Do you know how strong you are?
Imagine if you discovered that your team was full of people with hidden skills that were really useful to what you were trying to achieve. Or if it turned out that some of your team members had a strong desire and motivation to learn skills quite disparate to the skills you hired them for, and these new skills were something you really needed!
There were so many great insights and discussions at our workshop last night with Dr Donnie Maclurcan of the Post Growth Institute and the Australia Project that I'm going to have to just pick one or two to write about for you. This first one though about hidden strengths was one that I know a lot of people could really benefit from, particular in the not-for-profit, community and startup sectors so we'll start with that.
Donnie took us through the in-depth "asset-mapping" process that he used in starting the Post Growth Institute. He committed significant time and effort into getting people to think about the strengths they had and the ones they would like to develop. Importantly, this is not strictly about skills as many of us would traditionally think. Strengths is broader than that and includes passions, interests, knowledge sets and very importantly, connections.
For small organisations with little budget for marketing, this technique can provide strength and reach beyond the organisation. What we refer to as "punching above your weight". Suddenly some of the things you've been trying to raise the money to buy can be sourced directly from your own team. Imagine discovering your accountant has a passion for photography and is actually a fairly skilled amateur willing to build your photo library for free. Or that your administration assistant loves Twitter and has a massive following that can be used to publicise upcoming events.
Asset-mapping addresses a very simple limitation inherent in most operations - when we are recruiting someone and working with them around their contribution to the team, we generally blinker ourselves by starting with a pre-written list of skills and attributes we are looking for in that role. We may, at best, ask what skills they would like to develop but this is generally kept within a constrained idea of a particular career path. New skills acquired outside of work and those additional attributes (such as connections, passions and interests) rarely make it on to the radar because they don't fit into the existing templates.
Additionally, when we begin to work on a problem, our focus is entirely on the problem. Significant time and energy is put into discussing 'what doesn't work' and even sometimes 'what was tried before and failed!' This often leads us to a problem-solving model that involves trying to 'fix' the situation rather than a bigger picture discussion that could see more innovative and alternate solutions put forward.
Donnie has shown through his own research and work that when you start by discussing the strengths of the group and the resources it has built into it, a number of significant difference appear. One is that people have greater trust of each other - as such they are more open to new ideas or different ways of thinking. They are also more aware of what they have to bring to the table outside of their usual 'job skills' so they consider much broader possibilities about what they could contribute. And very importantly and almost magically, they are more hopeful and optimistic about creating an outcome that eliminates the problem.
(I'm going to write a separate post on the concept of 'fix, change, replace or eliminate' at a later date but I want to note here that sometimes we are so focused on the problem that we forget to go back our real purpose and see if there is a better option to solving the problem.)
The great thing about asset-mapping and starting your project or problem solving task with an asset-based approach is that it doesn't actually cost you anything. It won't even necessarily take more time. All it takes is a little preparation and careful facilitation. The more you do it, the more quickly and effectively you will be able to do it.
I'll be up front and say I don't like the terms asset-mapping or asset-based. Maybe I spent too many years in the financial services sector and I have an aversion to hearing people and their characteristics referred to as assets (or resources for that matter). But what was underneath the words used was a very human - and humanising - technique for empowering an organisation by uplifting, inspiring and turbo-charging your team to go ahead and achieve your mission.
