Episode 16 How to amplify your strengths at work
In Episode 16, Sarah dives into the transformative power of amplifying your strengths at work. She discusses the importance of focusing on your natural talents, explains the difference between character and technical strengths, and provides actionable strategies to help you identify and amplify your core strengths. Learn how understanding and leveraging your strengths can boost your confidence, reduce stress, and enhance your career fulfillment.
Show Notes:
[00:00:00] - Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable with Sarah Archer
[00:02:00] - Why strengths matter: Benefits backed by positive psychology
[00:03:00] - Shifting from focusing on weaknesses to amplifying strengths
[00:04:00] - Character vs. technical strengths: What’s the difference?
[00:05:00] - Discover your strengths with the VIA Institute’s survey
[00:06:00] - Real-life client example: Finding beauty in spreadsheets
[00:07:00] - Why we overlook our innate strengths
[00:08:00] - Three pillars of amplifying strengths: Consistency, commitment, curiosity
[00:09:00] - Key reflection questions to amplify your strengths
[00:10:00] - Example: Using the strength of kindness in new ways
[00:11:00] - The power of feedback to uncover hidden strengths
[00:12:00] - Sarah shares her own top strengths and how she uses them
[00:13:00] - Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn and access free resources
Useful Links
Sign up for Weekly Career Inspiration
Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes
Join The Love What You Do Facebook Group
Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn
Rate & Review the Podcast
If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: sarah@careertreecoaching.co.uk
You are capable of more than you know. Shine brightly, lead boldly, and unlock the extraordinary potential within you. Be unstoppable.
Transcript
Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,
the podcast for ambitious female
2
:leaders who want to create more impact,
income, and influence in their careers.
3
:feel connected to their passion
and purpose, but without
4
:selling out or burning out.
5
:I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach
and career strategist, helping women
6
:like you thrive in leadership roles
while staying true to your values.
7
:I'm the founder of CareerTree
Coaching and have over 15 years of
8
:coaching experience and significant HR
leadership experience to share with you.
9
:I know as a female leader it can
be hard to find time to focus
10
:on your career aspirations.
11
:The day job can be all consuming.
12
:Plus, no matter how senior you are,
there are always going to be times
13
:when you feel stuck, when you have
self doubt, or feel like an imposter.
14
:And that's where unstuck
and unstoppable comes in.
15
:Each week I'll be sharing practical
strategies, insightful interviews and
16
:inspiring stories to help you boost
your confidence, lead with purpose
17
:and achieve sustainable success.
18
:If you're ready to stop playing
small and unlock the incredible
19
:potential you have within you and feel
unstoppable, you're in the right place.
20
:Let's get started.
21
:Welcome to episode 16.
22
:I'm so glad you're here and what
we're talking about today is
23
:strengths and how you can amplify
them in your career and at work.
24
:I'm going to cover what strengths
are, give you a link to access your
25
:own strengths and also give you
some pointers around how you can
26
:amplify your strengths later on.
27
:Why are strengths important?
28
:Now I'm a big fan of the positive
psychology community and they've done
29
:a lot of research around strengths.
30
:What they discovered is that If
you can use at least four of your
31
:top five strengths every day, it's
going to have Loads of benefits and
32
:some of those benefits are boosting
your confidence, increasing your
33
:happiness, reducing stress, building
more meaning and fulfillment,
34
:and improving work performance.
35
:They're great reasons to think about
how we can amplify our strengths.
36
:Because what we often tend to do is to
focus on the things that we're not good
37
:at, to focus on improving the areas
that we're weaker in or that we need
38
:to develop more in, but actually our
energy is much better spent if we're
39
:focusing on developing and amplifying
the talents that we already have.
40
:I would encourage you to think about
taking a strengths based approach, which
41
:means focusing on the things that you're
good at, focusing on what you do well,
42
:rather than focusing on weaknesses.
43
:Because we all have natural talents,
which are our strengths, and if we
44
:invest in them, then they are going
to become a real strength, a benefit
45
:to you, and it's much more enjoyable
than slogging away trying to improve
46
:something that just isn't your thing.
47
:That's what we want to
be focusing on today.
48
:Let's think about what strengths are.
49
:We've got character strengths and
we've got technical strengths.
