information and put it to use.

So what I'd love to help you be able to do is to "strengths spot". Whether that's in a 1 on 1 meeting, a quick team huddle or in a casual conversation with colleagues or family.

So to help you start your way towards strengths spotting as a leader and a manager, I've got two ripper tools to share with you today.

1. A brilliant question. The answer to which sees people telling beautiful stories and has them sharing their natural talents with you in minutes.
2. A 2 page PDF from Gallup with the 34 Strengths definitions.

I'd love to help you spot strengths in others. I believe this question and the PDF are tools to get you started.

So work with me here, I'm just going to imagine for a minute that you're in a 1 on 1 meeting with a member of your team. You've been talking through some work in progress, the latest update on a project maybe. Maybe you've got a ripper oat milk cortado on the table in front of you as well (I probs might).

Because you're interested in understanding your team mate's strengths, at some point in the conversation (and I'd suggest asking this well before the wrap up) you're going to ask them this:

1.The question.

"Can you tell me about a day or a week at work where everything just seemed to fall into place, you were firing on all cylinders, where you finished the day with loads of energy and achieved some great things for yourself and importantly for others?

And then pause.

Everyone I have ever asked this question knows these days, weeks or months in their work. Some folks might stare into the distance and think for a minute. Some folks might grin and nod. Some folks might be skeptical and wondering why you're asking. Some people just dive into the story and just share.

Ask them to describe it to you in detail.

To help them clarify there's a couple of sub questions you can ask. What was the situation? What kinds of work were they doing? How was time passing? What was the final impact? What did they notice about themselves and others?

And as they describe it to you, just start taking a few notes. In your head or on paper, whichever is your jam. Just think about words that best describe what you feel they're telling you.

2.The Two page guide.

There's a great snapshot tool of strengths themes and definitions that Gallup share. I've linked to it here and I recommend you download it, print it and have it ready (maybe tucked under your notebook or laptop in your one on one)

After your team mate has shared their amazing day, week or month with you and you've taken plenty of notes, thank them for sharing their story. Tell them it's helping you understand more about their individual talents and what a great day looks like for them.

Then you have a little bit of homework that you can do after.

Pull out the two pager and set it alongside your notes. As you read through the list, just highlight or underline the words that you feel best match what they've described.

Don't think too hard about it, just underline or highlight.

You've just started strengths spotting. Right then. Right there.

Your next steps?

Get curious.

Get curious about where else you see them using those particular strengths. Continue to scribble down some notes. You'll keep seeing evidence of their use.

Now of course there's no substitute for having someone complete the full 34 Report with Clifton Strengths and then getting the results back and being able to debrief them.

For now though, you've just started to get curious about how their natural talents play out, how they operate when they feel like they're at their best and are having a great impact and you've started strengths spotting.

We all love it when our natural talents get to be active across our days. Don't we? Don't you?

As a leader you can now start to think through, how can I support this team mate to use these more often.

We can all win when we get to use these strengths.

Hope you're having a ripper week.

Nick

0418 870 184

P.S. When I wrote to you back in January, I talked about the importance of setting goals in light of an understanding of your strengths, a way of looking at those goals to make them more achievable.

I shared last month that I'd woven my use of Learner, Strategic and Responsibility into another creative project to add alongside the Reflection Guide on Etsy. Custom printed Strengths Mugs.

Now I'm part way into the 3rd of 6 creative projects, more on that next week before the end of the third month. It's got a lot to do with creating effective 1 on 1s with a focus on strengths.