Imagine somebody has asked you to help them to build on their strengths. One approach is to use an exercise that enables them to find and follow their successful style. Let’s explore how this works in practice.

1) You can explore the person’s previous satisfying ‘projects’ to find their successful style.

During the past 40 years I have used many exercises to help people to find their talents. This exercise has proved extremely effective. Why? Everybody has a positive history. They have tackled challenges, overcome crises and performed great work. Everybody has strengths: this is ‘What’ they do best. Everybody also has a successful style: this is ‘How’ they work best. Putting these together can clarify their specific contribution to, for example, a potential employer.

Looking at this exercise on a deeper level, it can help people to find their vocation. A person’s vocation is their calling. It is what they are here to do. Their vocation remains constant in life - but they may express it through many different vehicles on the way towards doing valuable work. Some of the vocations this exercise has revealed have included, for example: creating enriching environments; building successful prototypes; working for justice; creating beautiful products; encouraging people to fulfil their potential. Many people have then gone on to express such themes in their future work.

So how can you help a person to clarify their successful patterns? One approach is to introduce the exercise in the following way.

“Looking back on your life, describe what for you have been three stimulating and satisfying projects. Use the term ‘project’ in the broadest sense. You may have got great satisfaction, for example, from designing a web site, launching a product, organising a charity ‘fun run’, leading a team, helping somebody to master a skill or whatever. Exploring each project in turn, describe the specific things that made each one fulfilling.”

2) You can clarify the principles the person followed to pursue their successful style.

The person will probably start by saying something like: “The first ‘project’ that comes to mind is when I _________.” They may describe when they studied for a degree, wrote a book, gave a keynote speech, revitalised a team or whatever. Clarify the principles they followed and the practical steps they took to achieve success. How to uncover this information? One approach is to invite them to describe the adventure in great detail. So you may want to ask some of the following questions.

“Let’s start with your motivation. How did the project come about? Did you set the goal or did somebody else offer you the opportunity? Was it something you felt passionately about or matched your values? What was the trigger that made you really want to go for the goal?”

“Let’s move on to the actual goal. How early did you clarify the picture of success – the ‘what’? Did it come straight away or later? If other people were involved, how much input did you have in setting the goal? What was your picture of success? What were the real results you wanted to achieve? How did you settle on the ‘how’ – the key strategies for achieving success? Did you have freedom, within parameters, regarding how you achieved the goal?”

“Let’s move on to how you performed the work. Did you mainly work by yourself or with other people? If you worked with others, what were the characteristics of these people? Did you work for a manager? If so, what were the qualities the manager demonstrated? What went well when working with the colleagues or the manager?”

“Looking at the work, did you follow a certain rhythm? How did you organise your time? How did you do superb work? How did you do reality checks regarding whether or not if was working? How did you get support? How did you encourage yourself on the journey? How did you find creative solutions to challenges?”

“Let’s move on to the actual result. How did you keep working hard to reach the goal? How did you know when you had achieved success? Was there a specific deliverable, a deadline or some element of performance? What was the fulfilment you got from reaching the goal? Looking at the project, what were the most satisfying things? What did you do well? What would you do better if you were to tackle this kind of project again in the future? Are there any things you would like to say about the project?”

Go through each of the projects
in turn. Then ask the person:

“Looking back on each of these examples, can you see any patterns? Bearing these in mind, describe what you believe to be the principles you follow when pursuing your preferred way of working. (You may, of course, have several different successful styles. For example, one when working alone; another when working with other people.) Bearing this in mind, try completing the following exercise.”

One person said, for example: “My pattern is clear – I love building prototypes, but several characteristics stand out. First, I must believe the project will improve people’s lives. Second, I want to have in-put into clarifying the ‘What’ – the goal we want to achieve. Third, I like to have lots of autonomy. Fourth, I prefer to be aiming for a specific deadline. Finally, I love to see the prototype having a positive impact on people’s lives.”

Everybody has their own successful style, but several things are worth mentioning. First, people often follow certain common principles to perform fine work. These may mirror the eternal human activities of encouraging, educating, exploring, building, creating, trading, problem solving or whatever. Second, the ways that people practise these themes differs from person to person. Third, a person can be helped to find their successful style – the way they follow these and other themes to perform fine work. This brings us to the next step.

