Tom Peters brought the term Excellence into our consciousness some 25 years ago now. In a new blog post on Tom's site, Seth Godin kicks off an insightful dialogue on what we mean when we use the term. For individuals and organisations who are serious about striving for Excellence a good place to start might be to explore and and identify where our existing talents lie - what we have a unique flair for. We can then plan to exploit these strengths in the knowledge that we have a solid and dependable foundation upon which to build.

Synonyms?

I found this excellent list of synonyms for strengths the other day: backbone, body, brawn, brute force, clout, courage, durability, energy, firmness, force, fortitude, hardiness, health, lustiness, might, muscle, nerve, physique, potency, power, powerhouse, robustness, security, sinew, soundness, stability, stableness, stalwartness, steadiness, steamroller, stoutness, strong arm, sturdiness, substance, tenacity, toughness, verdure, vigor, vim, vitality and zip.

Having reviewed some rather dry definitions of strengths in the business literature recently I thought this list brought the essence of the term to life brilliantly. I wonder if there are others words that might strengthen the list and take us towards a definition that might excite?

Partnerships Based on Strengths

If you are planning on creating a new partnership, or looking to develop an existing arrangement, don't go any further before reading Gallup's latest research on this subject. The most effective partnerships are those built around each others strengths! It is all common sense of course but is is common practice?

The Strengths Trap?

In a recent article in the Washington Post, John Rosemond illustrates clearly a concern that often gets expressed when we work with people on developing their confidence and begin by highlighting strengths – how can I take this seriously when all my life I have been ‘taught’ to deal only with my weaknesses? Although Rosemond refers specifically to how we as parents deal with our children in a realistic manner when the overwhelming message is that we need to be encouraging and emphasise the positive; the same applies in business. It’s all very well to switch the emphasis away from shortcomings to strengths in the annual performance review, but this switch needs to include a realistic appraisal of strengths that includes a detailed review of personal achievements and, preferably, some feedback from those who work closely with the employee in question. To do anything less would surely be to fall into precisely the same trap that Rosemond highlights, wouldn’t it?

Negative Self- talk

In his recent blog post Dave Shearon tackles the issue of dealing with negative emotions within Postive Psychology head on. One way to do this, he suggests, is by 'learning to contest and re-direct negative self-talk'. As someone who has struggled with this art I thought, 'easier said than done' - that is until I came across the work of Julie Ness Bell on Performance Intelligence at Work. In this easy to read text she outlines the The 5 Essentials to Achieving The Mind of a Champion, and offers this practical model - 'Recognise, Re-focus, Routine' as process for applying our attention to the elements of performance that are more likely to help us achieve a positive outcome. She says:

...especially in today's tough economic times, many corporate leaders are stalled by fears of failure. This approach robs us of any chance at greatness, but this three-step method (R3) overcomes this challenge by creating new habits in the brain. Recognising self-talk, learning to refocus attention on different aspects of a situation, and establishing new thought routines ensures that those debilitating tapes will stop being replayed in your head.

A quick scan through related work on the web reveals an large amount of papers and texts from the world of Sports Psychology that offer similar models and ways of 'thinking'. I wonder whether Positive Psychology pays enough attention to the world of sport as it searches for new ways to bring its theories to life?

A Strengths Based Portfolio Career?

In their new book, And What Do You Do? Barie Hopson and Katie Ledger offer individuals the opportunity to reflect on how they might construct a portfolio career based around thier strengths. One of the ten steps they highlight builds on Bernard Haldane's work on Motivated Skills. The central premise being that a strength is not a strength at all unless we have an appetite for using it. The website for the book provides more background material, a free look at the introduction and a whole lot more.

Articulating Strengths Together (AST)

Need to discover your strengths? Then consider doing it in a group setting rather than via a computer screen. Jearald Forster, long time colleague of Bernard Haldane and strengths 'thought leader' at the University of Washington in Seattle, shows you how in his new book called Articulating Strengths Together (AST). The purpose of the AST is to guide you and three others through a series of activities that will give each participant a list of his or her most valued personal strengths. This process was adapted from the longer Dependable Strengths Articulation Process (DSAP), which was developed by Bernard Haldane during the second half of the 20th Century. The interactive process offered in the AST follows a carefully developed sequence of activities that can be completed in about three hours.

The book also explores the possibilities of identifying objective strengths through internet-based inventories. These objective approaches are compared with the subjective approach of the AST. The advantages of the subjective approach are tied to the fact that strengths articulated through the AST are anchored to personal experiences that can be recalled because the strengths were originally identified when considering real-life experiences.