50
:The character strengths, which is
what I'm going to talk about today,
51
:are the things that are more innate.
52
:They tend to come naturally.
53
:We tend not to always value them
because they come easily to us.
54
:We think everybody must feel like
that, but often they don't because
55
:it's something that we're strong in.
56
:You might find you get feedback from
people, Oh, you're so great at X or Y
57
:because people are noticing that they
are, they're your natural strengths.
58
:Whereas your technical strength is
something, it's a skill that you've
59
:mastered that has become strong.
60
:And you can think about
amplifying that further as well.
61
:But today we're talking about
amplifying your character strengths.
62
:Now if you don't know what your character
strengths are Then I'm going to put a
63
:link , to a strengths survey that you
can do with the VIA Institute, which
64
:is the Positive Psychology Institute
founded by Martin Seligman, who's one of
65
:the founders of the positive psychology
movement, and they identified through
66
:research 24 character strengths that we
all have, and the strength survey allows
67
:you to identify, I think gives you your
top 10, but we're most interested in
68
:your top five because they're the ones
you want to think about amplifying more.
69
:There are things like curiosity,
hope, kindness, leadership, zest,
70
:teamwork, spirituality, judgment,
humility, I'm 24, but there's lots.
71
:Lots there.
72
:And the survey obviously helps you elicit
them because some of them you might
73
:know, but sometimes just having a survey
really helps us unearth our strengths.
74
:Then you do need to read the
definitions that go alongside those
75
:strengths which are on the site.
76
:It's a free survey, you don't have to pay
for it which will help you understand it
77
:because if we think about something like
kindness or love, we might have particular
78
:interpretations of what that might be.
79
:be, but the strength definition
is the thing we really need to pay
80
:attention to because that will help us
unearth how we're using it currently.
81
:I'll give you a little example.
82
:I had a client worked as a VA and
her top strength was appreciation
83
:of beauty and excellence.
84
:And in her role as a VA, a virtual
assistant, she couldn't really see
85
:how she was using that as a strength.
86
:She'd previously worked in fashion.
87
:So she could tell See how it came into
play in terms of her fashion work as a VA.
88
:She couldn't see it, but when we
dived into it, what she discovered
89
:was that she loved getting all
the chaos from her clients.
90
:So all their expenses, their receipts,
their invoices, all the mess of kind
91
:of the finance world, if you like, and
turning it into a really functional,
92
:but also beautiful spreadsheet for them
that made their lives much easier.
93
:So what we discovered was that it
was the beauty of a process and the
94
:beauty of being able to turn chaos into
structure that was her strength and that
95
:she really played to in her VA role.
96
:And it then helped her think
about how she could amplify
97
:that, but also how she could.
98
:Promote that as something that she
could offer to her potential clients,
99
:which is why it's important to
really think about the definition.
100
:Because in your career, if you
can amplify your strengths, you're
101
:going to be more successful.
102
:because you're going to really enjoy it.
103
:It's going to be easier to do
because it comes naturally to you.
104
:You're going to have more impact.
105
:You're going to be more visible
because you're going to be using
106
:the strengths really effectively.
107
:So there's a real, drive to make sure
we are using them, but because they are
108
:innate, we tend to, not focus on them just
saying, Oh yeah, that's, yeah, I'm just.
109
:I'm good at that, but not really
thinking about how we could make
110
:ourselves even better at it.
111
:There's three things you need to
think about in terms of amplification.
112
:One is consistency.
113
:Like anything, it's applying that
amplification process every day.
114
:So thinking about 10 to 15 minutes,
which is not a huge amount of
115
:time to focus on that strength and
how you're going to develop it.
116
:Having commitments and really wanting
to develop that strength, which might.
117
:Go back to the benefits I shared earlier
about why, you should amplify your
118
:strengths and the benefits of using them.
119
:Remembering, it's increasing enjoyment,
it's increasing confidence, it's
120
:reducing stress, it's increasing
wellbeing, et cetera, et cetera.
121
:And then the third one is curiosity.
122
:Being prepared to self coach
and ask yourself questions.
123
:That keep that focus around.
124
:How am I amplifying my
strengths on a regular basis?
125
:There's lots of questions
you can ask yourself.
