They were wearing sloppy jumpers, bearing midriffs and shaking their maracas telling us ‘it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that do it’ and by golly they were right. I’ve been delving a little deeper into the psychology of strength use at work this month and in this post I’m helping you tap into your under-used strengths in the workplace as a route to greater flourishing. Tambourines at the ready, let’s go.

Years ago I read a post on an excellent psychology blog about better psychotherapists (better = more successful outcomes for patients) having at the heart of their practise a focus on patients’ strengths and what skills they had that could help them in the situation that was causing them distress. The post was reporting on one of those super bits of research that backs up what many of us believed and practised anyway. Good to know the numbers add up. Let’s move off Freud’s couch and up to your desk.

In 2012 when many people - indeed it may be you - find themselves in a job they thought they might have moved on from by now, but haven’t due to the shakiness of the job market, it’s crucial we play to our strengths to stop the rot setting in. If you’re one of those switched on women whose eyes and ears are always surreptitiously scanning your environment for ways to make use of the strengths you know that you own, jolly good for you. If that’s not quite you I’m certain you still have a good level of awareness about the strengths you bring to the world and the microclimate that is your workplace. Our challenge is to start making use of strengths that haven’t had much airing in our current role and to keep refreshing the ways in which we use the ones we often demonstrate at work.

Take this as an example. Katy is a change manager at an engineering company and she can re-write organisational charts, manage stakeholders, whip up project plans and do everything else that comes with it, whilst eating Weetabix upside down in hot pants (if she wanted to). She’s done it for eight years and she’s a bit bored of it now to be frank. Some of Katy’s top strengths (according to her Realise2 profile from the Centre of Applied Positive Psychology in the UK) are ‘change agent’, ‘innovator’, ‘explainer’, ‘connector’ and ‘report builder.’ This profile makes her perfect for sparking off a series of brown bag lunches where employees share their skills with one another – something she’s been thinking would be interesting but hasn’t thought to be the pioneer of as it’s not directly in her remit – or even do something similar at a neighbouring university to potentially help stock the pipeline of female talent joining her organisation. It’s just a thought.

When we’ve been doing what we do for a long time it naturally follows we become quicker and more adept at it which allows us to invest more energy in things that we’d probably view as an ‘off the side of my desk’ project. If Katy did what I mentioned above, it could open up other job prospects or at least keep her fresher until she decides it’s time to move on. Not to mention the contribution she could be making to other people’s development. There’s only one thing worse than being overwhelmed at work and that’s being underwhelmed.

Bored, jaded people are never pretty so this autumn whilst the trees are turning any number of beautiful shades, think about how you can colour your experiences at work by using your strengths in novel ways. (I think it’s time to pop our tambourines and maracas down and float off with Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours now).

Curious to find out more about the world of positive psychology? Do have a look at Dr Alex Linley’s organisation, The Centre for Applied Positive Psychology. He’s currently researching women’s work experience and if you’re a working woman do contribute (and be in with a chance to win an ipad or a spa day).

Like this post? You might also be interested in a career event I’m involved in next month:

If you’re in the City - or can be - between 6.30-9.30pm on Tuesday 9th October there’s an event I’d love you to come along to. I’m speaking alongside a partner at Ernst & Young and a recruitment consultant from the Hilary Devey “Women at The Top” BBC2 programme at a small knowledge share event designed to help working mothers continue to be successful in their careers. Tickets are usually £45 but there’s a discount for you to just £25. It’s a not for profit event and I’m not taking a fee for the evening. I’m talking about the significance of visibility - making yourself known, letting people know about your achievements and so on (in a way that doesn’t look brash or naff). For more info do have a look here and enter the discount code SUPER to get the reduced price.

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