There are many ways to help people to build on their strengths. The Strengths Toolbox, for example, outlines the approaches taken by pioneers such as Friedrich Froebel, Maria Montessori, Bernard Haldane, Martin Seligman, Marcus Buckingham and many others. You will, of course, adapt these approaches in your own way. This article outlines a seven steps model that seems to works. Let’s explore how you can use it for helping people to achieve their goals.

1) You can get an overview of the strengths model for helping people to achieve success.

Imagine that you are a coach and somebody approaches you for help. You will make clear contracts about: a) The person’s goals; b) The things you can and cannot offer; c) The aims for the coaching sessions. Let’s imagine that you both agree it will be worthwhile to use the strengths approach. Here are some of the steps you may take to help them to reach their goals.

(The following pages give a brief introduction to each step. Depending on the person’s situation, however, you may focus on just the most relevant aspects of the model.)

* Start by setting the scene.

Start the actual first session by setting the scene. Create a stimulating sanctuary and clarify the topics the person wants to explore. Good coaches respect the person’s agenda. So you may ask questions like:

“What topics would you like to explore in the session? Exploring the wider picture for a moment, is it okay to look at your medium and long-term goals? What are your professional goals? What do you want to achieve in your life and work? Everybody has different pictures of success: What is your picture? Imagine you are 80 and looking back on your life. What for you will mean your life has been successful? Bearing in mind the various topics we have mentioned, which would be the most helpful to tackle? What would you like to take away from the session?”

Let’s assume the person wants to work towards their long-term goals. Give an overview of the strengths approach and say you would like to start by clarifying their talents. You will then focus on specific goals along the road towards achieving their picture of success. Check this is okay with them. If so, move on to the first step in the approach.

Step 1: Strengths.

There are many ways to find a person’s strengths, successful style and specific contribution. Here are some questions that can uncover their talents.

“What are you strengths? What are the activities in which you consistently deliver ‘As’ – rather than ‘Bs’ or ‘Cs’? When are you in your element - at ease and yet also able to excel? When do you experience a sense of flow? What are the activities in which you see patterns? When do you quickly see the destination - the picture of perfection? When do you go ‘a, b, then leap to ____ z’? What are the activities you love repeating? When are you a good finisher?”

“Let’s explore your successful style. Looking back on your life, what for you have been 3 satisfying ‘projects’? What made them satisfying? Looking at each example in turn, what did you do right to achieve success? Do these examples give any pointers to your successful style - the way you work best? Let’s explore your perfect role. What for you would be the most stimulating kind of ‘project’? What kind of people would you like to work with? What would be the most stimulating place – culture and environment?”

“Your strengths are ‘what’ you do best; your style is ‘how’ you work best. Putting these together, what do you believe is the specific contribution you can make – to customers, an employer or other people? If you were a Managing Director, what would you hire yourself to deliver? What legacy do you want to give to the world? What do you want to pass-on to people?”

Step 2: Specific goals.

Bearing in mind the person’s strengths, move on to their specific goals. Normally these will be milestones on the road towards achieving their long term picture of success. One key thing is worth bearing in mind at this point. Clarifying the person’s strengths often re-affirms their long-term aims. But sometimes it can lead to revisiting and revising their specific goals. Let’s imagine, however, that the person has returned to their original aims. It’s now important to set specific goals. Be crystal clear on the ‘What’ before moving to the ‘How’. So you may want to say something like:

“Looking at the first theme to explore, what is your specific goal? What are the real results you want to achieve? What is your picture of success? What are the actual words you want to hear people saying? What will be happening that will show you have reached your goal? Try to be as specific as possible.”

“Let’s take a reality check before going any further. Looking at this situation: What are the controllables? What are the things you can control? What can’t you control? How can you build on what you can control and manage what you can’t? Bearing in mind the controllables, let’s go back to your goals. What are the specific results you want to achieve?”

Clarity is crucial. The more specific you are about the agreed outcomes, the greater the chances of success. You can then move onto the next step.

Step 3: Strategies.

It’s now time to move onto the ‘How’. So you may want to ask the person the following questions.

“Looking at the specific goals you want to achieve, let’s begin by focusing on what works for you. How can you use your strengths - and follow your successful patterns - to achieve your goals? Bearing these things in mind, move onto the strategies you want to pursue. Try answering the following question: ‘What are the three key things I can do to give myself the greatest chances of success?’ Putting these answers together, settle on the strategies for reaching your specific goals. Translate these into a clear action plan.”

Having clarified the ‘What’ and ‘How’, move on to the next step.

Step 4: Support.

Even the toughest people need encouragement, so focus on the support the person may need. You may want to ask the following questions.

