Life and Work Blog

Sometimes I get asked what happens in a strengths coaching session (or a strengths debrief as it’s also called). The short answer is it depends on what the client wants to get out of it. I don’t approach a session with my own agenda; as a coach, I want to follow the client’s agenda.

But if a client has never been to a coaching session, they may not know the possibilities. That’s when I like to offer options so the client can choose what will be most valuable. The subject is strengths, but there are so many topics we could cover.

My daughter is nearing the age of 16, which reminded me of my driving test when I was 16. I failed it twice. One reason I failed it the first time—and I say “one reason” because I’m sure there were other reasons—was because I didn’t use the turn signal enough.

Last week, I said that employee engagement is the responsibility of the organization, managers, and employees. Employees ought to know what personally drives them to feel engaged, what factors cause them to give their discretionary best. If something is amiss at work, they can explore what’s missing. The same goes for talents and strengths.

Several of my friends are preparing to have babies. That made me wonder how people with different strengths might choose a baby name. We considered the same thing with Disney World, so we thought we’d do the same with baby names.

Last week I wrote about talent development. I love helping folks find their talents—and then growing them into strengths. I mean, I really love it. I’m leading two strengths events this week and have ten booked so far this Spring. However, now that I’ve worked in the realm of strengths for a few years, I’ve identified a missing piece.

As a strengths trainer and coach, I help folks to understand their talented behaviors so they can make the most of them. It’s exciting to see people come alive to their talents and apply them to relationships, work, and life.

My friend recently took his family to Disney World®. Knowing his strengths, I got to thinking about how he "does" Disney, and how might someone else with different strengths do Disney differently? In this post, we consider how the 34 strengths might behave in the Magic Kingdom®.

As the head of Human Resources for our company, I have a vision for our employees. It comes down to five words. We want to be: person-centric, performance-minded, strengths-based, engagement-focused, and self-aware.

 Life is a process of becoming more aware of yourself and others. As you do, you become more effective at life and work. As you pay attention to those around you, you notice different types of people.

Last week I suggested that a sweeping strengths movement larger than we've ever seen could be coming. I defined strengths as, “your best means of contribution and contentment,” and wrote that few us have really tapped into the talents, traits, skills, knowledge, values, and more that are within us. And I commended us to seek humility as we seek our strengths.