Monday 24 October 2011

Complementary Strengths

For many people , having discovered one's strengths, the greater challenge is to create a plan for making them even stronger. This recent HBR acticle offers some practical advice and advocates focussing on developling complementary strengths.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Sparks!

My colleague Mike Pegg introduced me to the term SPARKS, defined as "An individual's deepest passions and interests that give them meaning, focus, joy and energy.."....their strengths?

Peter Benson coined the term as a result of his research among American teenagers. Here is a list of their 10 most common sparks.
1. Creative Arts
2. Athletics
3. Learning (e.g., languages, science, history)
4. Reading
5. Helping, serving
6. Spirituality, religion
7. Nature, ecology, environment
8. Living a quality life (e.g., joy, tolerance, caring)
9. Animal welfare
10. Leading

Peter says, "Children want to be known for their sparks. When you see these sparks in them, affirm them. You shall know them by their sparks." Great stuff.