3) You can help the person to follow their successful style in the future.

People develop; they seldom change. They often learn to channel their personality, rather than change their personality. A person’s successful style seems to get more pronounced as they get older. So it can be helpful for them to find and follow their preferred way of working.

Mark, a chief executive, is somebody who expresses a recurring theme in his life. He loves to: ‘Create positive and stimulating environments in which people perform superbly.’ “That sounds a common theme,” somebody may say. Yes, it is. But Mark’s special contribution is the way he expresses this vocation through various vehicles to do valuable work. During his life he has, for example, run arts festivals, led great companies, mentored creative performers and, as a sideline, renovated buildings.

Mark is a superb orchestrator who follows his successful style when pursuing his vocation. This often involves him taking the following steps. He:

* Finds something he feels passionately about. It must score at least 8/10 on the passion rating.

* Sets a stimulating goal - something exceptional that hasn’t been done before.

* Does a reality check with people he respects. Mark has a set of trusted people whom he bounces ideas. The outcome can sometimes result in him actually creating a bigger goal. Alternatively, he might say ‘No,’ to the project.

* Takes time to reflect. He make an initial project plan, complete with milestones. Mark then double-checks that the project is stretching and stimulating. If so, he commits to reaching the goal.

* Gathers talented people who want to embark on the adventure. He gives them a sense of ownership and makes clear contracts about their contributions towards achieving the goal.

* Gets the resources that are required. Mark is good at getting financial and other kinds of backing.

* Creates and maintains an environment in which people have freedom to produce. Mark provides a stimulating atmosphere with lots of inspiration and encouragement. He gives any ‘reluctant people’ several chances, but then draws a line. People leave if they don’t live the required values.

* Encourages people to stay on track and do exceptional work. Mark is good at reminding people of the goal, updating them on progress and encouraging them to raise their game.

* Delivers the goods. Mark’s ‘projects’ often have a sense of ‘performance’: something brilliant that must be delivered by a certain deadline. Whilst calm on the surface, he is adrenalin-driven. The difference between him and other such people is that he is happy: “For others to plant the flag on top of the mountain.”

Mark’s follows this path when pursuing his vocation. As mentioned earlier, the red thread in his life is to: ‘Create positive and stimulating environments in which people can perform superbly.’ Whilst he loves doing creative work alone – such as photography – he gets an even greater kick from enabling people to produce something magical. He is now focusing on how he can follow these principles even more in the future.

Imagine you are helping a person to build on their strengths. So far you have explored their satisfying projects and clarified their successful style. The next step can be to invite them to complete the following sentences.

Looking at their answers, you can then invite the person to explore how they might be able to express their successful style. There are many models for making this happen. One approach, for example, is to invite them to focus on the 3 Ps: Project, People and Place. So you may say something like:

“Let’s explore how you can express your successful style in the future. We can do this under the following headings.

Project

“Looking at your successful pattern, what would be the kind of project you would find stimulating? Are there any potential projects in the pipeline that might fit your pattern? If so, what are these projects? If not, would it be possible to mould another project to fit your style whilst, at the same time, satisfying the sponsors? If there are none on the horizon, how could you find or create such a project? Let’s explore the possibilities.”

People

“Looking at your successful pattern, who are the kinds of people you find stimulating? What are the characteristics of your ideal manager? What are the qualities of your ideal colleagues? How can you find such characters or build a team of such people?”

Place

“Looking at your successful pattern, what is the kind of place you find stimulating? What are the characteristics of your preferred culture? What is your preferred environment? What is your preferred working style? For example, do you prefer to spend all week in the office, on the road or some time working from home? What else would be important regarding the culture and environment?”

“Bearing these things in mind, let’s explore all the possible ways you can follow your successful pattern and do fulfilling work.”

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There are many exercises for helping people to build on their strengths. Over the years, I have found one of the most effective has been to help people to find and follow their successful style. This has provided the springboard for them being able to do satisfying work.

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