“Looking at the strategies you are going to pursue, what support do you need to make them happen? What is the practical support? What is the psychological support? Who are the people from whom you need support? How can you make clear contracts with these people? What is your back-up plan if you do not get the support? How can you encourage yourself on the journey? How can you manage your energy properly? How can create times for rest and recovery? How can you do some ‘course correction’ and make sure you are still on the road towards achieving your goals? How can you get some early successes?”

Ensure the person has built-in enough support, then move on to the next stage.

Step 5: Superb work.

It’s time to get the show on the road – time to sweat. So you may want to ask the person the following questions.

“How can you do superb work? How can you do your best to deliver success? How can you keep building on your strengths and managing the consequences of your weaknesses? How can you follow your creative rhythm? How can you do the right things in the right way every day? How can you be super professional? How can you keep in touch with your ‘customers’? How can you make sure you are satisfying these customers?”

Encourage the person to embark on their journey. Then, when appropriate, you can also explore the next stage.

Step 6: Solutions.

Good coaches encourage people to anticipate and prevent difficulties. Despite a person’s best efforts, however, problems do occur. It is then important to find creative solutions to challenges. So you may ask the following questions.

“Looking ahead, what do you see as the potential difficulties? How can you prevent these difficulties happening? What can you do if, despite your efforts, these difficulties do occur? How can you find successful solutions? How can you make sure those difficulties do not happen again in the future? There will be some challenges that you don’t anticipate, so let’s look at how you can behave in those situations. How can you stay calm? Then, if appropriate, how can you then use the 5C model for creative problem-solving?

The creative problem-solving model is one that you can use time and again to help a person to find solutions. It is obviously best to use it on a specific example. When doing so, you may guide the person through the following stages.

“Let’s test the model by tackling a specific issue you face right now.

* Clarity.

What is the challenge you want to tackle? Start by establishing clarity. What are the real results you want to achieve? Let’s agree on the ‘What’?

* Choices.

What are your options for tackling the challenge? Option A is: ___ Option B is: ___ Option C is: ___ Option D is: ___ Option E is: ___ What other options have you tried? Keep going until you have outlined all the options.

* Consequences.

What are the consequences of each option? Describe the pluses and minuses of taking each route. Rate the attractiveness of each route on a scale 0 - 10.

* Creative Solutions.

Bearing in mind the results you want to achieve: Are there any possible creative solutions? What are the best parts of each option? Can you combine these into a new road? Have you ever faced a similar situation in the past and managed it successfully? If so, what did you do right then? Can you follow any of these principles in the present situation? Are there any other possible solutions?

* Concrete results.

Let’s go back to the results you want to achieve. Bearing in mind your picture of success, which route - or routes - do you want to take? How can you get an early success?”

Step 7: Success.

The person must obviously roll-up their sleeves and work hard to reach their goals. You can, however, encourage them on the journey. So it can be useful to ask them the following questions.

“Looking at the road towards your goals, which milestones have you passed so far on the journey? What are you doing right? How can you do more of those things in the future? What can you do even better in the future – and how? How can keep doing the right things every day? How can you move from 8/10 to 10/10? How can you be a good finisher? How can you achieve peak performance? How can you add that touch of class?”

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This is an overview of the seven steps model. You will, of course, use it in your own way. So let’s explore how you might employ it with people.

2) You can clarify which parts of the strengths model you can use to help people to achieve success.

The strengths approach is like any other tool. You will sometimes use the entire model, sometimes just the parts that are relevant. Looking at my own work, for example, I spend a lot of time on setting the scene – clarifying the person’s picture of success. We then explore the person’s strengths, specific goals and strategies. The subsequent sessions often concentrate on solutions along the road to success.

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Looking at the seven steps model, which parts would you feel comfortable using? How could you apply these to help a person to reach their goals? Try completing the following sentence.

The parts of the strengths model I can use
to help people to achieve success are:

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3) You can use the strengths model to help people to achieve success.

Different practitioners use the strengths approach in different ways. Bernard Haldane used it after the Second World War to help returning veterans. Focusing on their ‘transferable skills’, he enabled them to apply these talents to find fulfilling work. During the 1960s and 70s writers such as Richard Bolles, Barrie Hopson and Mike Scally enabled people to translate their passions into paid work. During the 1980s David Cooperrider created Appreciative Inquiry and applied the strengths approach to organisations. Since the 1990s people such as Martin Seligman and Marcus Buckingham have added new dimensions. The strengths approach is now used in education, work, sports, career development, coaching, mentoring and many other fields. It is used in individual sessions, teamwork and designing organisations. You will, of course, use it in your own way.

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Describe the specific things you can do to use the strengths model to help people to reach their goals. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to use the strengths
model to help people to achieve success are:

*

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There are many ways to help people to build on their strengths. This article has outlined a seven steps model that works. Take the ideas you like and use them in your own way to help people achieve success.