126
:I'm going to share four with you
because I don't want to overload you
127
:and I think these four are really key.
128
:The first one is doing reflection
on how am I currently using my top
129
:four or five strengths at the moment?
130
:Thinking about what your strengths might
be when you've done the survey and then
131
:thinking, okay, how am I using them?
132
:in my current career.
133
:Am I using them?
134
:If you find you are using all four
or five, brilliant, that's fantastic.
135
:And I've got a question for you
that will help you stretch that.
136
:If you're not using many, say maybe
you're only using one or two, it's
137
:then thinking, okay, how can I
bring those other strengths into
138
:my daily work and use them more?
139
:You might need some help with that
or you might be able to spot quite
140
:easily how you could do that.
141
:Then the next question is how
could I use them differently?
142
:So if you are using your strengths
already Or you get to the point
143
:where you can see you're using four,
then you want to be stretching that
144
:by how can I use them differently?
145
:Because we are creatures of habits.
146
:We tend to use our strengths
in the same way over and over.
147
:And by thinking about how we can use
them differently, it can really start
148
:to amplify that strength and develop it.
149
:I've got a example for you.
150
:I had a client who her
top strength was kindness.
151
:And that is doing favours and good
deeds for others and helping people.
152
:And so she could see how she was
using that in terms of her way of
153
:being at work, but she couldn't see
how she could do it differently.
154
:She was really struggling with that.
155
:And what we discovered was that , as we
explored it with her, she could see there
156
:were certain groups of people where she
was disinclined to use that strength.
157
:And the group of people that she
could think of that she wasn't
158
:using it with was her in laws.
159
:She had a very difficult relationship
with her in laws and she decided to
160
:experiment and to actually be different
with them and extend that kindness
161
:strength into that relationship with them.
162
:And obviously it created a different
dynamic for them, both parties, and
163
:they responded differently to her.
164
:She could see how it made it a better
encounter whenever they were together.
165
:It made her feel better.
166
:It just changed the relationship.
167
:And because she could see
how doing it differently with
168
:a different group of people.
169
:was a way of extending
that particular strength.
170
:She could then see how she could
bring it into her work and started
171
:to notice where the groups of people
at work, where she was disinclined
172
:to use that strength in the same
way that she would normally use it.
173
:And therefore she made an effort to be
using it in that way with everybody.
174
:And it gave her that stretch
to, to challenge herself.
175
:Some of these things you have to
think quite laterally about in terms
176
:of how can I do it differently, but
it's good to push yourself to think,
177
:okay, I can see how I'm using it.
178
:currently, or I can see how I'm
using it with certain people.
179
:What could I do that would
make it a different experience?
180
:And then the other question you
can think about asking is who can
181
:I ask for feedback on my strengths?
182
:Because that's going to give you
a different perspective on how
183
:your strengths are being received.
184
:Again, how you, it might help
you , use them differently.
185
:And to give you that
perspective on your strengths.
186
:I'd love to know how you get on.
187
:I'd love to know what your top
four or five strengths are.
188
:I'll share mine with you.
189
:So mine are hope, perspective, social
intelligence, kindness, and love.
190
:And I use all of those.
191
:I can see how I use all of
those in my coaching practice.
192
:And also I challenge
myself on a regular basis.
193
:How can I use them differently?
194
:In my business as well as
in my coaching practice.
195
:So yeah, let me know how you get on.
196
:And, do get in touch if you need any help
with some of those questions, or if you.
197
:ticked off those questions and you want
some different questions to help you
198
:amplify your strength, let me know.
199
:I've got lots that I could share with you
200
:This episode is also available
to watch on LinkedIn.
201
:And while you're over there, please
do send me a connection request
202
:if we're not already connected.
203
:Thank you so much for listening
to this episode of the Unstuck
204
:and Unstoppable podcast.
205
:I have lots of free resources you
can access on my website, ww.career
206
:tree coaching.co
207
:uk, and I'll also put
links in the show notes.
208
:If you found this episode
helpful, then please subscribe
209
:so you don't miss the next one.
210
:And please do share it with a
friend and leave me a review
211
:and I will personally thank you.
212
:Remember, you're capable of
more than shine brightly.
213
:Lead boldly and unlock the
extraordinary potential within you.
214
:Be unstoppable.